EVER since Hollywood superstar Steve Mcqueen raced his Ford Mustang GT around the streets of San Francisco in the film Bullitt the car has become an icon of the motoring world.

But that legendary car chase of the silver screen was way back in 1968 when Mustangs were V8 muscle machines.

Today's Mustang Mach-E is a totally different pony. A car designed to cater for the massive demand for SUVs as well as leading the charge for Ford in the electric car market.

Sleek, stylish and very trendy it's a car whose macho lines manage to avoid the lookalike shapes of so many new SUV models which it will be competing against.

The Mustang Mach-E is available with both rear and all-wheel-drive as well as a standard battery model and an extended range version.

The model driven here is the top-of-the-range all-wheel-drive, extended range flagship model which boasts a Tesla-challenging 0-62 miles per hour time of 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 111 mph thanks to the combined 346bhp of its twin electric motors.

And, being the top-of-the-range its carries the top-of-the-range price of just over £58,000,

But for that you get a very desirable car with dynamic performance, excellent driveability, plenty of space for five and some very nice features.

Even unlocking the car is different, quirky even and achieved by touching the light sensitive button on the centre or B pillar so the door springs open.

Step inside and it's definitely different. Dominating the interior is a huge 15.5-inch I-Pad style touch screen which gives access to all the car's onboard features including the satellite navigation system.

It's a style which reflects that of Tesla but unlike Tesla Ford has chosen to fit a separate small screen immediately in front of the driver with a digital speedometer and range details.

The two screens apart the dashboard section has a very minimalist appearance which, in part, is due to the fact that a large portion of it is a built-in Bang & Olufsen sound bar.

And that's just part of a long list of onboard kit which helps make this Mustang so highly desirable including electrically adjustable seats with memory function, heated seats, heated steering wheel and a vast tinted glass panoramic sunroof.

Add to that a Bang & Olufsen 10-speaker sound system, a heated windscreen, split screen reversing camera showing what's behind you as well as a bird's eye view and a whole plethora of safety features.

There's no gearshift as such just a simple rotary dial to lock in drive, reverse or park and you have a choice of three driving modes called whisper, active and untamed, all actioned via the large screen.

Slip the Mustang into untamed and it's quick, really quick. And like all electric cars that acceleration is instant.

I liked the ride too. Comfortable but with just the right sort of sporting credentials to ensure excellent road holding with little or no body roll on fast bends and plenty of feedback to instil confidence to push on.

For most people it's range that's one of their biggest concerns and the claimed range of 335 miles on a full charge is a big selling point for the Mustang.

But try as I might I never achieved anywhere near that figure. On one occasion I charged the car up to 75 per cent of capacity and it said the range was 194 miles so I'll leave you to do the maths.

That apart the Mustang is a genuinely nice car to drive. It's refined spacious and certainly adds sparkle to driving an electric car.