2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse Review: The Mustang Goes Emo

It’s time to test drive and review the manual 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse! Today, we’re joined by my favorite singer from my favorite band: Craig Mabbitt of @escapethefate. Craig is on tour with @EmoOrchestra, so we just picked him up for a drive before the show.

Ford calls the Dark Horse “the horse you never saw coming,” and most of us didn’t. The launch was a total surprise. The Dark Horse is the first new performance nameplate for a Mustang model since the Bullitt debuted in 2001, and it’s stunning: The car has matte-black accents everywhere, including some thick eyeliner around its headlights.

The Mustang Dark Horse has a 5.0-liter, naturally aspirated Coyote V8 and a six-speed Tremec manual transmission driving the rear wheels. If you want the 10-speed automatic (which this car did not have), it’s an extra $1,600. The base price of the car is $58,185, and there’s only a fastback available right now — no convertible.

The Dark Horse makes 500 horsepower, which might not sound like a ton in an era of superchargers, turbochargers, and electric power, but it still has lightning-fast acceleration. Plus, natural aspiration is a selling feature — not everyone likes forced induction.

Like the speed, the exhaust sound on this Dark Horse has an other-worldly draw. The car makes you feel edgy yet in control, and the suspension lends itself to surprisingly good handling on the highway. (Just don’t look at your fuel gauge or gas mileage. You’ll want the EcoBoost Mustang for that.)

The Mustang already has so many performance nameplates and models — Shelby, Boss, Mach 1, Bullitt, SVT, GT, and more — so it might not make sense why Ford created all-new branding for a new model. But the Dark Horse is meant to appeal to people who wouldn’t normal consider Mustang ownership, like the younger audiences who might gloss over those old-school nameplates when buying a new car.

In this video, we’ll go through the history of Ford’s halo muscle car (from the first day on sale, to the Fox body, to today). We’ll try the car’s no-lift upshifting technology. We’ll compare it to the similarly-powered Mustang GT. We’ll get in the trunk. And we’ll let Craig Mabbitt tell you how he feels about the Dark Horse, which is the first manual car he’s driven since Escape the Fate’s “Something” music video 15 years ago.

Then, we’ll discuss: Is the Dark Horse worth it? It’s not the cheapest V8 Mustang on the market, but it sure is great.

Thanks for watching my YouTube channel. Enjoy the drive!

#cars #automotive #mustang #fordmustang #ford #darkhorse #musclecars #americancars #mustanggt #mustangdarkhorse #carreview #carreviews #alanisking

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