15 GT > 21 Mach1 > 24 Dark Horse Experience

[ChitownStang]

Hey all, Just wanted to give my review of the last 3 Mustangs I've had in the last 10 years, All purchased New.

1- 15 GT Premium Manual, Deep Impact Blue Factory order $37k MSRP, purchased for $34k. Owned 6 years, 60k miles
Mods- Steeda Springs, Shocks, and all the cradle, subframe, Strut tower stiffening, MGW Shifter, Borla Exhaust, Steeda Tune. Niche Wheels PP size.

2- 21 Mach 1 Premium, Auto, Black. Factory pre-order $57,500 MSRP, purchased for $56,500
Mods- Steeda front and rear Stiffening, Girodisc Slotted rotors, Wengerd Tune. Owned 4 years, 28k miles

3- 24 Dark Horse Premium, Tremec, White. Purchased 1 week ago Dealer showroom $67k MSRP, purchased for $63k
Mods- Stock , PPF & Tints yesterday. Owned 1 week , 160miles



-Exterior Looks-
Mach 1 wins, they really did good with the front and rear of this car borrowing from the Shelby diffusers and lower front... I will miss this cars looks
The Dark Horse looks way better in real life than pics, I mean night and day. I love the Side and Rear view of this car. Black Exhaust tips are sick! The front facia is fine but not like I'm crazy about it. I do like the hood the best out of all 3, nicely done with vent and stickers.
I really love the DH Full size front and rear Brembos with these wheels , badass!
Body panel alignment is the worst out of the 3 , truly pathetic for a car at this price point , Freakin Ford quality control blows!
Overall the DH is tough looking car and even though I did not want white, its growing on me. The deal was too good to pass up.
-Interior
From 15 to 21 there wasn't a huge difference other than digital dash which I thought was a really nice upgrade in the Mach 1 . The Sync system wasn't anything special in either, never liked it. Visibility has always been good in the Mustang and so is the super practical trunk space. Mach 1 had some nice stitching in leather seats too.
The 24 is a huge difference in much of the interior and this is another thing where the pictures do not do justice, once I sat in it, I was sold! The touchscreen is super high definition and cool! Actually very intuitive and has so much displayed on 1 screen that you don't need to press much once setup. You can change to custom drive mode from the steering wheel now which is huge imo. I was a hater but I was so wrong. If you like tech, this new interior is geek central!
The steering wheel is beautiful and feels great with flat bottom,
The ecteronic Brake is actually pretty cool and modern.
The suede seats are super comfortable and the blue/grey accents are so nice.
B&O stereo is impressive over the other 2 which I had to add sub/amp since I didn't option from Ford.
I also like the new sunglass holder spot up top.
-Performance-
I had my 15 GT pretty dialed in , Steeda suspension really made that car handle on rails but there were always a lot of noises in the suspension that I was chasing. MGW shifter really was an awesome upgrade for the Getrag crap shifter. The car was fast but really fell on its face a little over 6k rpm's so definitely left me wanting more in the power even with the tune.
The Mach 1 Gen 3 was a huge upgrade in performance especially with the Flex tune and e85. The Magnaride upgrade was also a big upgrade and versatile, stiffening the front and rear with steeda parts is a noticable mod that I would do again. I did develop a clunk in the front suspension that drove me crazy and could not figure out how to fix. You did feel the bumps in the road, and it did not absorb them that great in my opinion.
The 10r80 auto trans was the ONLY reason I sold the Mach 1. Somehow my wife convinced me to get an auto and it was a Yuge mistake! The 10-speed is the worst transmission I've ever had in a car and I've owned many. It was always confused, jerky , and delayed when daily driving. I honestly cannot believe Ford put this trans in a car. The Wengerd tune made it wayyyy better but still could not fix everything about it's behavior.
I will never own another auto sports car as long as I can drive a manual.
The Dark Horse feels very fast, smooth, refined power delivery! Not sure yet if it feels faster than the tuned Mach 1.
The steering is a little numb, noticeably from the Mach 1.
The DH exhaust is amazing, it has a deeper tone. I will be doing an h-pipe again for a few more decibels cheap.
The Tremec shifter and clutch is pure bliss, nothing short of perfect! The auto rev matching is so cool! gear ratio 3.73 is right on the money. I can't say it enough, I am sooo happy to be back in a manual, and the best one on the market to boot!
As far as suspension, this car is honestly, next level when it comes to absorbing bumps. Super smooth and no vibration in the car. My wife has a BMW X5 and I test drove the M2 , they both absorb the road better than any other car I've driven before the DH and I will say the DH is on par with them. I'm very impressed so far. I can't comment on cornering yet since I haven't pushed the DH with it still being cold here in Chicago.
Oh, and lastly the Engine bay wins hands down for this 4th gen Coyote, Dual intakes and the engine cover as well as how the Engine sits higher being able to see the front block is very impressive looking.

Please let me know your thoughts. Hope this wasn't too long ... my longest post ever! lol

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[MAT1955]

@ChitownStang ..... awesome post! Great comparisons. I have had three stangs too but not a Mach 1. My 2024 GT Premium Convertible is hands down the best engineered Mustang I have ever been in. I too was real skeptical about the glass screens but now love them (unreal graphics did a super job with them). The flat steering wheel is real nice too. The engine bay is just intimidating....I added a metal ID plate to my strut tower brace to take it up a notch. BTW - if you haven't, respectfully suggest you add the front fender well covers.

 

[ChitownStang]

@ChitownStang ..... awesome post! Great comparisons. I have had three stangs too but not a Mach 1. My 2024 GT Premium Convertible is hands down the best engineered Mustang I have ever been in. I too was real skeptical about the glass screens but now love them (unreal graphics did a super job with them). The flat steering wheel is real nice too. The engine bay is just intimidating....I added a metal ID plate to my strut tower brace to take it up a notch. BTW - if you haven't, respectfully suggest you add the front fender well covers.

Thank you!
do you have a pic of these fender wall things on the car?

 

[MAT1955]

@ChitownStang ..... It's under a winter cover but I'll lift it to take a picture. To be honest I installed them last April and they fit so perfectly that now with some road dust on the inner fender wells you can't really see them. You can Google Diyvan.com and Hein shows how the kits he designed fit on his new 2024 Mustang. For starters here's a picture of my wheel well before I installed the kit. The kit fits each side "loke a glove" man, when it's on you can't see it after a week of driving. IMO leaving that hole open is disastrous. I drove my Mustang home on clear highways for about 450 Km and I had to use a shop vac to get the stones and dirt out of the areas behind the holes. Tony Unica was the guy whose post got me on this. He has a youtube video that I think is entitled Mustang Fender Fails. If you shine a flashlight in your front wheel wells you will see the holes at the bottom lower outside, easily.

 

[TonyP66]

Is it meant to be there for airflow / moisture control? I could see a ton of stuff getting in there, hard to believe there was not a design decision behind it.

 

[young at heart]

Is it meant to be there for airflow / moisture control? I could see a ton of stuff getting in there, hard to believe there was not a design decision behind it.

I‘ve always wondered about this.

They’ve been there for a while now and given the length of anti-corrosion warranties and attendant costs to repair, it makes no sense that Ford wouldn’t have fixed them if they didn’t want them on the car. Yet armchair engineers abound.

 

[Wiley Marmot]

More info/opinions on the front inner fender holes/plugs (I have the plugs am planning on installing them in the near future after the weather gets a bit warmer).

https://www.mustang7g.com/forums/th...er-well-holes-diy-instructions-photos.162948/

 

[bimmerborn]

Fantastic review. Thanks.

 

[MAT1955]

@TonyP66...... there are hundreds of posts and thread lines on this topic. General consensus: the two holes are an error. They are not needed to install/remove any part, they have zero to do with any type of ground effect or air flow. Ford corporate has, so far, been unwilling to comment. By far the general consensus is that leaving them open will - absolutely - lead to significant corrosion of a number of frame and body areas exacerbated by the stone chips -like I found on mine and had to prime and paint before installing the covers - to avoid even more accelerated rusting and damage. Look at Tony Unica's video. Like Tony and many others, I had to sue a shop vac to get the dirt, some areas of mud where the dirt got wet and stones from behind the holes after a very short period of driving. As I have said on many, many posts on this topic. The $100.00 plus/minus for the kit is the best money you will ever spend on your Mustang. Finally, I ask rhetorically, how many manufacturer's (of anything) have refused to acknowledge a problem until it becomes a disaster?

 

[MAT1955]

@young at heart ..... actually a family member spent 30 years as an automotive design engineer for GM and thinks the two holes should be plugged immediately. As for me, I think it is just common sense.

 

[TonyP66]

MAT1955 - Thanks for the context, kinda jumped into the middle here as usually happens on forums.

 

[young at heart]

@young at heart ..... actually a family member spent 30 years as an automotive design engineer for GM and thinks the two holes should be plugged immediately. As for me, I think it is just common sense.

Now this is interesting, and timely.

I in no way mean to dispute your family engineer’s opinion or argue with what seems like pretty solid logic. But less than 15 minutes ago I just had a Ford dealer’s mobile tech at my house removing the [bright orange!] shipping spacers that the PDI “tech” was unable to see. I was getting him to show me the jacking pads he used, which led to me asking his thoughts on the nearby holes we‘re talking about. He informed me that it comes up often and Ford has told them the holes are for allowing air in, maybe for ventilation and to leave them alone.

And no, I don’t know the answer to the next obvious question so don’t ask. And don’t kill the messenger, I’m just reporting.

 

[MAT1955]

@young at heart ...... well, maybe the "tech" should view Tony Unica's post before he makes stupid statements...... and maybe Ford should put a free shop vac inside each Mustang's trunk to get all the dirt, mud, stones and God forbid if you winter drive it the salt out - from ALL ALONG the underside panels. I call your tech's reply 24 carat dumba$$......and that twong woks at a place that doesn't remove shipping blocks - Yeah, I'd take their advice, LOL. BTY if you look at Tony Unica's post, look at the Mustang body in the background, through an open door. That guy and his buddies build Mustangs from scratch. I really don't give a $hit if a Mustang owner, despite all of the information offered on a multitude of websites and forums, wants to drive around with open holes in their wheel wells directly behind their front tires, LOL - those guys probably even have front wheel mud guards. Ha Ha ....... as they say "you can't fix stupid."

 

[GT7 Mayhem]

I'm typically not a fan of white cars as they look too stark for my taste, but all the black accents and wheels on your DH really create a nice contrast to the white and it looks great!

 

[ChitownStang]

I'm typically not a fan of white cars as they look too stark for my taste, but all the black accents and wheels on your DH really create a nice contrast to the white and it looks great!

Thank you Mahem… it was my last choice in color but once seeing it and then getting a killer deal I just couldn’t pass it up

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