Chevrolet Blazer EV vs. Ford Mustang Mach E: Do You Need Sport or Utility?

MotorTrend

With the family sedan slowly being replaced by electric SUVs

Transcript

00:00 For the first time, an electric Ford is going up against an electric Chevrolet.

00:07 Folks, this is the new normal.

00:10 Hi there, I'm Johnny Lieberman and this is another Motor Trend Comparison Test.

00:25 This is the Ford Mustang Mach-E California Route 1 Edition and this is the all-new Chevrolet Blazer RS.

00:36 These are the sort of vehicles that are going to begin appearing en masse.

00:41 They are replacing the family sedan. Goodbye Camry, goodbye Accord.

00:45 Instead, you're going to see a whole bunch of electric SUVs just like these two.

00:51 They're pretty spacious, they drive well, they go about 300 miles on a charge and they're all-wheel drive.

00:58 But the question is, and for the umpteenth time, which one of these two is better?

01:02 The Ford or the Chevy? Let's find out.

01:05 The design of the Ford Mustang Mach-E comes down to one thing.

01:11 Ford's still controversial decision to make their electric SUV a Mustang.

01:18 It's got to look sporty and aggressive and maybe it's overcompensating a little bit.

01:23 Look at this angry face. Why are you so angry taking your kid to soccer practice? I don't know.

01:29 But look, it's got teeth coming out of the headlights.

01:32 Hey, I get it, they wanted it to look like a sports car.

01:34 But back to these teeth for a second. I think they kind of mimic the look of this little weird winglet here.

01:40 Now what's this?

01:41 Well, Ford made the odd, frankly, decision not to have door handles on the car.

01:45 Instead, there's these little electric pushy things.

01:48 And this you can grab onto and open. It's just weird.

01:52 Speaking of visual trickery, Mach-E's loaded with it.

01:55 Your eyes tell you this is the roof.

01:57 Ooh, it's so sporty, it's so coupe-like. Like Mustang.

02:01 Really, this is the roof. Your head is up in this area.

02:04 This is just a nice little design trick.

02:06 What's not a nice design trick is these wheels.

02:09 18-inch wheels on the California Highway One Edition? Really?

02:13 Okay, sure, it's good for aero.

02:15 It's good for ride comfort because those are some high sidewall tires.

02:18 But it looks like it rolled off of a rental lot.

02:22 You don't want that. You want it to look like it rolled off of the show car stage.

02:26 Which is exactly what the Blazer looks like.

02:29 Not that anybody remembers automotive journalists.

02:32 But if I am remembered, I hope it's for a line I once said, which is something like,

02:36 "An SUV has to look like a Mars Rover."

02:39 Meet the Chevy's Mars Rover. Look at this thing.

02:43 It's the future. This is what concept cars looked like when I was a kid.

02:47 It's just cool. Look at the grill.

02:49 Smoked plastic? Why not? I'll take it.

02:52 Functional air vents on the family car? Let's cool the tires. It's awesome.

02:57 Speaking of the wheels, 21 inches. And you should see these things in motion.

03:01 They look awesome.

03:03 Personally, I would have gone with 23 inches. That's just me.

03:07 There's a lot going on right here.

03:09 This opens up and this is where you plug the thing in to charge.

03:12 It's a little busy, but this black plastic boomerang right there,

03:17 that echoes the intake vent of the mid-engine Corvette.

03:20 So there's your Chevy family resemblance.

03:23 I love how the lower belt line rises right here.

03:26 Because remember, with an EV, you're sitting on the battery.

03:29 So there's a lot of side mass.

03:31 So they're spartly hiding it. It looks more athletic than it is.

03:35 Unlike the Mustang, where they did a roof trick to make it look sporty,

03:40 yet still give you cargo room, this roof is pretty much straight.

03:44 It's like a wagon or a traditional SUV.

03:46 They just raised the rear hip up.

03:48 It looks really mean and athletic, yet you still have space.

03:52 And remember, the middle letter of SUV stands for utility.

03:56 So I think looks-wise, the clear winner here is the Blazer.

04:01 But how does it drive?

04:03 If the outside of the new Blazer looks like it rolled out of the first ever Mars auto show,

04:08 the inside sure doesn't.

04:10 Look, it's a Chevrolet in here.

04:12 Not bad by any means. I mean, the vents are a little tacky, but I like most of what I'm seeing.

04:17 A couple things set off my OCD.

04:19 For instance, nice big screen, legible, you know, huge, different fonts.

04:26 I count at least three different fonts.

04:28 Why? Why would you do that? It just looks sloppy.

04:32 But really the big selling point of this Blazer is going to be the amount of interior space we have.

04:37 It is massive in here. It feels bigger than like a Chevy Tahoe.

04:42 And remember, that's the advantage of EVs.

04:44 Everything is on top of the powertrain.

04:46 So for packaging purposes, they're excellent.

04:49 Like the rear seat, you would not believe how big it is.

04:52 A six-foot adult could easily do a cross-country road trip back there.

04:57 Charging might not be as easy, but just tons of room.

05:01 And behind the rear seat, you know, just massive amounts of storage.

05:05 And I really think that's going to be the key selling point for this here Blazer EV.

05:11 I'm inside of the Mustang Mach-E, and the first thing you notice is, boy, this is a lot louder than the Chevy.

05:20 The second thing you notice is Ford has cheaped out and they made a short gas pedal.

05:25 You can't see it. I can't stand it. But I wear a size 13.

05:29 I got big shoes, and I'm always going under the gas pedal.

05:32 Like, what a lousy way to save money.

05:35 Third thing you notice, the screen. It's a lot of screen.

05:39 All the fonts are the same. That part's awesome.

05:41 However, at a time when the entire industry is moving away from these portrait-type screens

05:47 into more integrated horizontal or landscape screens, it really looks tacked on.

05:53 I mean, I couldn't imagine a more tacked-on iPod look to a car.

05:57 The rest of the interior, it's fine. It's a lot of different grays and blacks.

06:00 It is tight in here. I mean, noticeably smaller inside than the Chevy.

06:06 And so, if you're a large person or you're buying an SUV because you need a lot of space,

06:11 the Blazer might be your better choice over the Mach-E simply because of the interior space.

06:19 [music]

06:23 As far as performance of the new Blazer goes, Chevy did something interesting.

06:27 Look, this is a family SUV, and since EVs came out, we've kind of taken for granted that they're all ridiculously quick.

06:34 This one isn't. This one hits 60 miles an hour in six seconds.

06:38 Now, look, two decades ago, we would have jumped in the air and screamed for an SUV to go that quickly.

06:44 These days, it's kind of slow.

06:46 What they did focus on is ride quality.

06:49 I am shocked at how well this thing rides, even on the big 21-inch wheels.

06:56 See, this is sitting on GM's Ultium platform, and they were able just to push the wheels out to the corner as far as possible,

07:03 and it's really wide, and that just equals a better ride quality.

07:07 As far as handling goes, there's a whole bunch of tire squeal.

07:11 Look, it's a family vehicle.

07:12 I mean, do you need to be pushing the bloody edge of the envelope at 11/10?

07:17 Well, I do, but you may not.

07:18 One thing, I have it in sport mode right now, and if I floor it, you hear this very, very fake sound.

07:25 You know, look, everyone's--it's a brave new EV world.

07:28 We used to have V8s. We no longer do.

07:31 What's a good EV sound like?

07:32 Still working on that.

07:33 You can go to my mode here.

07:35 It's a custom mode, and I have everything set up just as sporty, just as much power and braking and turning,

07:41 but I've turned down the fake noise.

07:43 Still there, not as loud.

07:45 I would go with this.

07:46 All right, now, as far as handling and performance goes,

07:57 ride quality is stiffer inside the Mustang than in the Blazer, but as far as performance, I mean, this is much, much better.

08:06 It's way quicker, way more powerful.

08:09 It's got, like, an extra, oh, I don't know, 75, 65 horsepower, something like that, 288 versus, I think, 348 for the Mustang.

08:18 It corners.

08:19 The suspension's way better.

08:21 The body control's way better.

08:22 Sadly, the tires are completely bogus, so if you like tire squeal--here.

08:27 You get a whole lot of that in these tires.

08:30 I think you can expect better tires.

08:32 To a certain extent, a Mustang has to handle, whereas a Blazer has never been a good handling Blazer ever,

08:38 so if you need an electric family SUV that's super fun to--

08:43 to drive in a sportive manner around a racetrack, think Ford Mustang Mach-E.

08:52 To conclude this video, I really do not like saying the car that performs and drives better is the loser,

09:00 but I think with these two, that's the case.

09:03 Yes, the Ford Mustang Mach-E can outdrift and out-accelerate and out-handle the Chevy Blazer RS,

09:11 but I think in this segment--remember, these are the replacements for the midsize family sedan--

09:16 I don't think performance matters all that much.

09:19 If you take a look at the Blazer, it looks better, it's got a nicer interior, it rides so much better,

09:26 and it has tons more room inside, and I think in this segment, that's really what counts.

09:32 And so therefore, the winner of this Motor Trend comparison test is that Blazer right there.

09:38 [outro music]

09:41 [music fades out]

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