Subaru BRZ VS Ford Mustang

When the BRZ was revealed its new styling was polarising. While it looked a lot more mature than the zany lines and angry light fittings of the original model, I almost thought there was something retro about its newfound curvature running across its nose and particularly its rear.

It comes together nicely though as a more sophisticated design. One which looks fresh from the front and rear.

The side profile is perhaps the only area where you can see how closely this car is related to its predecessor, with very similar door panels and near identical dimensions.

The design is more than just a major freshen-up though. The curvier nose with lower grille is said to be significantly less drag-inducing, while all the vents, fins, and spoilers are entirely functional, working to reduce turbulence and allow air to flow around the car.

Subaru’s technical people say this is because reducing weight proved too difficult (despite its increase in equipment, this car only weighs a few kg more than its predecessor), so other ways were found to make it faster.

I find the rear integrated spoiler and distinct new light fittings particularly appealing, accentuating the width of this little coupe, tastefully tying it together.

Of course, you won’t need to go to a third party to clad your car in extra pieces, with Subaru offering STI-branded accessories. Everything from side skirts, blacked-out alloy wheels, even a ridiculous spoiler, if you’re so inclined.

The interior has quite a few carryover parts from the previous model. The prime contact points with the car, the steering wheel, shifter, and manual handbrake lever are the same, although the modified dash cladding feels more cohesive than before.

Gone are the aftermarket-look screen, climate dials which looked tacked on, and clumsily finished lower area, all replaced by more attractive pieces.

The climate unit and lower dash design, with smart shortcut buttons, are particularly nice, and don’t look as cobbled together as before.

The seats have been tweaked in terms of their trim, but overall share the same design. This is a good thing for front passengers, as the seats in the original car were already great, on-the road and when you needed the extra side-bolstering on the track.

Two more different looking SUVs you could not find. Actually, the EV6 GT barely even looks like an SUV although that’s what Kia calls it and the industry classifies it as such.

Have a look at the images, or better still watch the video we made above, to take in the stark comparison between the styling of these vehicles.

The Mustang Mach-E GT looks reassuringly like a Mustang SUV with its vertical bar tail-lights, the muscular rear haunches, blade headlights, shark nose bonnet and big grille.

Well, it’s not a real grille but if you look closely you’ll see the faint outline of honeycomb mesh behind the semi-transparent plastic.

The Kia EV6 GT looks more like a bloated hatchback than an SUV, but you could argue that’s all an SUV is, anyway, I guess.

Still, it’s a stunning design with its pinched in nose, bulbous and smooth panels, looking low, wide and intimidating like a venomous insect complete with lime green brake calipers.

Despite the obvious exterior differences their dimensions aren’t wildly different as you can see in the table below, only the height sets them apart.

If all you had to go with were these figures I’m sure you’d never imagine they’d belong to two very different looking SUVs. The extra height gives the Mustang GT Mach-E a more upright and boxy design, and this affects practicality as you’ll read about further on. For now let's look at their insides on purely stylistic merits.

Of course they have completely different interiors. The Mustang Mach-E GT has a more macho, serious but sporty cabin with high quality feeling fabrics adorning the dashboard and synthetic leather seats. Only the gigantic portrait media display makes this feel like a modern Ford product.

The EV6 GT’s cabin feels dark, like a cave but one filled with expansive screens and tech. There are intriguing patterns etched into the dashboard and deep seats that wrap around their occupants.

Its innards are as alien as its exterior and I’m here for it. And so are many people. Probably not those who like the Mustang Mach-E GT’s cabin, though.

I think the Mustang Mach-E GT pulls off a better look, especially considering the pressure it’s designers would have been under to create an SUV version of one of the most iconic cars on Earth.