The Best Mustang of Every Modern Generation

First modern GT500 since 1970, and the first supercharged V8 Mustang Ford had built in decades. 500 hp and 480 lb-ft out of a 5.4-liter twin-cam V8 doesn't sound like much next to what came after, but in 2007 it was the most power a factory Mustang had ever carried — and the one that proved Ford was serious about doing the Shelby name right again, not just slapping stripes on a badge.

This is the one that got genuinely silly. 662 horsepower from a 5.8-liter supercharged V8, officially certified — the most powerful production V8 in the world at the time it launched, from a company that also sold you an F-150. Ford's own numbers put 202 mph on the table, and somehow it still carried an EPA highway rating of 24 mpg. Nobody in the shop has ever agreed on whether that's more impressive than the horsepower number.

760 horsepower and 625 lb-ft from a 5.2-liter supercharged V8 — not just the most powerful Mustang Ford had built, but the most powerful production Ford of any kind, ever, at launch. The 6-speed manual got dropped for a 7-speed Tremec dual-clutch here, which caused arguments in the shop that are, as of this writing, unresolved. Sub-11-second quarter mile from the factory, no aftermarket work required.

There's no GT500 in the current lineup — this generation's flagship is the Dark Horse SC, and per Ford's own published specs it runs 795 horsepower from a 5.2-liter supercharged V8 shared directly with the Mustang GTD supercar, paired with a 7-speed Tremec dual-clutch and a carbon-fiber driveshaft. At $106,090 MSRP, it's also the first regular-production Mustang to cross into six figures. Ford says it was developed alongside the GTD and GT3 race cars at Sebring and VIR — genuine motorsport lineage, not a marketing line, for once.