2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally finds clarity in the mud

The fastest, most powerful models in any lineup can often end up as one-trick ponies. 

That’s what I might have suspected from the 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally, but it’s not true. After spending a few hours with the Rally last week, I’m convinced that this is the versatile performance pick of the lineup for seat-of-the-pants thrills, and for anyone who even occasionally likes going flying fast and loose.

The 2024 Mach-E Rally packs a combined 480 hp and 700 lb-ft of torque from its dual-motor system—the same numbers as the 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT when optioned with its Performance Upgrade. That includes a new Ford-made rear motor shared with the F-150 Lightning and incorporating a new reduction-gear ratio to better match that motor’s characteristics. 

The Rally is focused on having fun when the pavement ends. As I quickly found out, going sideways is the easy part. “Instant torque” is the mantra of EVs, and here it’s the factor that makes the Mach-E Rally so much fun because it makes it easy—too easy, perhaps—to go sideways.

The Rally’s extra reduction gear has some efficiency consequences. It comes only with the Mach-E’s 91-kwh Extended Range pack, and here it’s good for 265 miles, versus up to 280 miles for the GT and up to 320 miles for lesser single-motor Mach-E versions. Ford has also boosted fast-charging rates by about 20% versus when the Mach-E was first launched, with a 10-80% in about 36 minutes and a DC fast-charge peak of 150 kw, according to the company.

The Mach-E still doesn’t have a heat pump, but Ford has consolidated its three cooling circuits down to two primary circuits plus climate control, altogether cutting complexity while aiding those charge rates.

Inside, the Mach-E Rally gets gloss white accents on the dash, lower steering wheel spokes, and the backs of the front seats, with white contrast stitching for the latter. All GT models, as well as the Rally, now include Ford Performance front seats that offer up great back support as well as thigh support without feeling too confining on the sides. 

But patience is a virtue when surface traction is low and you have instant torque on tap. After thrashing the Mach-E Rally in the pouring rain through several courses of wet gravel, dirt, slick mud, and puddles at Washington state’s Dirtfish Rally School, that was effectively my lesson.

I’ll get to more about why the immediacy of the Mach-E’s power delivery teams with its stability control tuning to make this model so different, but first we have to understand how it’s changed from the Mach E GT and why it has its own character. 

The Rally rides an inch higher than the GT, with a suspension tuned for both on- and off-road use. Add in Michelin CrossClimate2 tires on white rally-inspired 19-inch wheels, a rear spoiler atop the hatch, front and rear underbody shields, a stripe package, and paint-protective film throughout, and it’s ready for some high-speed grit and grime. There’s also a grille shield with integrated fog lamps, a front recovery hook, and a splitter that’s been reshaped for steeper approaches.

Among the few things carried over from the GT at face value are the 15.0-inch front brake rotors with red-painted Brembo calipers. 

Ride and handling make the most of Mach-E

The Rally also harnesses the potential of the MagneRide magnetic damping system that now becomes standard on the 2024 Mach-E GT. The Rally’s suspension offers a bit more travel in compression and rebound—carrying over the same fundamental geometry—but Ford worked with the capabilities of MagneRide and its bump-stop algorithm. Simply put, it made the damping system a willing companion that will help reduce the chances of actually bottoming out the suspension—and, in turn, possibly damaging the body. 

Topping it all off, and assuring that the propulsion system’s wall of torque works with this special gravel-grabbing package, is a special RallySport drive mode. Activate it on the Rally’s infotainment screen—improved and made flatter in its menu system through over-the-air updates—and you’ll tap into much more sideways-savvy mapping. 

RallySport mode makes the accelerator more linear, and it ramps up the steering boost—because you might need to go opposite-lock at any moment. 

Indeed, I did. On DirtFish’s courses, I first got the hang of it on a tighter course, feeling the more powerful rear motor kicking the tail out while the front motor delivered just enough torque to the front wheels to resolve in a sustained drift, if I used some finesse. 

To create that dynamic ease, Ford engineers put in a lot of hard work testing the Rally at a special course in Michigan—incorporating input from rallycross drivers—and then expanding the dynamic mapping that goes into its stability control system to allow more yaw to yield the sideways action. 

Fast and loose, Mach-E Rally teaches finesse

As I soon discovered, if you get too heavy with your right foot to provocatively try to whip out the tail, you will be restrained by the system with a dramatic cut of power. The Mach-E was doing what it was told. It was me that needed to be recalibrated. 

I’m no stranger to rally-style driving, and in gasoline models it takes thinking several steps ahead and spooling up the power delivery in advance. The mental gymnastics are flipped a bit here, and I spent much of my time shedding the impulse to press the accelerator early. Here, you only need to hit it exactly when you need it. Old habits die hard. 

RallyCross mode, not intended for use on public roads, will keep the car from spinning in most situations, vehicle dynamics supervisor Hether Fedullo told Motor Authority, but she was quick to add that situations like water on top of ice are very hard to anticipate, so it can still go for a spin.

One of the enabling factors for extracting the dynamics in this mode, Fedullo noted, is allowing as much as a 20:80 distribution of torque between the front and rear wheels, depending on the traction level, while you’re tapping into those four-wheel drifts. 

Mach-E Rally’s also in its element on the road

I was able to spend an hour or so in the Rally on the road as well. With the rainy conditions and standing water in places, it wasn’t the day to push the dynamic envelope on pavement, but the road drive made it abundantly clear that the Rally rides better than the GT while simultaneously offering most of the GT’s fun in its road-worthy Unbridle sport mode. 

According to Fedullo, getting that balance right across all the potential conditions the Rally might be driven in was not an easy task, especially considering the taller-sidewall tires and their tendency to roll on pavement. The magnetic dampers here truly pull their weight as well, helping reduce any harshness from the road, while the extra bit of compliance in the suspension soaks up backroad heaves.

Out on the Interstate, the Rally felt in its element, too, with no significant increase in wind noise due to the lift. The additional underbody shielding might actually help shut out road noise. 

But on- and off-road, the Pacific Northwest weather didn’t let us down, and pouring rain gave me a very vivid set of impressions of the Rally in its element. Out in dry, dusty environs, or on snow, it might feel different, but it’s certainly up for all of that. 

Mustang Mach-E Rally value and features: Unrivaled

The Rally lands at a price of $61,890, and it’s a package that’s different than anything else on the market. No version of the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, or Nissan Ariya comes close. 

At that price, it’s well-equipped in traditional features and comforts, too. It includes a 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen premium sound system (including a subwoofer), ambient cabin lighting, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, memory settings, and a power tailgate—so you’re not going bare-bones for the rally aesthetic and greater tool set either. 

In an era when driving fast often involves merely pushing the accelerator to the floor while electronic nannies do all the work, it’s refreshing to feel a system that acts primarily as an aid to the driver in a vehicle that feels like it channels a kind of all-electric fun that hasn’t been emphasized enough. It’s certainly not a one-trick pony. 

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Ford paid for lodging for Motor Authority to bring you this firsthand report.