2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Review: King of the Hill
Ford's 760-horsepower Mustang is a straight-line and road-course terror.
The new Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is a different animal than its predecessor. If you would've asked me to take the last version to a road course, I'd have been leery. That car was made for straight-line top speed runs above all. But fast forward to today and it's a different story. The new GT500 is still a drag-strip stunner, but adds a helping of apex-hunting prowess to its bag of performance tricks.
Supercharged brute
The big part of what makes the GT500 a GT500 is its hulking 5.2-liter supercharged V8. With the help of an Eaton supercharger pushing 12 psi into the cylinders, the hand-built engine churns out a hearty 760 horsepower and 623 pound-feet of torque. Channeling power to the rear wheels is a Tremec-sourced seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Together the drivetrain pairing gets the coupe to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds and allows it to cover the quarter mile in 10.7 seconds, on to an electronically limited top speed of 180 mph.
To help the Shelby achieve those impressive straight-line results, the GT500 has an integrated line-lock function for pro-level burnouts (or for warming the rear tires), a reconfigurable launch control and a DCT that shifts gears in just 80 milliseconds. I know, there's a large contingent of manual gearbox purists out there cringing at the fact that a stick isn't available, but there's no denying the advantage a well-tuned DCT brings to the table -- quick shifts means quicker acceleration.
(photo credit: Jon Wong - Roadshow)
