Ghost Rider Reborn: The 2025 Mustang Dark Horse Review

What sort of tour would best suit the brutish, brooding elegance of the new 2025 Mustang Dark Horse? The most muscly of muscle cars, and without doubt the best-looking beast ever to gallop out of the Ford stable, surely deserves something cinematic. Because nothing says subtle symbolism like photographing this snorting V8 beast alongside a real-life stallion —  with hooves and attitude.

Then we took it somewhere worthy: Hayling Island. A place where wing foilers and kite surfers ride 35 mph gusts with all the subtlety of Viking berserkers, flinging themselves into backrolls and inverted frontflips. But the windsurfers were having the most fun, tripping over the waves like waterbabies with wings powered by rocket packs, while we prowled the coastal roads in something that growled louder than the storm surge.

It felt fitting. This car isn’t for those who ease into the day with oat milk and moderation—it’s for those who wake up craving adrenaline, burnt rubber, and a soundtrack of V8 thunder. It’s for the dreamers, the drifters, the storm chasers — those who hear the word “power” and don’t think of kilowatts. It’s for the kind of person who’s always one song away from quitting their job and driving off into the dust.

Specs & Swagger: The Vital Statistics

Beneath its moody armour and delightfully aggressive quad tailpipes, the Dark Horse Fastback packs a 5.0-litre V8 mated to a six-speed Tremec manual gearbox—a glorious throwback to driving as it was meant to be. It packs 453 PS and 540 Nm of torque, which it throws down with the sort of theatrical bellow that requires leather gloves and a stiff bourbon. 0–62 mph arrives in 5.2 seconds, and top speed sits at a thoroughly illegal 163 mph. Fuel economy? Oh, you poor, sweet innocent — this is a 23.2 mpg indulgence, and no, it’s not pretending to be eco-friendly.

With a kerbweight of 1,812 kg and a proper (if slightly optimistic) four-seat setup, it’s heavy metal made manifest. But while it may weigh like a battleship, it moves with precision and purpose thanks to a Torsen limited-slip differential, MagneRide® adaptive suspension, and upgraded cooling systems that could chill a small data centre. Tick the Appearance Pack and you get Blue Ember paint, Notorious Blue Brembo callipers, and Deep Indigo perforated seats — because if you’re going to drive like Johnny Cash chasing the devil’s cattle across the burning plains of the American West, you’d best look good doing it.

Design Drama: Armour-Plated Elegance

The Dark Horse doesn’t just arrive. It descends — low, brooding, and utterly unapologetic. Darkened triple-LED headlights blaze ahead, a fixed rear wing slices the air like a battle axe, and the race-inspired diffuser channels the fury of something far more dangerous than a mere road car. Its new design language is all menace and muscle: gloss black grilles, painted bonnet vents, lower side skirts, and a galloping Dark Tarnish anodised pony on the front grille like a warning shot.

Unique Dark Horse badging lurks on the front arches, sills and tailgate, shouting pedigree in bold type. But it’s more than just surface drama — the silhouette flows from the colossal bonnet to the rear spoiler with the kind of visual poetry usually reserved for hand-forged weaponry.

It looks like the love child of a Spartan warrior, a samurai, and a medieval knight — but spiritually, this car is Johnny Cash in metallic form. Brooding, iconic, and with a deep V8 growl that sounds like it’s been smoking cigars and chasing trouble since the '60s. If ever a car channelled Ghost Riders in the Sky, this is it — the Dark Horse is Johnny Cash himself, thundering across a burning desert in pursuit of the devil’s herd, black Stetson tipped low, coat flapping, and boots kicking up brimstone. It is, quite simply, the most cinematic Mustang Ford has ever built.

Interior: Saddled Up in Style

Slide inside and the theatre continues: an anodised blue titanium manual gear knob (utterly gorgeous, frankly) sits at the centre like a jewel in a crown. The suede flat-bottomed steering wheel comes wrapped in contrast Indigo stitching, while the Deep Indigo sport seats feature Dinamica suede-like inserts and enough blue threadwork to keep Savile Row in business.

But the real star? That six-speed TREMEC manual gearbox — a mechanical masterclass that delivers each shift with a visceral thunk that could silence a room. It’s a reminder of what driving used to feel like before everything went touch-sensitive and emotionally numb. Heated, ventilated and cooled front seats, a heated leather steering wheel, and power-adjustable everything remind you this is a luxury muscle car, not a medieval torture device.

The layout is driver-centric without being austere. Ambient lighting dances around the cabin like the reflection of firelight in a saloon. There’s a digital instrument cluster that morphs into a drag-race inspired layout, and controls fall to hand with an ease that feels suspiciously well engineered. Even the cupholders are exactly where your elbow wants them to be. Little things matter when you’re chasing the devil.

Tech: Brains Behind the Brawn

Tech-wise, the Dark Horse is less retro brute and more rolling command centre. Front and centre is the 13.2” touchscreen with fully wireless everything — smartphone integration, FordPass Connect, and navigation so clever it could probably find a parking space in Soho. The 12-speaker Bang & Olufsen surround system turns Wagner on the way to Waitrose into a cinematic experience, and if you'd rather hear the V8 soundtrack instead, simply lower the windows and let the symphony of combustion sing.

Triple-LED headlights and sequential rear indicators play welcome and farewell animations, because drama is non-negotiable. Mustang logo puddle lamps greet you like an old friend, while power-folding mirrors and a rear-view camera make reversing feel vaguely noble. Lane-keeping assist, blind spot monitoring, pre-collision warning, pedestrian detection, and adaptive cruise control with adjustable speed limiter round out a frankly overqualified suite of safety tech.

Performance: A Macho Muscle Masterpiece

Some cars make you smile. The Mustang Dark Horse makes you laugh like a cowboy lighting a cigar after outrunning the law. The gearbox feels like shifting railway levers from the Industrial Revolution, requiring actual muscle to move from first to second. It’s utterly glorious. Every shift is a visceral moment of joy, every downshift a fire-breathing crackle as the V8 dumps fury through the quad black exhausts.

The handbrake is a digital button masquerading as a proper lever, but you can still perform a decent drift or handbrake turn with it. Customisable driving modes — including Normal, Sport, Track, Drag Strip and Slippery — each transform the beast beneath your feet. Choose Track or Drag to get that immediate throttle response and unfiltered aggression.

Handling? Think sumo wrestler agility. The car drops into corners with shocking poise, clings to the tarmac like a gecko on superglue, and explodes out of bends with unholy force. The MagneRide® adaptive suspension with pothole mitigation is sublime, absorbing British backroads with a surprising degree of finesse. It corners with tank-like stability, yet still feels connected and savage, like a perfectly trained predator on a leash.

This is the Mustang we’ve all been waiting for. A proper handling package to finally match the power. And while I didn’t get it onto a track (and yes, that still haunts me), the road performance is blisteringly addictive. And for those who do want track-only thrills, Ford makes the even more hardcore Dark Horse R for the Mustang Challenge series — a street-illegal beast that may as well come with a racing licence.

Is It the Ultimate Muscle Car?

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just about speed. It’s about what you can do with that speed. The Dark Horse doesn’t just go fast, it manages its power with grace and control. While 0–62 mph in 5.2 seconds isn’t record-shattering on paper, the way it handles every one of those seconds is where the magic lies.

It stays flat, grips hard, and keeps you planted, like gravity just got more intense under your wheels. The aerodynamic rear spoiler, torsen diff, and adaptive suspension create a feeling of control that is sheer bliss. This is not a car designed to chase specs on a brochure; it’s designed to create memories, preferably at high speed, with dust in your rear-view and the horizon dead ahead.

Many sports cars may claim higher top speeds, better efficiency, or more carbon fibre. But few deliver the sheer visceral joy, theatrical presence, and character of the Dark Horse. It’s the distilled spirit of everything a muscle car should be — powerful, unashamed, and thrilling. If a muscle car is your dream, they don’t come more testosterone-laced than this.

The engine note is a cross between a bad-tempered wolverine and a chainsaw duel in a cathedral. The downshifts alone are worth the price tag. And every time I shifted gears, I laughed out loud. Not a chuckle — a full-body, maniacal laugh. It’s that good.

Johnny Cash Chaos on Four Wheels

If Johnny Cash were a car, he’d be the Mustang Dark Horse. It rumbles with confidence, looks sharp enough to draw blood, and moves like it’s chasing something biblical across the landscape. This isn’t just the best Mustang yet — it’s the most soulful, powerful, and cinematic expression of the American muscle car dream we’ve seen in years.

It’s not trying to be European. It’s not trying to save the planet. It’s not apologising for its soundtrack. It is loud, proud, and wearing metaphorical spurs. It may just be the last great hurrah of the naturally aspirated muscle era. If so, Ford has written the final verse of an epic ballad — and it sounds a lot like Johnny Cash riding into the fire.

If ever there were a car that looked like it clawed its way out of a thunderstorm and challenged the Four Horsemen to a drag race, the Mustang Dark Horse is it.

Mustang Dark Horse available from £67,995.

Explore the Mustang Dark Horse at Ford UK