The Ford Mustang Dark Horse has big shoes to fill. After all, it follows the performance benchmarks left behind by the previous generation’s Shelby and Mach 1 nameplates. However, even without a Shelby badge, the Mustang Dark Horse manages to snag an impressive bragging right. 

The 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse is the only affordable performance car with an N/A horsepower claim-to-fame

Ford’s iconic pony car returns for its second year as a seventh-gen model. Better yet, the Mustang returns in its Dark Horse spec, a spiritual successor to the S550 Mach 1 and the most powerful standard model in the Mustang’s lineup. Better yet, the track-ready 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse produces 500 horsepower, rarified air for a new car under $80,000.

Moreover, of the performance cars with more than 400 horsepower, few retain natural aspiration. Instead, most sports cars and performance sedans reach beyond the 400-horsepower mark with forced induction, like a pair of turbochargers. Still, there are exceptions to the rule.

That’s where the Ford Mustang Dark Horse shines. It’s one of only a few modern cars with power outputs at or above the 500-horsepower mark without the assistance of electric motors or whirring turbos. Better yet, its magic horsepower-per-liter ratio puts the Dark Horse at exactly 100:1. 

Of course, the Dark Horse isn’t the only brutish domestic performance car with triple-digit horsepower per liter of displacement. The Chevrolet Corvette Z06 from the C8 generation screams its way up to 670 horsepower using a high-revving, naturally aspirated flat-plane-crank 5.5L V8.

However, the C8 Z06 starts at around $113,795 for the entry-level hardtop 1LZ trim– the better part of twice the Dark Horse starting price tag.