Let’s get it covered in mud
And, I'm happy to say, there was plenty of gravel flying around in my time behind the wheel. Ford chose the Dirtfish Rally School for the launch of the thing, an absolute mecca for those who'd rather do it in the dirt. It was there, on the school's numerous rallycross-prepped grounds, that I sampled the final new addition of the Mach-E Rally.
Ford engineers developed a new drive mode called RallySport with the goal of allowing more wheelspin and more sideways sliding without completely leaving the driver to fend for themselves should their Scandinavian flick turn into more of a flop.
I started in Unbridled, the sportiest of the regular Mach-E drive modes, and I have to say the car was already quite fun. It allows a decent amount of wheelspin, especially from that new rear motor, and even a good bit of sliding before reining in the fun.
But RallySport mode definitely ratcheted up the fun factor. Here, the car was far more accepting of sideways excess, only cutting power aggressively when I applied too much steering. This was usually due to me not entering a corner correctly, understeering wide, and trying to turn the wheel past 90 degrees to get more turn-in.
If, instead, I set up the corner properly, balanced the car appropriately, and let it drift nicely through the turn as a proper rally driver would, the car happily let me do my thing. In this way, it was almost like an instructor; penalizing me when I drove too aggressively and rewarding me when I used good technique.
The most important part, however, is that you can turn the system off. Once off, the car was happy to give me plenty of drive even during the biggest, most lurid of excessive slides. It did seem to cut power sometimes when I got a little too exuberant with my foot to the floor on loose surfaces, but it hardly dampened the fun.
The car seemed to offer great grip and drive despite a pair of open differentials at either end. Still, for a car costing $59,995, at least one of them should be of the limited-slip variety.
What about its on-road manners?
And what about on-road handling? The Mach-E Rally is an enjoyable drive. That extra height from the suspension imparts more movement to the car over bumpy roads, but it handles them more smoothly than the regular GT. It's noticeably more comfortable. Even the tires don't spoil the fun. I was expecting added road noise, but I didn't notice any in my time behind the wheel.
The Mach-E Rally managed 2.5 miles/kWh (24.9 kWh/100 km) in my short on-road test loop for a theoretical maximum range of 228 miles (367 km) from the usable 91 kWh in the extended-range battery. That's about 40 miles (59 km) short of the EPA estimate, but it should be said that I wasn't exactly driving conservatively. Please don't hold my results against the thing.
So, is the Mach-E Rally a gimmicky sticker package capitalizing on the gravel-road sports car trend? Absolutely not. Some of its features may be more for posing than protection, and I don't think it'd survive a full season of rallycross action without damage, but driving on the road is legitimately fun in the gravel and even nicer on the road. It's the Mach-E I'd absolutely put in my driveway.
reader comments
123