While the two aren’t exactly direct competitors, the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette has long been compared against each other in various ways, regardless. These days, American, V8-powered, rear-wheel drive sports cars don’t exactly grow on trees either, which only makes this particular comparison more valid, even if the Mustang and Corvette have a lot of differences. Regardless, that didn’t stop Edmunds from pitting the Ford Mustang Dark Horse against the entry-level Corvette Stingray in its U-Drag race recently, though it wasn’t particularly close.
Ford Mustang Dark Horse is currently the top dog in the pony car lineup, with a naturally-aspirated, front-mounted 5.0L V8 Coyote powerplant churning out 500 horsepower and 418 pound-feet of torque – which, in this case, flows to the rear wheels via the 10-speed automatic transmission. As for the mid-engine Corvette Stingray, it’s packing the naturally-aspirated 6.2L LT2 V8 making 495 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque, paired with an eight-speed dual clutch gearbox, also driving the rear wheels only.
While the Ford Mustang Dark Horse churns out a bit more horsepower than the Corvette, it’s down quite a bit on torque, and it also weights 354 pounds more – seemingly putting it at a bit of a disadvantage on paper. That certainly holds up in this real-world U-Drag test, which involves both cars accelerating from a stop down the track, after which both must turn around and race back to the finish line.
In terms of numbers, the Corvette Stingray dominated this particular test – it did 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds versus 4.5 for the Ford Mustang Dark Horse, and completed the quarter-mile in 11.7 seconds at 120 mph, compared to 12.7 clicks at 115 mph. The Corvette barely edged out the pony car in terms of max cornering at 1.23g versus 1.22, and it completed the entire U-Drag circuit in 33.8 seconds at 130 mph, versus 35.1 seconds at 128 mph for the Dark Horse.
It is worth noting that the Ford Mustang Dark Horse starts out at just under $60k, compared to $68k for the Corvette, and in this case, the as-tested price gap was huge – $74,155 for the Mustang compared to $95,405 for the Stingray. Whether or not the Corvette’s extra performance is worth $8k-$20k, well, that’s for buyers to decide.
Comments
I’m sure you could equip a Corvette for the same price as a Darkhorse. They both come with the same engines regardless of price. Bottom line, Corvette is a much better design mechanically and aesthetically then the old in the tooth Mustang.
Yup, that’s the price Mustang pays for going upmarket like that. If the DH cost as much as the Mach 1 did at about 55k, you could easily give the Mustang a pass on price. GT500 then started around base C8 levels (about 76k) and had somewhat comparable performance.
the Dark Horse needs more torque and badly
Yup the coyote is not all the internet makes it out to be. The C8 is underrated in power and the Mustang DH is overrated.
Exactly. It’s equally as pathetic in the F150 as well.
The mustang was the competitor for the chevy Camaro. It was never about going against the Corvette until now that the Camaro is gone. Give credit where credit is due. Of COURSE the DH not going to win against the Corvette but it is there to put up a good fight.
Corvette is still junk and ugly AF. If you believe the DH takes 12.7 to do the 1/4, you know zero about cars. A good driver should get a 12.0 out of it.
The times they got for both cars are slow. The C8 is the superior car in every single metric that matters when buying a fun car.
A 6.2 vs a 5.0? If the motors were reversed the GM boys would be be complaining all day. First of all these are to different types of vehicles and both good in there own way.