2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse: What's It Like to Live With?

• We bought a Ford Mustang Dark Horse to fill the Shelby-sized hole in our heart.
• This is the fourth Mustang variant Edmunds has purchased.
• Will it live up to our high expectations?

What did we get?

Until a new Shelby-badged model arrives, the Dark Horse is the most potent roadgoing new Mustang available. Think of it as a more track-focused version of the Mustang GT. The 5.0-liter Coyote V8 that has powered the Mustang for more than a decade gets a bump in power. Connecting rods borrowed from the GT500, improved airflow, and a few other tricks bring output to 500 horsepower and 418 lb-ft of torque, up 20 hp and 3 lb-ft over the Mustang GT.

A Tremec six-speed manual transmission with a transmission-oil cooler is standard on the Dark Horse but — sigh — that's not what we went with. We opted for the $1,595 10-speed automatic transmission. There was some debate internally about which transmission to go with, but our instrumented testing has repeatedly shown that the automatic is the quicker option. We will be using the Dark Horse for some Edmunds U-Drags races, so getting the quickest available car won the debate.

The Dark Horse looks sharp, with dark accents across the front fascia, dark badging and a trunk-mounted spoiler. The grille has two large intakes, feeding air to help cool both the engine and brakes. Keeping temperatures in check was important given the Dark Horse's track-focused nature. The car includes an auxiliary engine oil cooler, a rear axle cooler, a lighter radiator and more powerful fans.

Brakes come by way of Brembo, with six-piston calipers up front and four-piston calipers in the rear. The 13.9-inch front rotors are larger than those on the Mustang GT. The rear sway bar has been beefed up, as has the suspension. The Dark Horse comes with Ford's MagneRide adaptive dampers, and power is sent to the rear wheels through a Torsen limited-slip differential. All Dark Horses ride on 19-inch wheels with Pirelli rubber.

Because we wanted the fastest possible version, we opted for the $5,495 Dark Horse Handling package. It includes a larger, lower front splitter and a Gurney flap for the rear wing, both of which are removable with a few screws. The springs are stiffer, the sway bars have been further enlarged, and the 19-inch wheels get Pirelli Trofeo RS tires, a more aggressive compound than the standard Dark Horse. The wheels are wider, too, with wider 305-section front and 315-section rear tires.

Prices for the 2025 model start at $62,925 for the standard Dark Horse and $66,920 for Dark Horse Premium, but we found a 2024 with a slightly lower MSRP still sitting on a dealer lot in Orange County. It was a loaded Dark Horse Premium with $1,995 Recaro seats that are very similar to the seats on our old GT500. All in, we got our car for an MSRP of $74,155. For reference, we paid $81,280 for our 2020 Shelby GT500. If we'd opted for the carbon-fiber wheels, the Dark Horse would have crested that figure by several thousand dollars.

Instrumented testing results

How's the Mustang's fuel economy?

• EPA fuel economy rating: 17 combined (14 city/22 highway)
• Edmunds' observed fuel economy: 12.5 mpg
• Best fill: 19.1 mpg
• Best range: 307.7 miles

U-Drags: Ford Mustang Dark Horse vs. Ford Mustang Mach-E

The Ford Mustang has had plenty of evolutions in its day. The original pony car was followed up by Mustang II (which was, admittedly, a disaster), the Ford Body, the S197, and more recently, the Mach-E SUV. The new S650 is the latest in the line of more traditional 'Stangs, and the Dark Horse we recently spent our own money on for a One-Year Road Test is the most powerful of the bunch. Its 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 sounds fantastic and kicks out a huge 500 horsepower, plus in this case it's the automatic (which our testing shows is the quickest way to get one of these down the quarter mile).

Its competition is its own sibling, the Mach-E. For 2025 it got updates that mean it no longer pulls power after a launch, and with electric all-wheel drive and 480 hp and 634 lb-ft of torque, it's quicker than before. So it's Mustang versus Mustang, V8 versus electrons, and rear-wheel drive versus all-wheel drive. Which 'Stang has the edge? Watch the video to find out. One thing's for sure, though, we know the Ford's going to win.

Our Ford Mustang Dark Horse came with free racing school

"I was excited when I heard we were purchasing a 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for our One-Year Road Test garage. I was a big fan of our old Shelby GT500, and having another sports car in the fleet is never a bad thing. It's only been in our garage a few months, but the Dark Horse has already been put through the paces at several Edmunds U-Drags races. Because Edmunds purchased the car just like any other customer, we were eligible to send someone to the Dark Horse Track Attack driving school at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. If you have an eligible Mustang or are planning on purchasing one, I highly recommend attending the program." — Reese Counts

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We supercharged our Ford Mustang Dark Horse

"Earlier this year, we added a 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse to our One-Year Road Test garage, filling the gap left by the Ford Shelby GT500 that was in our fleet for a while. The Dark Horse was almost immediately put to work in several Edmunds U-Drags races. While the car's performance was impressive, it didn't put up the same performance figures as the more powerful Shelby. And while a new Shelby Mustang is coming sometime soon, Ford has a factory-backed solution that should put our Dark Horse in the same realm as our old GT500." — Reese Counts

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U-Drags: Ford Mustang Dark Horse vs. Chevy Corvette

We're back! The new series of Edmunds U-Drags kicks off with an all-American showdown that's also a rematch. When we put our Ford Mustang Dark Horse up against the Chevy Corvette Stingray earlier this year, the 'Vette won by 2 seconds and with a higher top speed. But since then, our Mustang gained a supercharger. Can the Corvette still reign supreme?

U-Drags: Ford Mustang Dark Horse vs. Tesla Model 3

The Ford Mustang Dark Horse and Tesla Model 3 aren't natural rivals. In regular circumstances, the Model 3 would disappear off the line and leave the Mustang in its silent dust. But we wanted to give the Mustang a real chance to defend against the super-quick Model 3, so we slapped a supercharger on it. 

Tesla's Model 3 Performance is a giant-killer with supercar levels of acceleration. Its 500 horsepower has proven to be more than enough to fend off serious competition. But the Mustang makes nearly 800 horsepower a the crank, and its automatic gearbox means it loses less time during shifts. They weigh about the same, the Tesla will get off the line quicker, and the Ford will pull down the back straight harder. 

Edmunds U-Drags: Ford Mustang Dark Horse vs. BMW M4 Competition

"The Ford Mustang and the BMW M3 (or, in this case, the BMW M4) have been on a crash course for years. The BMW has always been touted as the more dynamic, more sophisticated, and very often faster of the two when it comes to backroads and racetracks. But today we aren't on either of those — we're on an airstrip." — Nick Yekikian

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I Took Our Ford Mustang Dark Horse to a Track Day. It Had a Meltdown — Literally

"To say that our Ford Mustang Dark Horse has been well used would be an understatement. Since joining the Edmunds One-Year Road Test fleet in January 2025, our 'Stang visited our test track for performance testing on multiple occasions and raced against dozens of rivals in Edmunds U-Drags. We even added a Ford Performance supercharger to our Dark Horse, giving it a Dodge Challenger Hellcat-beating 810 horsepower.

"So you'd think that a casual weekend track day would be a piece of cake for our Dark Horse, right? Boy, was I wrong. A half hour of lapping at Buttonwillow Raceway Park resulted in a multipart mechanical meltdown (literally) and a three-month-long stay at the dealer." —Gabriel Vega Cortés

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