This week I am truly privileged to be behind the wheel of not just the fastest Mustang ever produced, but the fastest production Ford ever made. This is the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.
Powertrain
Under the heavily vented hood, you will find a hand-built 5.2-liter V8 supercharged engine that is putting out 760-horses and 625-pound feet of torque. The technician who built the engine proudly attached his signature on top.
By the way, to pop the hood you do it from the inside, but that doesn’t open it. You have to push the hood pins in to actually open the hood.
The big engine is mated to a Tremec 7-speed dual clutch automatic transmission that has shift paddles on the steering wheel. This is the fastest shifting transmission I have ever driven. The paddles are fun to use, especially to downshift, but you can’t come close to the performance of just letting the tranny shift itself while under heavy acceleration. This car is not available in a manual.
The stats on this car are impressive to say the least. It will take you from zero-to-60 in just 3.3 seconds and Ford limits top speed to 180-miles per hour. You can rev it to 7500 RPM.
Exterior
The exterior of the GT500 is menacing. The entire front end is dedicated to getting air to the engine. Big Brembo brakes in red complement the carbon fiber 20” wheels, and a big rear spoiler creates downforce on the rear end. Large Cobra emblems proudly adorn the front and rear of this Mustang. I’ve always loved the Mustang sequential tail lights. Ford makes the Shelby 2-inches longer and 1” wider than other Mustangs.
Quad exhaust is one of the best features of this car because of the incredible sound. However, if you want to let your neighbors sleep or you want to talk on the Bluetooth, flip a button to go to quiet mode. You can also choose normal, sport, and my favorite-track mode.
Interior
Moving to the inside, my tester has the $1595 Recaro seats that are heavily bolstered and have no power adjustments. The Cobra emblem is embroidered in the seats that hold you snugly in place in hard cornering. If you are a full-bodied person, you might want to consider the standard seats. Also, the Recaro seats cannot be gotten with power adjustments or with heated and cooled seats.
The Cobra-adorned Alcantara steering wheel has a lot of controls, including controls to get you into track apps, radio controls, and switches to adjust the steering and suspension.
Other than the beautiful black and white seats, the interior is fairly plain. There are beautiful gauges that you can configure and in the center stack is the screen that handles the nav system, rearview camera, the 12-speaker B&O sound system, apps, and more. To the right of the gauge cluster are standalone gauges for oil temperature and oil pressure.
By the cupholders is a round shift dial that honestly, I am not crazy about. A car like this should have a t-bar shifter, but that’s just me. In the middle of the dial is the button to go to manual shift mode. There is a good amount of carbon fiber across the dash and a dash plaque showing the production number of your Shelby.
As with all Mustangs, the back seat is virtually non-existent and in fact, you can order this car with no back seat at all to cut down on weight. Trunk space is ample since there is no spare tire and it houses a large subwoofer for the Bang & Olufsen sound system.
Standard Equipment and Options
Options total $8200 and include the Recaros, $1000 for the full-length stripes, $3000 for the tech package which gives you the nav and upgraded stereo. The handling package, which you’ll need, is $1500 and there are a few more small options.
Major standard equipment includes LED headlight and tail lights, automatic climate control, tilt steering wheel, remote keyless entry, remote start, the Sync3 system, and a rearview camera.
Verdict
In a nutshell, this car is a beast. The Ford engineers did an amazing job with every detail. I have not driven a car with this much horsepower that stayed on the ground as well as this one. The huge rear tires help, but this car is superbly balanced.
Get to know where all the gas stations are in your area, you’ll need them. The tank is fairly small and when driving this car as it was intended, you can almost watch the gas gauge fall.
Total MSRP, including the $2600 gas guzzler tax is $82,255 which for a street-legal race car isn’t bad in my book.
2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Review
- What I liked most: The pure raw power of this car.
- What I would change: The gear shifter.
- MSRP: Base price $70,300, as equipped $82,255 with transportation.
- Fuel Economy: Rated at 12 city/18 highway/14 combined.
- Official Color: Rapid Red Metallic Clearcoat.
- Odometer reading when tested: 4100 miles.
- Weight: 4398 pounds.
- Spare Tire: Inflator kit.
- Length-Width-Height: 190.2” long/76.6” wide/54.3” high.
- Fuel Tank Capacity: 16 gallons with the filler on the driver’s side.
- Towing Capacity: N/A.
- 2020 Shelby GT500 in a few words: The most balanced and best driving muscle car I have ever reviewed.
- Warranty: 3-year/36,000 mile bumper-to-bumper, and 5-year/60,000 mile power train with roadside assistance.
- Final Assembly Location: Flat Rock, MI.
- Manufacturers website: Ford
