The 10 fastest Mustangs we've ever tested

USA Today

17 hours ago

The Ford Mustang has dramatically transformed from an entry-level muscle car to high-performance sports car over the course of the past 25 years. Although V-8 power has always been in the mix, modern engine controls, improved tire technology, and incredibly quick-shifting automatic transmissions have conspired to boost the Mustang's straight-line speed as never before.
Of course, it's not all automatics and electronic trickery, as we found plenty of quick manual-transmission Mustangs when poring over our decades of test results — especially among those models most capable of taking advantage of the recent handling upgrades that have been made to the Mustang's chassis.
Before we get to the cars, a note about how we do what we do. The MotorTrend test team measures the acceleration of more than 200 vehicles every year to inform the rigorous, unbiased reviews written by our experienced editors. To ensure our 0–60 and quarter mile times are accurate, we hold ourselves to high standards.
We test at automotive proving grounds in California and Michigan with Racelogic Vbox Touch data loggers that record a vehicle's speed 25 times per second using high-accuracy GPS. All our acceleration times are weather-corrected using the methodologies outlined by SAE International, the standards organization formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers. The weather correction defined in SAE J1349 allows MotorTrend acceleration numbers collected on a Michigan winter day to be directly compared with those captured during summer testing in California.
After sorting through our exhaustive database to ID the top-performing Ford pony cars, here are the 10 fastest Mustangs MotorTrend has ever tested. In the event of a tie, the car with the higher trap speed was used to break it. Which of these Mustangs would you want in your stable?
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10. 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 - 12.3 seconds at 115.8 mph
Ford had been building special-edition Mustangs for decades, but the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 showed how serious the company was about reimagining the muscle icon as a potential sports car competitor. The Boss 302's name called back to the heady days of 1970s Trans Am racing, yet the extensive list of upgrades and alterations made to the 2012 car's suspension, engine and aero were cutting edge, rather than throwback, when experienced on a road course.
The first Mustang to come with a special key that unlocked TracMode engine management and a two-stage launch control — and the only Ford at the time with functional side pipes — the Boss 302 was able to fully leverage the 444 horsepower produced by its 5.0-liter V-8, cracking the quarter mile in 12.3 seconds at 115.8 mph. Pretty impressive for a car that was designed to do the opposite of a straight-line shot.
Read the First Test of the 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302
9. 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 - 12.3 seconds at 117.0
Ford never followed up on the Boss 302 after its two years of production, but it did replace it with an equally potent, track-oriented model, the Shelby GT350. Get used to that name, because you'll be seeing it often on our list of the fastest Mustangs.
The Shelby GT350 was an even more radical departure from the standard version of the car, swapping in a 5.2-liter V-8 in place of the factory 5.0 and taking advantage of a flat-plane crank design to spin the engine all the way up to an 8,250-rpm redline. The upper reaches of the tachometer yielded 526 horsepower and 429 lb-ft of torque, and that was enough to achieve a 12.3-second quarter mile at 117.0 mph. This edges it past the Boss 302, using our trap speed tiebreaker.
Read the First Drive review of the 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350
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8. 2024 Ford Mustang GT Convertible (10A Premium w/ Performance Package) - 12.2 seconds at 116.8 mph
How is it possible that the 2024 Ford Mustang GT convertible – even one equipped with Ford's Performance package — was able to best the lighter and more powerful Shelby GT350 at the dragstrip by a tenth of a second?
The answer is the car's 10-speed automatic transmission, a gearbox so much better at managing torque than the launch control built into the manual-equipped Shelby that it doesn't even have a dedicated launch feature. Then there's the fact that the GT makes more of its power down low compared to the soaring scream of the GT350's slightly larger V-8, which makes it less frenetic off the line. The result for sun-loving Mustang fans is a 12.2-second quarter mile with a trap speed of 116.8 mph.
Read the First Test of the 2024 Mustang GT Convertible
7. 2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R - 12.2 seconds at 119.0 mph
For those seeking the utmost in track performance, Ford sharpened its hooves of the GT350 with the GT350R model. This version of the Mustang made no changes under the hood but instead focused on weight savings through the inclusion of carbon-fiber wheels and a rear seat delete. It also improved downforce by way of additional aero equipment, and it tweaked the suspension to dial out whatever remaining concessions to street comfort were left in the S550 Mustang's platform.
Our testing revealed the GT350R to be a better fit for turning in hot laps rather than stacking up time slips, but with a performance of 12.2 seconds at 119 mph, this version of the Shelby is far from a slouch at the dragstrip.
Read the 2017 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R vs. 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 comparison test
6. 2018 Ford Mustang GT - 12.1 seconds at 118.8 mph
What happens when you lose some of the weight added by the Ford Mustang GT convertible but keep the slick-shifting 10-speed automatic transmission in the mix? The answer, according to our test of the 2018 Ford Mustang GT coupe, is another tenth of a second at the dragstrip.
The 460 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque from the Mustang GT's 5.0-liter V-8 do good work in partnership with its autobox (which features more aggressive gearing than the manual), making it a full half-second quicker by the end of the quarter mile than the same car with a six-speed gearbox installed. We saw 12.1 seconds at 118.8 mph during our testing. That's better than even the Performance Pack 1 and Performance Pack 2 versions of the 6MT Mustang GT that we tested later that same year.
Read the First Test of the 2018 Ford Mustang GT
5. 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R - 12.1 seconds at 119.6 mph
The second appearance for the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R hails from the year it debuted, and it turns out our initial test was a tenth of a second quicker than what we could manage with the 2017 edition of the car. Our best efforts yielded a 12.1-second quarter mile with a trap speed of 119.6 mph (though a test with a different car brought us closer to the 2017 model with a result of 12.2 seconds at 118.9 mph).
What's the takeaway? Variables like weather conditions, remaining tire life, vehicle break-in periods, and even driver skill can all impact the test results of even seemingly identical cars.
Read the First Drive review of the 2016 Ford Shelby GT350R Mustang
4. 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse (10A Premium) - 12.0 seconds at 118.4 mph
Sure, the 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse is one of the heaviest editions of the coupe to ever hit the streets, but you wouldn't know it based on its quarter-mile performance. In our testing, the Dark Horse posted a 12.0-second dragstrip run with a trap speed of 118.4 mph, good enough for fourth place all-time on our fastest Mustangs list.
It certainly helps that the Ford Mustang Dark Horse comes with a 500-horsepower version of the pony car's 5.0-liter V-8 (though torque is down just a smidge versus the standard Mustang GT), as well as sticky Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires as part of the Handling pack on the car we tested. As with other 10-speed automatic Mustangs, there's no launch control required to achieve the best results off the line, as the car's Drag Strip mode sets up the transmission for maximum swiftness when swapping cogs.
Read the First Test of the 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse
3. 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Super Snake - 12.0 seconds at 129.2 mph
Before the Shelby name expanded to the GT350, it ruled supreme on the GT500 as a warning that you were about to be completely overwhelmed by horsepower. No vehicle better represents this philosophy than the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Super Snake, which delivered 850 horsepower and 613 lb-ft of torque from a 5.8-liter supercharged V-8.
That's a significant step up over the 662 horsepower generated by the 'standard' Shelby GT500 version of the car, and it's enough to push the Mustang to a 12-second flat e.t. for the first time on our list. Officially, we squeezed 12.0 seconds at 129.2 mph from the GT500 Super Snake and its six-speed manual gearbox. Given its huge power advantage over the similarly quick, automatic-equipped Mustangs we've seen so far, this result shows just how difficult it can be to corral all that output with a clutch pedal.
Read the First Drive review of the 2013 Shelby GT500 Super Snake
2. 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally - 11.9 seconds at 115.2 mph
It might shock you to find out that there are only two factory-spec Mustangs to slip under the 12.0-second mark in all our years of testing at MotorTrend — and one of them is electric. The Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally is a contentious model among brand purists, especially given its tall-riding SUV stature and four doors, but that doesn't change the fact that it turned in a time slip of 11.9 seconds at 115.2 mph during our quarter-mile testing.
As that trap speed might indicate, the Mach-E Rally is all about hooking up and making the most of its instant-on electric torque, which comes courtesy of two motors churning out a heady 700 lb-ft. With no gear shifts to worry about, the EV Mustang just hooks up and goes, melting your face like the climactic scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark in the process.
Read the First Test of the 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally
1. 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 (Carbon Fiber Track Package) - 11.3 seconds at 131.6 mph
Here it is: the fastest Mustang we've ever tested, and one that combines huge horsepower with the traction-grabbing certainty and lightning-quick shifts of an automatic gearbox. The Mustang Shelby GT500 lassos its 760 horses and 625 lb-ft of torque with a seven-speed dual-clutch autobox that features not just the Drag Mode found with the 10-speed automatic but also an actual launch control.
All that electronic overwatch, and this pony is still a bear to launch. Our best result, after an afternoon of learning the ins and outs of maximizing the Mustang's traction, was 11.3 seconds at 131.6 mph. Our second-best time was just two-tenths off that figure. That's exceptional for a street car, especially one that, like the GT350R, is intended to lap the competition rather than pound dragstrip asphalt into submission.
Read the First Test of the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
A couple more Mustangs, just for fun
2003 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra - 13.12 seconds at 109.6 mph
The SVT Cobra was the first super Mustang for the masses. It was a car that punched well above its weight with a supercharged V-8 remarkably amenable to power-boosting modifications. Of course, if you stuck with the stock 390 ponies and 390 lb-ft of torque, you certainly weren't complaining, as those were monster numbers at the time for any car, let alone an affordable Ford.
When we took a convertible version of the Ford Mustang SVT Cobra to the dragstrip, we managed a quarter-mile time of 13.12 seconds at 109.6 mph. That's a few ticks slower than the coupe, but you get to hear that 4.6-liter motor at full gallop, unfettered by a sheetmetal cocoon. It's no wonder the SVT Cobra quickly earned the nickname 'Terminator.'
2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R - 12.9 seconds at 110.8 mph
The Cobra R was a low-production project intended to build the nastiest Mustang that had ever seen the inside of a showroom. With no back seat, a huge rigid wing affixed to the trunk, a track-ready suspension and brake setup, and a 5.4-liter naturally aspirated engine under the hood, this was the most focused version of Ford's muscle coupe to have ever emerged from the factory.
The Cobra R was able to nearly match the Terminator under the hood, where it produced 385 horsepower and 385 lb-ft of torque. Combined with its weight savings, that was enough for a 12.9-second quarter mile with a 110.8 mph trap speed in our testing.
Photo by MotorTrend, illustrations by Ryan Lugo