Durango, CO Driver Corrals a New Pony: Ford’s Mustang Mach-E

By Guinn Unger

In January of 2020 I received information from Ford that I could order a Mustang Mach-E.  I just needed to put down a fully refundable deposit of $500.  So I did.  I had been waiting for an all-electric SUV of at least medium size, and having something with at least a little bit of Mustang heritage looked good!  (I have owned several Mustangs in the past.)

In July of 2020 I was asked to put down an additional $500 to confirm my order.  (I actually gave the local dealership $1000 and Ford refunded my original $500 deposit.)

I ordered the Mach-E with all-wheel-drive which is important since I live in a part of SW Colorado where we get a good amount of snow each year.  I also ordered the standard range battery since it was not my intention to take road trips in the Mach-E.  It would be used mostly for local driving.  And of course, I ordered the Rapid Red color!

I have to say it was not easy to get information about the car directly from Ford or my local dealership.  They could have done a much better job of having contacts that knew something!

I was finally told the car would be built the week of December 14, 2020, but they did not give any indication of when I might actually receive it.  It showed up at the dealership on February 6, 2021, and my experience with the dealership during the actual sale (strangely enough) was actually quite good.  Durango Motors gave me a fair trade-in, and we closed the deal.

Now that I have had the car for a month, I have to say I am very pleased!!  Here are some things I really like about the car:

• It’s plug-in electric!!  I don’t have to buy gas, and I’m not putting nearly as much carbon into the air.
• It drives great.  Acceleration is dramatic, and the handling is very close to what I have experienced with “real” Mustangs.
• It’s great in the snow.  I put winter (Nokian) tires on it immediately, and I have driven in fairly deep snow twice.  The car has super traction in the snow.
• There’s lot of room inside.  With the rear seats down, I can carry quite a bit.  With them up, there’s still plenty of room.  And of course there’s the frunk (front trunk).
• I like (not love) the styling.  Lots of Mustang hints and styling that stands out.
• The displays are excellent. There is one directly in front of the driver and a much bigger screen in the center.  Just about everything the driver needs to see is on the screen directly ahead, so you don’t have to look away from the road.
• The car comes with a portable charger which you can plug into a 120-volt or 240-volt outlet.  (Charging with 120 volts is pretty slow, but it was all I had until I got the 240 outlet installed.)
• Ford EV’s still qualify for the $7500 federal tax credit, and Colorado has a state income tax credit for EV’s.
• The Mach-E is quite well built.  The suspension is tight, the doors fit perfectly, and the wind and road noise is very low.
• There are lots of very nice features, too many to cover here.

There are a few things I’m not crazy about:

• Ford only supplies one key fob and expects you to use your phone as a key.  It took me several days to get my Android phone working as a key.  This has been a common complaint on the web.
• Support at Ford and the dealership is still pretty spotty.  They could have handled this much better.
• There’s a pretty steep learning curve if you want to use all the features.  I’m also not sure if I will ever have the courage to let the car parallel park itself!
• The FordPass app, at least for Android, takes quite a while to learn.  It would be very nice if you had a way to group the things you commonly do in one place instead of constantly searching for them.

Overall, I am very excited about my Mach-E and I am really glad I bought it.