“All this horsepower and no room to gallop!” Jim Carrey exclaims within the 2003 movie Bruce Almighty when he encounters site visitors in his Saleen S7. That is precisely how we felt as we sat shotgun within the new 2024 Ford Mustang Darkish Horse, crawling ahead alongside New York Metropolis’s West Facet Freeway. The Stang’s naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V-8 purred, begging to be let free. However whereas Carrey’s character makes use of his God-given powers to half the site visitors like Moses with the Purple Sea and tear off in a cacophony of engine noise, we needed to patiently await a clearing within the swarm of slow-moving automobiles.
When the site visitors thinned out, we received a quick style of the vigorous efficiency the Darkish Horse guarantees. The Coyote V-8 pumps out 500 horsepower, and when the sunshine turned inexperienced, the Darkish Horse shot ahead with authority, the engine roaring as we merged onto the elevated freeway, rapidly reaching extra-legal speeds. The Darkish Horse was barely breaking a sweat, its efficiency potential simply exceeding the confines of our surroundings.
The 5.0-liter engine’s 418 pound-feet of torque is distributed to the rear wheels via both a normal Tremec six-speed handbook or an elective 10-speed automated transmission. Our automobile had the handbook, and we observed the rev-match function working as the motive force labored the rounded blue titanium shift knob.
Sitting shotgun was enjoyable, however we actually cannot wait to get behind the wheel. This performance-focused model acts a center floor between the outgoing Mach 1 and Shelby variants, so the trip was predictably stiff. You’re feeling each bump contained in the cabin, however the MagneRide adaptive dampers did a commendable job of rounding out the impacts, stopping the jolts from feeling too harsh. The damper settings are tied into the drive modes and can’t be individually adjusted, so it is best to go away the Mustang within the “regular” setting for every day driving—though most Darkish Horse fashions will in all probability be weekend rides or monitor toys anyway.
As we merged again into site visitors, we had a while to discover the 2024 Mustang’s 12.4-inch digital gauge cluster and 13.2-inch touchscreen. The gauge cluster will be custom-made with a number of layouts, together with one which mimics the devices on the 1987–1993 Fox-body Mustang. A button with the Mustang emblem hundreds what our driver referred to as the “enjoyable” display screen—the place the drive modes and different efficiency settings will be adjusted. The infotainment system’s visuals are powered by the newest iteration of Epic Video games’ Unreal Engine, and the video-game inspiration is obvious, with flashy graphics highlighting completely different sections of the automobile relying on what’s being modified.
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The exhaust has a number of choices—Quiet mode is tame, permitting for a subdued startup and stealthy exit from the neighborhood within the wee hours of the morning. However put it into Sport mode, and the Coyote V-8 snarls and shouts. A track-specific setting makes the exhaust notice even fiercer.
The Darkish Horse we rode in was a pre-production unit, however aside from some poorly-fitted plastics on the door, the cabin felt upscale thanks to an intensive use of suede. We additionally discovered the closely bolstered Recaro seats snug. The titanium shift knob is 3D-printed and incorporates a lattice core—the decreased mass means it would return to cabin temperature far faster as an alternative of staying ice chilly or scalding sizzling like many steel shifters.
The Darkish Horse begins at $59,565, so a high-quality cabin can be essential for convincing clients to spend that a lot coin. However we’re certain the Mustang’s efficiency would be the primary draw, and if this fast style was any indication, the Darkish Horse might ship. We expect to find out for actual within the close to future.
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Caleb Miller started running a blog about automobiles at 13 years outdated, and he realized his dream of writing for a automobile journal after graduating from Carnegie Mellon College and becoming a member of the Automobile and Driver staff. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to at some point personal one thing weird like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
