The Mustang has always been Ford’s most fashion-conscious car. Special, and not-so-special, editions have always been how this front-engine, rear-drive coupe has sustained cultural relevance over its—next April it’s 60 years—history. So, for 2024, the company has produced a new, forward-facing, high-performance, snot rocket called the Dark Horse.
For those of you yearning for a return riff on the 1974 Mustang II Ghia or an SSP cop car tribute, sorry. Here’s hoping things go your way at the 65th anniversary in 2029.
That the Mustang is now Ford’s only car doesn’t mean it can afford to be anything but fashionable. Therefore, the Dark Horse’s 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 sports twin throttle bodies which are pure intake porn, wears bewitching 19-inch wheels covered in monstrously wide Pirelli PZero rubber, has gorgeous Brembo brake calipers gripping on discs more than an inch larger in diameter than that of a Domino’s large pizza (agonizingly close to being an extra-large), and is otherwise trimmed in both traditional Mustang design cues and hard-edged menace. Also, the paint is impregnated with so much mica it looks as if it were mined. And a 500-hp engine rating is always tres chic.
Here's some trivia. At 390 millimeters, the Dark Horse’s front brake discs are the same diameter as the 1979 Mustang’s optional TRX wheels. News you can use from 45 years ago.
Dark Horse is the first new name for a Mustang edition since the Bullitt tribute for 2003. Dark horse originally being a horse racing term for a steed entered into a race with which gamblers aren’t familiar or have much info to consider. A winner no one saw coming. It has ported over to the political field to indicate a longshot candidacy.
Ford brought some press from around the world together in North Carolina to appreciate the car along the backroads and do some hot (well, more than warm) laps around an irregular variation of the Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course. This is a short exposure; expect a more comprehensive report with extended experience later.
Press the start button and the Dark Horse roars to life as if it were opening for Aerosmith. After a momentary throat clearing, it settles into an impatient, growling idle. This fourth generation version of the Coyote 5.0-liter, DOHC, 32-valve V-8 is, like previous Coyotes, eager to rev. And that escalator ride from idle to its 7450 rpm redline produces a dang glorious exhaust contralto accented with deep vibrato. The “active valve” exhaust is available on the Mustang GT and even on the four-cylinder models. It finds its best expression here.
Automatic-equipped Dark Horse (and other Mustang) models can also be remotely started and revved from the key fob. Meaning that the guys at the local sideshow can stand next to you while you show off. And if the cops show up, they can’t bust you for standing alongside your car.
Road & Track's Brian Silvestro wrote about the 2024 Mustang GT last week and criticized that car for a “numb front end with next to zero steering feel.” I haven’t driven the ’24 GT, so I don’t dispute Brian’s assessment. But that’s not my experience with the Dark Horse. And that’s likely because the DH tires—when the car is equipped with the “handling pack"—are mind-bogglingly massive. It rocks staggered-fitment rubber with 305/30R19s on 10.5-inch wide rims in front and 315/30R19s on 11-inchers in back. That’s 50-millimeters wider in front and 40-mills wider in back than the widest tires offered on the GT.
The Dark Horse handling package tires are the same size as those fitted to the hardcore 2020 Shelby GT350R and that car stuck to the skidpad at a brainpan-fracturing 1.11 G. It would be unsurprising if the DH doesn’t orbit the pad at a similarly impressive number.
While the GT350R ran on Michelin Pilot Sport 2S—the greatest rubber things since the dawn of vulcanization—the Dark Horse rubber uses Pirelli PZero Trofeo RS tires tweaked for this application. These Pirellis have essentially two treads on each tire. About half the tire’s width (the inside half) has a rather conventional-looking tread pattern optimized to channel water away for good wet-weather traction. Meanwhile, the outer half of the tread, where most cornering adhesion occurs, is a near-slick racing radial with minimal tread or siping to maximize the surface area connecting with the pavement.
On Charlotte’s road course, the immediacy of the DH to steering inputs is astonishing. The steering ratio hasn’t changed from other Mustangs, and the handling package uses the same size anti-sway bars as the handling package offered on the GT. The “MagneRide” dampers are also offered on other Mustangs, so if there’s a difference it has to be mostly in the tires. Those massive meats.
Feel? You don’t need no stinking feel. By the time feel enters the driver’s mind, it’s time to stomp the Brembos and feel the DH bleed speed even more quickly than it builds it. And it’s that initial chomp when the wheel is turned that’s so satisfying. The driver may not feel much through the wheel, but the whole car’s instantaneous turn-in is awesome. That can be felt as the driver’s kidneys slosh over toward the bolsters of the fantastic Recaro chair. Push it hard enough and the DH will rotate elegantly with some throttle application.
The six-speed manual transmission, on the other hand, takes some concentration and determination to operate effectively. Muscling through the gears it’s too easy to miss a gate and that can leave the car ill-prepared to rocket out of a corner.
On track, the 10-speed automatic transmission usually responds quickly to triggered shifts. Usually, however, isn’t always. It sometimes feels as if the torque converter is having a hard time keeping up with action.
So, there’s no perfect transmission offered in the Dark Horse. Acclimation time with either could result in better shifting, but it’s going to take some work.
The 2024 Mustang—the S650—is more an extensive renovation than it is an all-new machine. The windshield, floorpan, and firewall are all pretty much carryover as are the suspension design and most dimensions. It looks better than before, but that’s subjective.
What will likely prove controversial is the dumping of analog instrumentation in favor of a huge-ass digital screen. It’s not that there isn’t some fun to be had with digital manipulation, but it comes at the expense of the Mustang’s traditional dual-cockpit design. The Dark Horse features some animations on the screen that are entertaining, but the other tricks and magic are shared with lesser ‘Stangs.
Ford obviously is preparing several more special editions of the S650 over its lifetime. They know that being on trend matters in this segment—in which the Mustang will soon be the soul entrant—and marketing matters.
For 2024 the Dark Horse will be as good as Mustang gets. Prices start at $60,865 including the rugged $1595 destination charge. But get all the good stuff—like the $4995 handling package, $1650 for leather seating, and $5495 for the wicked awesome painted stripes— and the price easily clears $70,000, with an $80,000 Dark Horse being conceivable.
An $80,000 5.0-liter Mustang. Who saw that coming?
John Pearley Huffman has been writing about cars since 1990 and is getting okay at it. Besides Car and Driver, his work has appeared in the New York Times and more than 100 automotive publications and websites. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, he still lives near that campus with his wife and two children. He owns a pair of Toyota Tundras and two Siberian huskies. He used to have a Nova and a Camaro.
