Ford Video Shows Mustang Mach-E During Winter Testing
A true SUV should be able to handle icy, snow-covered roads with aplomb. Ford maintains a cold weather testing facility in the Upper Peninsular of Michigan known as the Smithers Winter Test Facility. At the 800 acre site, it puts production cars and prototypes through their paces to see how they handle bonechilling cold, sleet, freezing rain, snow, and all the other challenges that winter can throw at them.
Caution: the video below may make you want to apply for a job as a Ford test driver at the Smithers facility. It clearly shows a Mustang Mach-E electric SUV swooping up hill and down dale through the frozen tundra, its back end hung way out as it drifts through high speed curves. There is some serious hoonage going on here, the kind that makes all sports car fanatics’ pulse rate kick up a notch or two.
The Mustang Mach-E is available in single motor, rear-wheel drive configuration, but the car in the video is very definitely a two-motor version with all-wheel drive and torque vectoring. Adam Diebler, an all-wheel drive calibration engineer for the Mustang Mach-E, says his team drove every electric all-wheel drive vehicle on the market and found all of them deficient when it comes to handling prowess in slippery conditions.
He says he and his team have created the most capable electric SUV for wintertime driving available. Of course you would expect him to say that, but watch the video and you may find yourself agreeing with him. [Note: the Tesla Model Y was obviously not included in the comparison process as it wasn’t yet in production.]
Rob Iorio, vehicle engineering manager for the Mustang Mach-E, says “On snow — a slippery surfaces — the vehicle tracks amazing. It blows you away how this car accelerates in the snow.” Diebler adds everyone who gets behind the wheel of the Mustang Mach-E is surprised how different it feels compared to a “normal” car. Here’s hoping that a few years from now, the Mach-E and its competitors come to define the new normal. Enjoy the video!
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