As you will likely know, each car we test gets a rating out of 10. As I hope you’ll also know, our ratings are tougher than anyone else’s. Just because a car leads its class in no way entitles it to full marks. It might not even get a 9/10 if that class is populated largely by underachievers. Indeed it’s now been over five years since we tested the first and, to date, most recent car to earn a top score. It was the Alpine A110.
How, then, to go about scoring the new Ford Mustang in general and, specifically, the ‘Dark Horse’ version thereof tested here? How much credit in advance should it earn for being the only car on sale in the UK to locate a naturally aspirated V8 engine at one end, powering the wheels at the other, through the medium of a six-speed manual gearbox? And now that the Dodge Challenger is gone and the Chevy Camaro on its deathbed, soon it will be the only traditional muscle car left standing on the entire planet. There’s a part of me that wants to give it a 10 for that alone. Maybe 11.
But if we only reviewed cars on the basis of how they appeared on paper we’d have given the lot to the Alfa Romeo 4C too. So a bit of reality is required and, perhaps even before that, an explanation. For what, precisely, is a Ford Mustang Dark Horse?
