Ford Mustang Mach-E Review: Strong 2025 Sales Make It A Good Tesla Model Y Alternative
The Mustang Mach-E was the No. 3 best selling EV in the U.S. behind the Tesla Model Y and Model 3 respectively in the first quarter of 2025, according to numbers released by Kelley Blue Book. I had the opportunity to drive the 2024 Mach-E for a week. Here are my impressions (Note that the 2025 Mach-E has been slow to arrive at dealers and most are still 'in transit' to dealers in Los Angeles.):
Ford Mustang Mach-E in the Mojave Desert.
Credit: Brooke Crothers
Range: I would suggest looking closely at the Premium trim with 300 miles+ range. Any EV with under 300 miles of range in 2025 is not practical. Styling: it's one of the more attractive EVs out there. Probably one of the reasons it's a bestseller. It's an SUV: This is not your typical Mustang. Being a true SUV – unlike the traditional Mustang – means lots of room inside. Quality: The Mach-E I drove was well screwed together. Needless to say, that matters. Speed: if you opt for the Mach-E Premium all-wheel drive or GT you'll get a very quick EV with lots of acceleration that matches the AWD Model Y and Model Y Performance. The rear-wheel drive trim won't disappoint either. Tesla adapter: Ford had been offering a free NACS adapter for Tesla chargers. It's not free anymore but it's good that Ford offers one. OTA updates: Ford is committed to Over-The-Air updates. That means it's committed to improving Ford's excellent BlueCruise drive-assist technology (see bottom), which is something that competing legacy carmakers are not always consistent about.
BlueCruise: Let me address the Mach-E's Advanced Driver Assist System or ADAS separately. An ADAS can essentially drive the car for you in many situations. ADAS is the future of driving (whether you realize or not). I was extremely impressed with BlueCruise. It offers driver assist on both major highways and local roads (the latter via lane-centering). While BlueCruise is not Tesla FSD, it should satisfy most drivers. BlueCruise comes with three months of complimentary service and monthly rates thereafter are $49.99 versus $99 for Tesla FSD.
Range on some models: Ford still sells Mach-Es with battery range well below 300 miles. Some as low as 250 miles. Yes, they're cheap but you pay for that with lost range. Low-range Mach-Es include the Mach-E Select and some Mach-E Premium variants. You may be thinking, 'Well, I just drive locally and I can plug it in at home.' But that thinking quickly goes out the window (as my experience shows) when you need an EV for unplanned long-distance drives. And, yes, that happens more often than you may think.
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
How to navigate a job market transformed by AI
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Jim Frawley: I think if you're looking for something AI-proof for at least the next decade or two decades, a lot of people will tell you the blue-collar jobs, right? The robots aren't going to be fixing plumbing and that kind of thing, that's fine. But outside of that, if you were thinking about a white-collar job, there's still roles. Anything I would go social interaction, things like psychology, psychiatry, the social need, the human need, all of the things ... now, there are apps and everything else that are going to be there, but there will always be a place for in-person social interaction for human beings. There is significant, significant need for that, so if you're thinking of what you want to do and where you're going to want to go in response to AI, I would think about what do people need and humans need, and how do you support that. Dana Taylor: How important are soft skills and emotional intelligence at this moment? Are these the uniquely human skills job seekers need to develop to make themselves more valuable in the workplace and to inoculate them from the impacts of AI? Jim Frawley: 100%. I think the number one advice that you can give anybody today is pick up on that emotional intelligent, emotional quotient kind of focus. In-person social interaction is what's going to save you from AI, because if you're looking for a new job, we hire people we like and we hire people we know. If you're looking for some kind of mental health hope, the support system around you are the people that are going to be able to do that. So the in-person social interaction, the social obligation we have to each other, that's ultimately what's going to save us from AI, and I will die on that hill 100 times a week. So when we surround ourselves with the right type of people, we then generate new ideas, we're able to create different types of things, we create new job opportunities in our minds and job prospects and everything else, new businesses, whatever it might be. So in-person social interaction, emotional intelligence, I think that's a huge one. Dana Taylor: Jim, are there best practices for demonstrating soft skills during a job interview? Jim Frawley: The number one piece of advice I give to people or the number one thing that I find I'm working on with a lot of executives is the ability to ask questions. It sounds incredibly simple and ridiculous, but most people don't know the true definition of a question. When you understand what a question is, it's a request for information where you legitimately do not know the answer. We are then by doing that eliminating judgment and assumption and being interested in the present moment and the people across from us. When you can ask a question with no judgment or assumption, you're welcoming information from them, that opens up a whole new level of interpersonal connection. That allows you, whether it's from a leadership perspective or a management perspective or an interview perspective, to make a different type of connection by showing an interest in the person there by asking a question with no judgment, no assumption. Dana Taylor: For some companies, AI is now integrated into the hiring process from resume screening to interviews. What are some of the best practices for navigating these new hiring processes? Jim Frawley: I would say ignore them. I mean, you can upload it all you want and you can work your resume and you use AI to build your resume, and you do that and you upload it and AI's looking at that, go to the people directly. If you can meet a person directly in-person socially, ideally when you're still hired, you want them to see you when you're at your best. When you can meet someone in-person, your name will go to the top of the list, right? Still at this moment human beings will trump AI in terms of AI found these five people, but I want this person, 'cause I met them and I know I'm going to work well with them. Dana Taylor: A quick scroll on LinkedIn is all it takes to see the mental toll this evolving job hunting process can take, and for those who are employed, there may be a psychological toll in trying to prove their job can't be done by AI. What do you see as the long-term mental health implications here? Jim Frawley: Massively significant. I mean, even if you're still employed, it's in the back of your mind, this uncertainty takes a major stress toll, it leads to burnout, it leads to so many other different outcomes and challenges, and it snowballs pretty significantly. I think one of the challenges we have is most people take their work and they align it with their identity of who they are as an individual and their self-worth, but work is only a part of who you are, and there is a big shift that we have to make when we're thinking about AI and the future of work and how does this support the person I am, I don't become the person that is the only person who can work. Rethinking your priorities, your motivations, your values is going to be an incredibly important part of responding to this challenge where you have a belief system in place, an anchor into where you can go, so that when the roadway ends your belief system, your anchor, your philosophy can bring you past that to let you know what direction you need to go into next. Dana Taylor: We've all heard the adage, if you can't beat them, join them. Is there a smart way forward that embraces the reality of AI? Jim Frawley: Yeah, I think accept it, it's going to become here. I think when you think about the arc of change, it really starts with awareness. We're beyond awareness, we know it's here, now it's about preparation, so you accept it, you prepare yourself in the best type of way. Whether it's from a mental health perspective, whether it's from a social perspective, whether it's from a physical perspective, whatever it is, you get yourself ready, then you move into learning and then wisdom. So we're in that preparation and learning type of mode, and so if we can embrace it, we need to start learning about AI. If you have not started toying with AI and testing AI, you are so far behind the eight-ball at this point. You need to at least become familiar with it, because at a basic level if you don't understand how AI works, you are going to be left behind. So, that's really an easy first step that you should be taking immediately. Then otherwise beyond that, get the social interaction and see how we as humans can help each other in responding to this new change. Dana Taylor: Terrific insights here, Jim. Thank you so much for being on The Excerpt. Jim Frawley: Thank you for having me. Dana Taylor: Thanks to our senior producers, Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance, our executive producer's Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@ Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor, Taylor Wilson. Be back tomorrow morning with another episode of USA TODAY's The Excerpt.
Business Upturn
3 hours ago
- Business Upturn
New Findings from Presentation Suggest August 13 Could Mark a Significant Shift in America's Satellite Infrastructure Landscape
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