2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1

CARLOS LAGO: Oh my god! [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: 3, 2, 1, go! CARLOS LAGO: So what we have here are two wildly different Mustangs. This is the Ford Mustang Mach 1. It's got 480 horsepower from its naturally aspirated V8, 10-speed automatic, and a bunch of handling goodies that don't really matter in a drag race, do they? KURT NIEBUHR: No, but I'm in a 2020 Shelby GT500 with a 5.2-liter V8, with a giant supercharger bolted on top of it. And I'm making 760 horsepower. And also, I have a bunch of handling and track goodies on it that won't help. CARLOS LAGO: Aside from your higher displacement, you also have an incredible amount of power. But previous have-- drag races have made us ask if it's too much of a good thing, right? KURT NIEBUHR: Well, if you're on a regular road surface, yeah, I think it could be too much of a good thing. CARLOS LAGO: So what we're going to find out in this drag race is whether 480 horsepower is actually better for a quarter mile acceleration, if that makes sense. Does it? KURT NIEBUHR: Man, I hope not. CARLOS LAGO: It would certainly make the price difference between these two harder to swallow, wouldn't it? Anyway, drag race time, Ford Mustang Mach 1 versus Ford Shelby GT500. Hey, if you like videos like this one, like, and comment, and subscribe. Tell us other cars you'd like to see get drag raced, because we're happy to do it. And if you have a car, truck, SUV to sell, that you want to sell, visit edmunds.com/sellmycar to get an instant cash offer on that vehicle. KURT NIEBUHR: So how do you launch one of these cars? Well, if you're on a prep surface, they have a drag strip mode. You've got launch control, it's pretty effective. We're not on a prep surface, so I'm going to be trying to pedal the car myself, maybe use some of the car's built-in traction control, maybe not. I should really try and heat the tires up a little bit first. We actually both have the same tires. We have Michelin Sport Cup 2s. This car, we replaced the Pilot Sport 4 Ss that it came on it. These have seen some actual racetrack work, so they're not at their best. But I am, so let's see. CARLOS LAGO: The Mustang Mach 1 is not a vehicle built for quarter mile acceleration. But it's a Mustang, so it kind of has to be anyway, right? 10-speed automatic is going to make the shifting process a lot easier. And hopefully, we'll be able to keep up with that GT500. As for launching it, I'm going to put it in its drag race mode and just try to roll on the gas pedal while holding the brake in place, to just try to make that launch as aggressive as possible. My real hope is that he just can't get the launch right in the GT500, because that's really going to be the only thing that makes the drag race work in the Mach 1's favor. [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: Drivers, are you ready? Drivers, race in 3, 2, 1, go! CARLOS LAGO: Oh boy, oh boy. KURT NIEBUHR: There you go, get some traction. CARLOS LAGO: OK. Woo! Woo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo! Woo! [MUSIC PLAYING] KURT NIEBUHR: Predictable race was predictable, and predictable lack of traction was also predictable. CARLOS LAGO: So I don't know about you, but I had quite a bit of wheel spin through second and what felt like third gear. I almost felt like I had a Cars & Coffee moment. (SLOW-MO) Oh boy, oh boy. Oh boy. KURT NIEBUHR: Well, luckily for everybody involved, there was not a sidewalk full of people. CARLOS LAGO: So I rolled on the throttle. And what was funny is, we were pretty much side by side until this thing got to like, third gear. And the more this car started spinning its tires, obviously, the more you started pulling away. What's interesting, though, is with this less power, I'm still spinning. KURT NIEBUHR: It's weird. Mustangs, for a long time, haven't been able to hook on the street. And I guess they still can't. CARLOS LAGO: But that was supposed to be a solid rear axle issue, not a multi-link issue. KURT NIEBUHR: I-- you know, to be honest, I didn't really exercise as much patience or self-control as I probably should have, and just wanted to-- I just wanted to win. [MUSIC PLAYING] CARLOS LAGO: OK, now-- hopefully, we've got some heat in the tires. And we're-- I noticed that this time, we're spaced a little further apart. KURT NIEBUHR: I just want to make sure we both have enough room to walk a little bit. SPEAKER 2: [INAUDIBLE] set. SPEAKER 1: 3, 2, 1, go! [MUSIC PLAYING] CARLOS LAGO: There it is. There-- oh, there's the horsepower. Well, shoot. KURT NIEBUHR: Yep. I believe I ordered the wheelspin at 85 miles an hour. How about you? CARLOS LAGO: I actually stayed hooked that time. And I was feeling really good about that until you just disappeared. [MUSIC PLAYING] Well, shoot. KURT NIEBUHR: That was right about the time when the wheels stopped spinning. CARLOS LAGO: So far, we've proven two things, I think. The first is that 760 horsepower is more than 480 horsepower. Would you agree? KURT NIEBUHR: I went to art school. But I'll agree with those numbers, sure. CARLOS LAGO: The second thing I think we've found is that it's very difficult for a car to accelerate forward when its tires cannot get traction to the surface. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, especially when the surface isn't exactly your friend. It's pretty baked out here. CARLOS LAGO: I think at Edmunds, we like to take vehicle testing very seriously. That's what really shows in this process. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I forgot to put my serious hat on today, sorry. CARLOS LAGO: What is interesting about this is both of these vehicles take some skill to launch. You know, to be blunt about it, they take some work to launch. It's not as easy as most of the other vehicles we drag race. Now, that's kind of fun. But it also means that like, you really need to practice it and make it work in order to do it safely, and with any sort of quickness. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, and I think it also shows, though, that these cars really do their best work once they're on the move. Once you're on a racetrack like this, this car rips, absolutely rips. It doesn't necessarily rip from a standstill, but it's still a lot of fun. CARLOS LAGO: And on that notion, I think we definitely need to do a roll race. That GT500 is definitely going to win, but I just got to see it happen from the perspective of this Mach 1. You know, it's just-- how can you not, right? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I mean, we do, like you said, take testing very seriously. So we do have to make sure that this will win. CARLOS LAGO: There is no conclusion too obvious for us to not validate, or something. [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: All right, guys, go for it. KURT NIEBUHR: We're going to go from 40 miles an hour, I assume? I'm just going to follow Carlos because, you know-- [MUSIC PLAYING] CARLOS LAGO: Yep, yep, yep, yep. Oh my god! Oh my god! KURT NIEBUHR: Oh, hell yes. That never gets old. Never, ever, ever gets old. CARLOS LAGO: That thing is so fast! KURT NIEBUHR: I want one of these, and I want a private racetrack, and I want unlimited tires-- all I want. CARLOS LAGO: And a gas station that you just own, right? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, so I'm going to build my private racetrack in Saudi Arabia. CARLOS LAGO: You know, it's funny, this has 10 gears. That has six, seven? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I have fewer gears, but they're spaced quite far apart. But that's OK because I've got the torque to pull them. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah, and I was actually going to say, I think I went through three gear changes while you were in one, just judging by the sound of your engine. Like, I would upshift, upshift, upshift, and you're just this "blat" of exhaust. It's really funny. KURT NIEBUHR: I spun basically through second. And I just kind of short shifted after a while because I was like, you know, I've kind of had enough of wheelspin at 65 miles an hour. I kind of want some grip. CARLOS LAGO: Given the horsepower disparity, we shouldn't have been too surprised with the difference in acceleration. Just see the test track results, where the GT500 is over a second faster to the quarter mile. But let us also use this time to recognize the Mach 1's strengths in handling and stopping. Its best 94-foot stop from 60 and 1.1 average lateral g-- these are incredible results. But fun drag race, yeah? KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, every drag race is a fun drag race. CARLOS LAGO: And to back up our original thesis, we thought, is 760 horsepower too much of a good thing? The answer is plainly no. KURT NIEBUHR: Yeah, I can say unequivocally, I could use a little more horsepower. CARLOS LAGO: 761, or 860? KURT NIEBUHR: Well, considering this car beat a Charger-- no, sorry, Challenger Hellcat Redeye that had 800 horsepower, I say going to 800 is a little too much. CARLOS LAGO: Yeah, better to keep things sensible at 790 horsepower. KURT NIEBUHR: There's no need to rub it in. CARLOS LAGO: Thank you guys for watching another drag race video. Hey, like, comment, and subscribe if you like what you saw. And if you didn't, well, hey, tell us about that, too, in the comments. If you have a car that you want to sell, visit edmunds.com/sellmycar to get an instant cash offer. No brainer, it's super easy. See you guys next time. [MUSIC PLAYING]