Ford’s trend of leaning hard into its past to find names for its latest vehicles is getting a bit ridiculous. The new Maverick compact pickup truck? That was a compact sedan Ford made in the 1970s. The new F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck? Borrowed from a high-performance F-150 variant. And of course the company’s electric crossover wasn’t just named the Mach-E; it took the Mustang title as well.
The Mustang Mach-E continues this conceit by adding a pair of performance variants that recycle two very important initials to Ford: GT. The previous Ford vehicles to wear the GT name are iconic: the Mustang, the Le Mans-winning Ford GT40, and a pair of modern supercars inspired by the GT40.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance
That’s why I’ve traveled to San Francisco, to see if the Mach-E GT and GT Performance Edition can live up to those letters. This is of course, a wholly different enterprise than the other GTs of present and yore: a crossover rather than a coupe, all-wheel drive instead of rear-wheel drive, and of course that large battery pack stashed under the floor. If the Mustang Mach-E represents a turning point for Mustang performance in the years to come, this does the same for the GT name and thankfully Ford has given the electric GTs enough performance upgrades to make a difference.
GT models can be picked out by their gray front grille (rather than body colored) and large “GT” badge found below the rear glass. There is no “5.0” badge to be found on the front fenders (like it is on the gas-powered Mustang GT), only small badges on the front doors indicating that the vehicle is AWD. The GT also rides slightly lower by 0.4 inches in an effort to lower the crossover’s center of gravity even more, and comes with wider tires, 9-inches instead of the usual 8.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT
The GT also offers a significant step up in raw power over the other Mach-E variants, which top out at 346 hp and 428 lb-ft in Premium/First Edition models with all-wheel drive and the extended range battery. GTs only come with AWD and the larger 88-kwh battery, but pump out 480 hp and 600 lb-ft of torque. That torque figure grows to 634 lb-ft in the GT Performance Edition. Ford says the grippier Pirelli summer tires the Performance Edition is equipped with allow the motors to send out more power while still maintaining grip, and those models also offer a higher peak power draw from the battery than the standard GT.
The extra power gives the GT a 0-60 mph time that’s a full second faster than the fastest variant of the other Mach-E models, at 3.8 seconds. That drops to 3.5 seconds in the GT Performance Edition, a significant improvement without any boost in horsepower that speaks mainly to the difference that tires can make for electric vehicles.
You won’t pay a range penalty for stepping up to the GT; its 270 miles of range matches the other models with the AWD/larger battery combination. The GT Performance Edition tails off slightly, with an estimated 260 miles of range. I didn’t test the GT in what you’d consider an “economical” manner, so our resulting figures from this test didn’t provide a good proxy for what the GT could achieve in real world conditions.
Off the line, the GT feels a bit quicker than the regular Mach-E variants but not by much. Below 20 mph, all of the Mach-E’s feel very snappy. Where the GT’s extra power starts to make a difference is at intermediate speeds, where the normal Mach-E’s acceleration quickly tapers off. The GT in stark contrast pulls and pulls past highway speeds with great ease.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance
It’s hard to find an acceleration gap between the GT and the Performance Edition, but the two vehicles do feel noticeably different from behind the wheel because of the Performance Edition’s other upgrades, including a superior suspension, brakes, and those tires.
The tires’ added grip and the more powerful Brembo brakes on the Performance Edition give the driver more confidence, but most of the driving improvement comes from the adaptive Magneride suspension. It offers a much better experience than the GT’s fixed suspension, which feels soft and does a poor job controlling rebound. That makes it harder to execute quick changes of direction consecutively as the GT gets unsettled easily. The adaptive suspension firms up noticeably in Unbridled mode and does a better job of keeping the Mach-E GT flat, though even the improved suspension gives up some body roll when pushed. Even though so much of the weight is concentrated at the bottom of the vehicle, it’s still pretty heavy at 4,587 pounds. Better balance helps to mitigate some of the understeer that the Mach-E trends toward when pushed.
Unlike other performance cars, the suspension isn’t adaptable on its own but tied directly to the Performance Edition’s drive modes: Whisper, Engage, and Unbridled. Unfortunately, drivers who want to set the suspension into a different mode by itself will be disappointed, though Ford said such capability could be added at a later date via an OTA update.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT
The Mach-E GT also introduces a new drive mode, Unbridled Extend, that’s meant to offer sustained power output for consistency on a short track or closed-course, much like the autocross that Ford had set up for our test. Also modified are the pedal mapping for both the accelerator and the brakes, more rear bias for the AWD system (from roughly 50:50 to 40:60), and the stability/traction control are both dialed back. The Mach-E GT will also start to proactively cool the battery so it can offer consistent output as the laps pile up.
You hear those things and you think that Unbridled Extend is the most fun mode, but alas it’s not. That’s because to protect the battery’s output and keep it consistent, Ford says that peak horsepower and torque were both slashed (though Ford didn’t provide the modified figures as of this writing). The cut in power is enough to make the Mach-E GT feel significantly slower, removing the brisk acceleration that is the Mach-E GT’s calling card. Ford admitted that if your goal is to put up the best lap time, running the vehicle in the standard Unbridled mode is the way to go.
I ran a few laps on the autocross in both modes and unless you are planning to run a lot of laps, stick with Unbridled. The acceleration in regular Unbridled makes the Mach-E feel alive, with Unbridled Extend it feels like an underpowered EV that is unworthy of the GT badge.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT
This was my second time on an autocross with the Mach-E and it was a different experience in the GT. It offers more raw speed and the traction control in Unbridled and Unbridled Extend give you enough leash to get the crossover a little sideways (and the traction control can be turned all the way off as well). The electronics underneath you do a good job of moving the torque around where it needs to be located and the back end will step out with just enough prodding from the accelerator.
Ford has been surprised at the amount of orders it received for the GT Performance Edition, versus the base GT. After driving both models, I agree with the people—the Performance Edition’s upgrades make it a much better performance vehicle compared to the GT. Not to mention that it has better front seats and much better designs for its 20-inch wheels. That’s a lot of added equipment for the only $5,000 difference in price.
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT
2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance
Ordering is open for both models and deliveries have already begun. The Mustang Mach-E GT starts at $61,000 and the Performance Edition at $66,000 (both prices include destination charges), and Ford projects that it should have enough full federal tax credits to last through the end of 2021 for both the Mach-E and the forthcoming F-150 Lightning.
While the 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT is very different from any of its GT predecessors, it is a worthy steward of the name going forward. The acceleration potential from this electric platform will eventually outpace anything the gas GTs could produce and while the suspension may have been a touch soft for my liking, it provides space for the rumored Shelby, Cobra, and track editions of the Mach-E that are in the works. I guess it’s okay to use an old name, as long as what it’s attached to delivers something new.
Ford provided travel arrangements, an autocross course, and several Mach-E GTs for Motor Authority to bring you this firsthand report.
