Comparison Test: Chevrolet Blazer EV vs. Ford Mustang Mach E

For the first time, an electric Ford is going up against an electric Chevrolet. Folks, this is the new normal. I'm Johnny Lieberman and this is another Motor Trend Comparison Test. This is the Ford Mustang Mach-E California Route 1 Edition and this is the all-new Chevrolet Blazer RS. These are the sort of vehicles that are going to begin appearing on mass. They are replacing the family sedan. Goodbye Camry. Goodbye Accord. Instead, you're going to see a whole bunch of electric SUVs just like these two. And they're pretty spacious. They drive well. They go about 300 miles on a charge and they're all-wheel drive. But the question is, and for the umpteenth time, which one of these two is better? The Ford or the Chevy? Let's find out. The design of the Ford Mustang Mach-E comes down to one thing. Ford's still controversial decision to make their electric SUV a Mustang. So it's got to look sporty and aggressive and maybe it's overcompensating a little bit. Because I mean, look at this angry face. You know, why are you so angry taking your kid to soccer practice? I don't know. But look, it's got teeth coming out of the headlights. Hey, I get it. They wanted it to look like a sports car. But back to these teeth for a second. I think they kind of mimic the look of this little weird winglet here. Now, what's this? Well, Ford made the odd, frankly, decision not to have door handles on the car. Instead, there's these little electric pushy things on this you can grab onto and open. And it's just weird. Speaking of visual trickery, Mach-E is loaded with it. Your eyes tell you this is the roof. Oh, it's so sporty. It's so coupe-like. Like Mustang. Really, this is the roof. Your head is up in this area. This is just a nice little design trick. What's not a nice design trick is these wheels. 18-inch wheels on the California Highway 1 Edition. Really? OK, sure, it's good for aero. It's good for ride comfort because those are some high sidewall tires. But it looks like it rolled off of a rental lot. You don't want that. You want it to look like it rolled off of the show car stage. Which is exactly what the Blazer looks like. Not that anybody remembers automotive journalists. But if I am remembered, I hope it's for a line I once said, which is something like, an SUV has to look like a Mars Rover. Meet the Chevy's Mars Rover. Look at this thing. It's the future. This is what concept cars looked like when I was a kid. It's just cool. Look at the grill. Smoked plastic? Why not? I'll take it. Functional air vents on the family car. Let's cool the tires. It's awesome. Speaking of the wheels, 21 inches. And you should see these things in motion. They look awesome. Personally, I would have gone with 23 inches. That's just me. There's a lot going on right here. OK, this opens up. And this is where you plug the thing into charge. It's a little busy. But this black plastic boomerang right there, that echoes the intake vent of the mid-engine Corvette. So there's your Chevy family resemblance. I love how the belt line or the lower belt line rises right here. Remember, with an EV, you're sitting on the battery. So there's a lot of side mass. So they're spartely hiding it. Looks more athletic than it is. Unlike the Mustang, though, where they did a roof trick to make it look sporty, yet still give you cargo room, this roof is pretty much straight. It's like a wagon or a traditional SUV. They just raised the rear hip up. Looks really mean and athletic, yet you still have space. And remember, the middle letter of SUV stands for utility. So I think looks-wise, yeah, a clear winner here is the Blazer. But how does it drive? If the outside of the new Blazer looks like it rolled out of the first ever Mars auto show, the inside sure doesn't. Look, it's a Chevrolet in here. Not bad by any means. I mean, the vents are a little tacky. But I like most of what I'm seeing. A couple of things set off my OCD. For instance, nice big screen, legible, huge, different fonts. I count at least three different fonts. Why? Why would you do that? It just looks sloppy. But really, the big selling point of this Blazer is going to be the amount of interior space we have. It is massive in here. It feels bigger than like a Chevy Tahoe. And remember, that's the advantage of EVs. Everything is on top of the powertrain. So for packaging purposes, they're excellent. The rear seat, you would not believe how big it is. A six-foot adult could easily do a cross-country road trip back there. Charging might not be as easy, but just tons of room. And behind the rear seat, just massive amounts of storage. And I really think that's going to be the key selling point for this here Blazer EV. I'm inside of the Mustang Mach-E. And the first thing you notice is, boy, this is a lot louder than the Chevy. The second thing you notice is, Ford has cheaped out and they made a short gas pedal. You can't see it. I can't stand it. But I wear a size 13. I got big shoes. And I'm always going under the gas pedal. Like, what a lousy way to save money. Third thing you notice, the screen. It's a lot of screen. All the fonts are the same. That part's awesome. However, at a time when the entire industry is moving away from these portrait-type screens into more integrated horizontal or landscape screens, it really looks tacked on. I mean, I couldn't imagine a more tacked-on iPod look to a car. The rest of the interior, it's fine. It's a lot of different grays and blacks. It is tight in here. I mean, noticeably smaller inside than the Chevy. And so, if you're a large person or you're buying an SUV because you need a lot of space, the Blazer might be your better choice over the Mach-E, simply because of the interior space. As far as performance of the new Blazer goes, the Chevy did something interesting. Look, this is a family SUV. And, you know, since EVs came out, we've kind of taken for granted that they're all ridiculously quick. This one isn't. This one hits 60 miles an hour in six seconds. Now, look, two decades ago, we would have jumped in the air and screamed for an SUV to go that quickly. These days, it's kind of slow. What they did focus on is ride quality. I am shocked at how well this thing rides, even on the big 21-inch wheels. 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. And it's really wide. And that just equals a better ride quality. As far as handling goes, there's a whole bunch of tire squeal. Look, it's a family vehicle. Do you need to be pushing the bloody edge of the envelope at 11 tenths? Well, I do. But you may not. One thing, I have it in sport mode right now. And if I floor it, you hear this very, very fake sound. You know, look, everyone's, it's a brave new EV world. We used to have V8s. We no longer do. What's a good EV sound like? Still working on that. You can go to my mode here. It's a custom mode. And I have everything set up just as sporty, just as much power and braking and turning. But I've turned down the fake noise. Still there, not as loud. I would go with this. All right. Now, as far as handling and performance goes, the ride quality is stiffer inside the Mustang than in the Blazer. But as far as performance, I mean, yeah, this is much, much better. It's way quicker, way more powerful. 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. It corners, the suspension's way better. The body control is way better. Sadly, the tires are completely bogus. So if you like tire squeal, here, you get a whole lot of that in these tires. I think you can expect better tires. To a certain extent, a Mustang has to handle where a Blazer has never been a good handling Blazer ever. So if you need an electric family SUV that's super fun to drive in a sportive manner around a racetrack, think Ford Mustang Mach-E. To conclude this video, I really do not like saying the car that performs and drives better is the loser. But I think with these two, that's the case. Yes, the Ford Mustang Mach-E can out-drift and out-accelerate and out-handle the Chevy Blazer RS. But I think in this segment, remember, these are the replacements for the midsize family sedan. I don't think performance matters all that much. If you take a look at the Blazer, it looks better. It's got a nicer interior. It rides so much better. And it has tons more room inside. And I think in this segment, that's really what counts. And so therefore, the winner of this MotorTrend comparison test is that Blazer right there.