2020 Ford Mustang GT500

Specs: 5.2 Liter Supercharged V8, 760 HP, 625 TQ

Price as tested: $94,500

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Guy who did stuff: Yousef Alvi

This is the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.  Or Shelby GT500. Or ‘OMG this is a Mustang!?!?’  Whatever you want to call it…it is no stretch of the imagination to call this one of the best Mustangs ever built.  It is also no stretch to call this one of the best cars Ford itself has ever built.  But the GT500 represents more than that.  The GT500 represents the distilled essence of the Ford Motor Company in every one of it’s 760 horses.  Let me explain.  

Whereas the masses think of Ford as the maker of the F-series and the Explorer…Ford’s history is more than that…much more than that.  When, properly poked and prodded, the Ford Motor Company will pull all of it’s available resources in a Herculean effort to dethrone whoever is unfortunate to be in their crosshairs. The most obvious example is the famed Ford GT40 story that we all know and love.  But that story never really stopped…it just jumped from one century into the next.  

This GT500 is the spiritual kin to that GT40 but instead of going after Ferrari this time, they pointed their Louisville Slugger at Porsche. This GT500 is Ford’s ‘shot across the bow’ of Porsche and their dominance of the sports car market and it’s directly aimed at the GT2/3RS.

What makes a Porsche a Porsche is not just driving dynamics, speed and handling.  It’s the civility they offer from road to track. That combination of livability and speed is something no other manufacturer can master…until now.  

This GT500 is every bit as good as a Porsche GT3RS…and it’s $100,000 cheaper.  There is nothing the Porsche does that the GT500 doesn’t match.  From the feel of the steering, to the grip levels, to the manic acceleration numbers…the GT500 doesn’t give an itch to the GT3RS.  Even the famed PDK gearbox is matched if not beaten by the DCT in the GT500!  

Seriously.  This Tremec 7 speed DCT is a work of mechanical art.  It’s obviously lightning quick but the feel of the shifts at speed is the perfect combination civilized brutality.  Brake before a corner and the GT500 is always…ALWAYS in the right gear.  But if you decide to shift via the paddles…it is immediate, direct, brutal and fucking fantastic.  Then when you calm down…the transmission is smooth, seamless and fades into the background.

That leads into the best part of the GT500…

Civilized maybe too ‘wordy’. Let me put it another way…the GT500 is downright comfortable!  The Recaro seats hold you like your mother used to when you were a baby. They are supportive, comfortable and FINALLY for the first time in a Ford Mustang the seating position is spot on. Instead feeling like you are sitting ‘on’ the Mustang…you feel like you are finally sitting ‘in’ the Mustang. The ride quality is not just good…it’s stellar.  The magnetic ride tuning is perfect. No other words. Just effing perfect. The cherry on top is the noise…or lack thereof.…the GT500 can STFU when you just want to cruise down the road. The NVH levels are superb, the wind noise is subdued and even with the optional Michelin Cup 2 tires…the road noise is almost non-existent. This GT500 can turn into a long distance cruiser in an instant.  Let me put it another way.  I would have absolutely no problem whatsoever driving this GT500 from one coast to another.  As long as someone else pays for the gas.  

So how do I sum up the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500?  It’s best car I have driven this year and it’s in the top 3 best cars I have ever driven in my life.  How is that for a ringing endorsement?