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Ford Mustang Mach-E Bests Tesla Model 3 as Consumer Report’s Electric Vehicle ‘Top Pick’

Consumer Reports picked the Ford Mustang Mach-E over Tesla’s Model 3 as an Electric Vehicle “Top Pick” for customer satisfaction.

CNBC reported on the electric honor on Friday.

Ford is pinning its future hopes on the Mustang Mach-E as it works toward selling more electric vehicles. Ford CEO Jim Farley’s electric vision means keeping up with Elon Musk’s Tesla cars and even overtaking them. 

Consumer Reports Making Bold Statement on Fords

One Consumer Reports executive said he was impressed by the Mach-E as soon as his nonprofit group bought one.

Jake Fisher, senior director of automotive testing, called the automobile a “really fun vehicle to drive,” “sporty,” and “extremely mature.” He said the car “rides nice” and is “very quiet.” Overall, he felt it was “well built.”

Currently, the group’s reliability data shows that the Mach-E has very few problems. The data and owner reviews prompted Consumer Reports to make it the “Top Pick” over the Tesla Model 3.

Why’s that? Well, Fisher said the Model 3 doesn’t compare to the Mach-E’s hands-free driving and distraction-alerting driver system. Ford’s got this BlueCruise system that uses a camera to monitor and alert drivers when they’re not paying attention to the road. Tesla’s car has that, but the nonprofit group said the camera needs to be more effective. 

“In our tests, we can cover up the camera, we could not look at the road, and it really doesn’t give any alerts to the driver to make sure they are looking where they are going,” Fisher told CNBC.

According to Inside EVs, Consumer Reports had the Tesla Model Y as a competitor with the Mustang Mach-E. The Model Y also did better than the Mustang electric crossover in the road test group. But it all came back to reliability issues for the Model Y.

The EV publication said Model Y owners aren’t digging the paint, climate control, build quality, and other issues.

My, How The Mighty Tesla Has Fallen

Elon’s not going to be happy about this. But he doesn’t have to be. Teslas are still among America’s top-selling cars.

Consumer Reports banished Tesla from seventh to 23rd place in the major auto brand rankings of 32 car companies. In seven years, it’s the worst showing for the carmaker in the nonprofit’s “Top Picks” issue.

Not only did Consumer Reports attack the Autopilot system, but it also went after Tesla’s steering yoke. The company had the steering wheel for its Model S and Model X cars.

Fisher didn’t like the yoke, calling it frustrating. He said the wheel turned “harder” and that he didn’t like the absence of the “turn signal stalk.”

Overall, Consumer Reports said quality among the “Top Picks” was better than ever, and Japanese automakers lead the way. The top busts for 2022 were Mitsubishi and GMC, just above Jeep, the lowest-rated brand. 

Subaru got the top spot, followed by Mazda, BMW, Honda, and Lexus.