Dark Horse vs Shelby

[Jays Stang]

My car is better than your car. My phone is better than your phone. It never stops.

The bottom line to me is every car is an evolution of those before it. The GT350 has a never before used Voodoo engine which does indeed make it a special car. The fact that it is no longer in production only adds to its mystique. The GT500 is just raw power in a great looking/handling package. But in all practicality, who needs that much horsepower on the street?

No one here knows what lies beyond the Dark Horse. But whatever it is will certainly be special as the base will be so evolved and refined. The GT350 didn't have the bones of the today's Mustang when it went into production so it may have some limitations that the Dark Horse doesn't have. I mean take a Dark Horse and put a Whipple on it and make some other revisions and you have a monster. Every Mustang stands on its own merits. I love them all. But having one or the other should not make anyone feel superior.

This is how I feel. Although I've never owned a Shelby but as far as power goes a supercharged dark horse is insane. When I hit the gas with my stock dark horse the feeling is incredible.
Besides a supercharger, what else would you modify on the car two improve it?

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[Jays Stang]

how about the voodoo for starters. The heart of the entire car. The effort that went into developing that big of a flat-plane crank v8 was major. It was a record at the time.

compare that to the development that went into a Bullitt/mach 1/dh engine.

Then there is the suspension, with first-ever magnetize in a mustang specially designed front knuckles.

the body is another area. The 350 and 500 look completely separate from all other mustangs with extensive body work.
The dh look mostly like a GT, but with cheap, plastic around the headlights and a different lower grille treatment. Oh. And some stickers.

the dark horse is a great car. But when you consider it’s 2024 and it basically keeps pace (with additional handling pack and r compound tires) with a car nearly a decade older, that kind of ends the argument.


That doesn’t knock the dark horse. It’s a great car. Solid. Handles well. Decently fast for it’s day. It just isn’t quite up there in terms of the for-the-time engineering that went into the Shelby. the Shelby was ford redlining, developing all new stuff. The dark horse is ford coasting if you will, using what they have. It’s basically what a GT performamce pack should have been by now. But ford found a way to get a few more dollars by marketing it differently.

This is kind of a crazy statement. The dark horse is it fantastic track car. It's not just good for what it is or whatever. I don't know why I would spend the extra money on a Shelby. That is not as comfortable to sit in and doesn't have as many gadgets. When the DH is a monster on the track. Heck for $10000. I can double the horse power and turn it into a supercar.

 

[9secondko]

This is kind of a crazy statement. The dark horse is it fantastic track car. It's not just good for what it is or whatever. I don't know why I would spend the extra money on a Shelby. That is not as comfortable to sit in and doesn't have as many gadgets. When the DH is a monster on the track. Heck for $10000. I can double the horse power and turn it into a supercar.

Nothing crazy about it. Thought I explained it pretty well. And yet somehow nothing you said correlates to what I said at all. But hey, enjoy your dark horse. It’s all about what you place value on.

 

[Upacurb]

GT500 will always be better than a supercharged Dark Horse because the suspension is designed around the extra weight of the supercharger where the dark horse is not. The car is perfectly balanced as is… throw a few hundred pounds over the front wheels and things change ..

and I can tell you first hand the Dark Horse with or without supercharger is no supercar.. neither is mine …

I get to drive my friends supercars .. no comparison

 

[Upacurb]

This is kind of a crazy statement. The dark horse is it fantastic track car. It's not just good for what it is or whatever. I don't know why I would spend the extra money on a Shelby. That is not as comfortable to sit in and doesn't have as many gadgets. When the DH is a monster on the track. Heck for $10000. I can double the horse power and turn it into a supercar.

if you want comfort and gadgets you chose the wrong car… I want a sports car… not a Lexus

 

[Jays Stang]

if you want comfort and gadgets you chose the wrong car… I want a sports car… not a Lexus

That's funny I sold my IS350 before I got my dark horse. The DH is better in the areas u mentioned. I also test drove 2 911s and again I liked the mustang better. It was definitely more comfortable and it sounded better and just as fast. Way less expensive.

 

[agreywolfe]

I want a sports car… not a Lexus

TFW Lexus has a luxury sports car starting at the same price as a DHHP.

 

[DarthMalice]

At this point, I will be surprised if Ford keeps licensing the Shelby name. DH was a direct departure from that and if it will keep costs down on the special variants, maybe they should. The entire GTX and DH line that we see them pushing shows a strategy to get away from Shelby and push Ford Performance. For legacy buyers, they could still use Bullitt (diminishing returns on that one though), Mach 1, and Boss models. Actually would probably be a smart move by Ford.

 

[Upacurb]

TFW Lexus has a luxury sports car starting at the same price as a DHHP.

Yes....RCF....have heard one with exhaust and it actually sounded pretty damn good..... from what I understand (never driven one personally so this is second hand) nice cars- but driving dynamics not on par with Dark Horse/Mach 1 exc.

 

[Upacurb]

At this point, I will be surprised if Ford keeps licensing the Shelby name. DH was a direct departure from that and if it will keep costs down on the special variants, maybe they should. The entire GTX and DH line that we see them pushing shows a strategy to get away from Shelby and push Ford Performance. For legacy buyers, they could still use Bullitt (diminishing returns on that one though), Mach 1, and Boss models. Actually would probably be a smart move by Ford.

Im wondering what they would call the "next step up" car- if no GT500....I mean Boss 302 I would think is more like a Dark Horse...maybe Boss 429? but no 429 engine..... maybe Dark Horse GTS or something?

 

[Dharri21]

Im wondering what they would call the "next step up" car- if no GT500....I mean Boss 302 I would think is more like a Dark Horse...maybe Boss 429? but no 429 engine..... maybe Dark Horse GTS or something?

There is a motor, the 7.3 Godzilla that has been tested in a GT350

 

[agreywolfe]

Easiest way to go about it would be to bring back the Cobra name. Ford gets the iconic cobra badge and doesn't have to pay Shelby for the gt500 name.

 

[Upacurb]

Easiest way to go about it would be to bring back the Cobra name. Ford gets the iconic cobra badge and doesn't have to pay Shelby for the gt500 name.

Id be down for this

 

[IceGamer]

I would prefer a cleaner name like DarkHorse GTE, GTS or whatever. If they want to expand the brand than there cannot be a car sitting above the DH... Why would a racing team take an inferior DarkHorse for racing when they could've gone for the Cobra, Shelby etc?!

They announced a street legal DarkHorse S and a not so legal R for racing. It would make perfect sense for the S to be the top tier Mustang of this generation. I would expect the that the S and R share the same engine, something above the regular 5.0.
In addition, the GTE really has almost nothing in common with the Mustang and wears its name almost like the Mach-E.

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