Would You Rather: BMW M4 Competition or Ford Mustang Mach-E GT?

Superficially, the 2022 BMW M4 Competition and 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT wouldn't seem to have a lot in common. One is a gas-powered German coupe that costs $95,345 (and starts at $75,695) and the other is an electric American crossover that goes for $69,800 (starting at $61,095). The EPA rates the BMW at 18 MPG combined and the Ford at 82 MPGe. Pop the hood on the BMW and you're confronted by a 503-hp 3.0-liter inline six crowned by strut braces. Do the same with the Mach-E, and you find a capacious frunk capable of transporting lots of shrimp.

But the Mustang does have a motor at the front axle, along with another at the rear that combine to make 480 horsepower. So then, we have a couple of all-wheel-drive performance cars that make around 500 horsepower. Seems like maybe they'd be equally quick, too?

We haven't tested the M4 Competition, but the rear-drive manual M4 ran to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds, so we'd expect the all-wheel-drive Competition, with its eight-speed automatic and additional 30 horsepower, to knock a little off of that. We recently tested the Mach-E GT Performance Edition, which adds 34 pound-feet of torque (for a total of 634 pound-feet). Ford claimed a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.5 seconds, but our testing landed a 3.7-second time. So, which would you rather have?

The BMW is clearly the finer thing, especially drenched in Isle of Man Green paint with a Kyalami orange leather interior. Its roof is carbon fiber, as are the shells of the $3800 M Carbon bucket seats. The color head-up display seems to fill half the windshield. Every detail is exquisitely considered, from the red M buttons on the steering wheel to the fabric straps you pull to slide the front seats forward. It's aimed at an audience that's accustomed to a certain level of frictionless precision in life. To which you might say, "Yeah, for nearly a hundred grand, I would hope it's nice." Well, it is.

The Mach-E, despite its electric powertrain, belongs to the American muscle car tradition. Which is to say, the top performance version of something like a Camaro, Challenger or Mustang could cost twice as much as the entry-level model, but it'll have basically the same interior. The GT Performance Edition does get Ford Performance front seats, but mostly the interior looks like any other Mach-E—spare, dominated by a 15.5-inch center touchscreen. The fabric across the dash is nice, but Ford obviously spent its budget in places other than the interior.