If you want a new V8 sports car for under $200K in New Zealand, your options are pretty limited – but hey, at least you have options.
Your choices are limited to the Chevrolet Corvette or Ford Mustang. With the cheapest Corvette (the 2LT) priced from $185,000, is the Mustang GT $94,990) or Mustang Dark Horse ($114,990) an absolute bargain? We spent a week driving the 2025 Mustang Dark Horse 1,500km, including a weekend away to the world-renowned Whakarewarewa Mountain Bike Park – with most of our week in torrential rain.
Questions bounced around in my head for this test:
1: Is the Dark Horse a worthy alternative to the Chevrolet Covette?
2: Would it ever stop raining so we could actually test the car’s handling?
3: Just how many miles would we get from a full tank of gas?
What We Like and Dislike About The 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse
| What we like | What we don’t like |
| Engine noise Handling Braking Design Engine noise Infotainment system Transmission Dash themes Drift Mode/Line Lock Just in case we didn’t mention it, engine noise | Ride Wind, tyre & road noise Interior quality |
What’s In The 2025 Ford Mustang Range?
New Zealand sees three models of petrol-powered Mustang:
- Mustang GT Coupe: $94,990
- Mustang GT Convertible: $101,990
- Mustang Dark Horse Automatic: $114,990 (tested)
- Mustang Dark Horse Manual: $116,990
The GT has a 5.0-litre, V8 engine that outputs 362kW of power and 567Nm of torque. It uses Ford’s 10-speed automatic transmission.
The Dark Horse models gain 11kW over the GT, making 373kW of power and the same 567Nm of torque. The manual model is a 6-speed manual, while the automatic version has the same 10-speed as the GT, however the car’s track modes change the programming of the gearbox.
In case you were at all interested, fuel economy for the GT is listed at 12.0L/100km, with the Dark Horse manual at 12.8, and the Dark Horse automatic at 13.8.
For a full list of specs and options available for the 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse head on over to Ford New Zealand’s website.
How Does The 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse Compare To Its Competition?
Want a V8 with 2 doors for under $200k? It’s slim pickings.
| Make/ Model | Engine | Power/ Torque kW/Nm | 0-100km/h, seconds | Fuel L/100km | Boot Space, litres | Price |
| Chevrolet Corvette 2LT | 6.2-litre V8 | 369/637 | 3.4 | 15.1 | 356 | $185,000 |
| Ford Mustang Dark Horse automatic | 5.0-litre V8 | 373/567 | 4.7 | 13.8 | 376 | $114,990 |
Please note that DriveLife does its best to ensure the information above is correct at the time of publication, however, prices, specifications and models can change over time. Please bear that in mind when comparing models in the comparison table.
First Impressions Of The 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse
My week with this car proved it turns more heads than any other car I’ve tested this year, including the BMW M3 Touring. Gassing up in Turangi got me a “Love your car, mate” from a random passerby, and there were many, many other looks and finger pointing on the motorway.
Some of this is down to the design of the Dark Horse; over the Mustang GT, it has a more muscular body and more aggressive styling. I’d buy the Dark Horse over the GT simply for the upgrade in looks.
Another reason for the looks is that Vapor Blue Metallic paint. When I picked the car up, I thought it was grey. In the sunshine it looked more blue, and at certain angles in the sun, the red peppered through the paint stands out. It looks simply stunning and is hard to capture the “real” colour in photos.
If there’s one ‘but’, it’s that the right-hand side ‘vent’ in the front spoiler is blocked off. The other side carries what looks like the transmission cooler; a minor gripe, but such a shame Ford couldn’t find some use for that area to actually duct it into something. It feels like a fake exhaust-tip scenario.
What’s The Interior Like In The 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse?
You’ll need to duck under the low roof line to get into the Dark Horse, where you’ll be greeted by some amazing-looking, one-piece Recaro front seats. Like much of the interior, they’re finished in blue. Just to remind you 24/7 that the seats are something special, ‘Recaro’ is embroidered across the top of them. Does it look cool? Totally it does.
The seats have some electric adjustment; forward/back, and height. That’s it. If you want to adjust the backrest, that’s via a manual lever, and the Recaro seats in the Dark Horse lose any heating/venting (the GT still has those features). But the Recaros do have awesome side bolsters that hug you in tight for any judicious cornering.
There’s a few things that catch your eye on the inside, one of those being the pistol-grip handbrake. It looks very, very cool although don’t be tempted to use this to do a handbrake slide, as the Mustang has an electric park brake so the handbrake is either on or off – there’s no modulating the amount of rear brake for that perfect handbrake slide.
I expect there’s also the temptation for your passengers to use the handbrake as a grab handle, as it’s exactly in the right position for that, and that may not end well. Weirdly, even with the Dark Horse’s superb cornering ability, there is no grab handle for the passenger above the door. A strange omission.
The centre screen also grabs your attention, it’s a decent 13.2” in size and blends into the dashboard. It looks great, and the speed and clarity are both excellent.
Bear in mind the Mustang is strictly a 4-seater, so one of your friends will need to stay at home. Rear seat room is tight, although unlike the Subaru BRZ we recently tested, your rear-seat passengers can actually have legs. Access to the rear is pretty awkward and narrow, making it impossible to make a graceful entry or exit. Still, at least it has more than two seats.
Those in front have lots more room, as well as access to a Qi wireless phone charger, single USB-A and USB-C ports, as well as a 12-volt socket for a radar detector and believe me, that’s essential in the Dark Horse. There’s also another 12-volt socket in the smallish centre cubby. It’s been a very long time since I’ve tested a car with zero buttons on the centre console; everything is done via the dashboard buttons, the infotainment screen, or via voice control. It does make a lot cleaner inside the car with fewer buttons scattered about the place.
I guess if there’s one sign of cost-cutting inside the Dark Horse, it’s the interior door handles; they’re black, plastic, and look like they’ve come straight out of the parts bin. A small item but they let the interior down some. Panel gaps inside aren’t the best either, especially down on the centre console.
In 2023, we purchased a C5 Corvette in LA and drove it across the US. The C5 is constantly poo-pooed by people for having a very plasticky interior but hey, it was designed in the 80s when cheap, hard plastics were common. The Dark Horse has that same feel about it. It’s not terrible inside, but the console is made from hard black plastic, and that material is used elsewhere in the cabin. That’s where the C8 Corvette has it all over the Mustang.
On the plus side of things, on the dash is a big, red start/stop button, so it’s great to see Ford have put some thought into that.
There’s also some nice, blue contrasting stitching used on the doors, dash, console, steering wheel and seats, and it looks very nice. Ford has also placed some fake carbon fibre on the doors, dash and console. Fear not, it’s not too cheap and tacky.
The boot is small but usable in size, at 376 litres. We managed to get all our weekend stuff in there, without using any room on the back seat. The floor and side panels in the boot are again a very cheap material; such a shame Ford didn’t lift the quality in this area just that little bit.
What’s The 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse Like To Drive?
Hitting that red start button starts your Dark Horse experience; the sound. I would lay money down that 50% of Dark Horse sales are pretty much done as soon as that potential owner hears that V8 engine. It sounds freaking amazing.
Let’s get it out there right now; yes, there is some fakeism applied to the engine sounds in the Dark Horse. But open the window, and you can hear that the fake noises are pretty mild. We noted a slightly lower V8 rumble that was fake, but overall, it’s still glorious. Apparently the fake exhaust noise is done via the Active Noise Cancelling microphones inside the car and these can be removed by an owner who is desperate to, but it’s not likely a Dark Horse owner is going to do in New Zealand. And when it sounds this good, just leave it alone.
Headed off into city traffic, the ride is on the firm side. It’s nothing as bad as the MINI e-JCW that Liam recently reviewed but it’s still definitely not a comfy ride. While the Dark Horse has adjustable suspension including the dampers, even in Normal drive mode you can feel most bumps. In saying that, that is all part of the Dark Horse experience and bear in mind, Ford is calling this a track-focused car, so there has to be some compromise.
The steering is reasonably heavy, although this can be adjusted directly from the steering wheel; you get to pick from Light (still heavy), Normal, or Sport. Adjusting drive modes will automatically change the steering wheel weighting.
Around town in Normal drive mode, the Dark Horse is surprisingly easy to drive. Yes, visibility sucks. There’s almost nothing to see on the rear three-quarter view, as that huge C-pillar blocks everything. There is blind-spot monitoring, and that’s essential in this car. Other than visibility, you can tootle about at suburban speeds easily. Part of the enjoyment of this is accelerating away from any stop sign or red light – you get to hear that engine again, and it’s worth pushing that pedal harder to make that engine sing that little bit louder.
The active dashboard in this model gives the driver a large number of display to choose from – 8 in fact. They are:
- Match drive mode
- Normal
- Sport
- Calm
- Race track
- 87-93 Fox body
- 99-01 SVT Cobra
- 07-08 Mustang
All dashboards are crystal clear, although the last three in the list lose the digital speedo, and you really need that up all the time in this car. There is no heads-up display in this car, unfortunately. The Fox body dashboard is absolutely cool, although the white-backed gauges of the SVT Cobra are equally cool.
You access these dashboard options from the My Mustang button on the dashboard, and that button gives you access to multiple other features, such as:
- Track apps
- Aux gauges
- Custom drive modes
- Ambient and interior lighting options
- Custom themes
- Exhaust
The Track apps option includes an acceleration timer, brake performance, lap timer, options to turn on Drift Brakes or Line Lock.
Aux gauges gives you a small set of extra gauges that stay up on the centre screen, until you move to another screen.
Exhaust options are Quiet, Normal, Sport, and Track. Quiet mode for the exhaust? Yes, and it’s surprisingly effective. It’s supposed to be for those times when you are leaving your house at 6am and don’t want to wake the neighbours. As you’d expect, the decibels for the exhaust raise as you move through the modes. Track mode shouldn’t be used in the city or suburbs, but if you do you are rewarded with exhaust notes that you can’t stop smiling to.
Friday, it was time to hit the road north, leaving Wellington and heading for Taupo. It had been raining heavily for the first three days of my time with the car, and the weekend was not looking much better. We left Wellington with fuel consumption sitting on 13.6L/100km and I was desperately hoping for a better figure on the open road.
There is adaptive cruise control, and it works very well, making a long drive easier. We had heavy rain all the drive north, so I left the drive mode in Slippery, that reduces acceleration and throttle response. It actually makes quite a difference, and I was happy to leave the car in that mode for much of the drive, to save the rear end stepping out.
On the open road, there is a fair amount of road, tyre and wind noise but the engine makes up for it. Passing people on the open road is all too easy, and if you really need prompt acceleration, there’s always Sport mode. The drive modes are accessible directly from the steering wheel controls.
The steering wheel controls are well laid out and easy to use without looking down, and the wheel itself is heated, although it is only on/off – you don’t get any differing levels of heating, as we see on other cars.
The ten-speed transmission in this car is perfectly suited to it; it can feel a bit lazy to change sometimes – especially in Normal drive mode – but stick it in Sport and the changes are much faster, and certainly up with other performance cars. In Track mode, the changes become a lot firmer, but certainly faster as well. In Sport of Track, the car will of course change down gears with enthusiasm, affecting your fuel economy but making the drive more enjoyable. You’ll also hear some nice crackles and pops from the exhaust on change-down, as well as some rev matching.
One slightly annoying thing is the “keep your hands on the wheel” message that pops up regularly, sometimes twice in five minutes. This is when you have got your hands on the wheel, and are not using cruise control. Not sure why it felt the need to remind me so often, but it would be nice if it was disabled. I also noticed that the pedals are offset to the right, and although I got used to that, it didn’t feel natural. Lastly, the accelerator pedal has a lot of travel, so you feel like you are pushing it a long way down, but I expect this is a sort of safety measure: if the pedal travel was short, you could get yourself into trouble very quickly.
Getting to the Desert Road, it was still wet but we had an (almost) open run through. I was still being cautious in the Dark Horse – it weighs over 1,800Kg after all, and needs to be treated with respect on a wet, windy road. But I did push that bit harder on the tight bends on the Desert Road, and the car stuck fairly well, only starting to slide when I knew I was pushing too hard. The transition from grip to slide was surprisingly foreseeable. This is against around town, when simply starting off on a turn from say a stop sign, will see the back move sideways very easily.
Time for my first gas up, in Turangi. I got 420km from the tank, with 60km left to go. That ended up being a real-world 500km tankful from the 60-litre tank. Our fuel consumption had dropped to 11.3, pretty bloody good for a 550hp V8. When filling up, bear in mind the car needs 98 octane fuel.
After overnighting in Whareroa, on the western shore of Lake Taupo, we hit the back road up to Whakamaru. I love this road, and have driven it many times. The rain was still falling, but it was time to use the first 500km experience in the car and see how it handles. In Sport mode now, the car stuck very well for the road conditions. It sits almost flat in the corners, and steering feedback is excellent. Those wide Pirelli rear tyres hold on to the end, and then gently let go. With the grip – even in the rain – transmission, engine and steering, this car handles brilliantly, but it is very much based on accelerator position – that’s the key to losing grip predictably, or “oh, shit”.
Let’s not forget the brakes; with 6-pot Brembos in the front clamping onto 19” discs, braking performance is outstanding. Brake pedal feel is excellent too, and you have absolute confidence in the braking performance of this car. These are the best brakes in a car I have tested this year, even better than the BMW M3 Touring.
Whakarewarewa Bike Park
Back on SH1 briefly, we then turned on to SH to get to Rotorua, and Whakarewarewa Bike Park. I’d never been mountain biking at this park, but had heard all about it. It’s one of the country’s early bike parks, and is now used as a model around the world on how to do it – it’s that successful.
And it doesn’t cost a lot. If you have your own bike, you can ride the trails for free, and use the hot showers after your ride – also for free. During the day, we spotted many families with very young kids on their own bikes, riding the easy trails. Great to see kids not behind a screen, and out doing something with their family.
Since we weren’t about to hook a bike rack on the Mustang, we hired eBikes for 4 hours, at $140 each. Hiring a bike gets you a helmet to use for free, if you don’t have your own. We aimed to do Whaka Forest Loop over our half-day, with an occasional veering off to do other short tracks. We’d end the day doing “the pig”, or Te Poaka, a grade 3 track that has a reputation of being fast and smooth.
Whaka Forest Loop is a 35km trail, and as you’d imagine, it goes around the outside of the park.
It’s all Grade 1 and 2 trails, so fairly easy going. Mind you, at 35km long, I was thankful we had hired eBikes, I wouldn’t have lasted the day otherwise. The whole Loop is outstanding, with stunning views at different places, right down over Rotorua. The bike park is famous for the Redwood trees, and riding through these is an experience to treasure. It’s an outstanding ride, with a nice mix of trails and grades. Definitely recommended, if you have limited time to ride the trails at the park.
By the end of the half day, it was time to do Te Poaka (The Pig). This is a 2.4km-long, grade 3 trail, and it is very fast. With lower energy levels in the afternoon, I took it easier than normal, but I can see how you could really rocket down this track. It’s smooth and fast and dangerous….apparently, it’s the place where the most collarbones have been broken. The temptation to go quickly needs to be dialled in with the closeness of the pine trees, but man, is it good.
We ended the day at the Secret Spot cafe, where, for the price of a cup of coffee, you get access to some old cut-in-half barrels filled with hot water. To say this is a perfect way to end the day biking at the park can’t be overstated. There are only 6 barrels and apparently it can get quite busy, so you aren’t always guaranteed a barrel. Secret Spot also has private spa pools if you feel the need for a full body-soak, and sometimes has live music.
On the return trip to Whareroa, we found a private road so we could test out some of the Dark Horse’s features, namely Line Lock and Drift Brake. Only Drift Brake was lit up to be enabled, so we turned that on and had a go. Yes, definitely easier to get the car moving left and right at the rear, especially handy when the P-Zero tyres are so wide and sticky. Not a feature you’d use on the road, but fun to play with.
Line Lock was next, and that should lock the front wheels so you can just sit there and do a burnout. But the Line Lock button would not light up for us, and the manual didn’t mention how to use it. We stuck the car in Sport mode and then Track mode, but still the button was greyed out. We then found that you have to disable brake auto-hold for this feature to work, and doing that made the button light up. All go! Well, not quite. Still couldn’t get Line Lock to work, until I realised that you have to hold the button down for a certain amount of time to engage it. Then it worked, sort of. The front wheels did not stay planted, and although the rear wheels were spinning, the car still drifted forward. Not sure why that happened, but still fun to play with. Line Lock lasts for 15 seconds, and then disables itself.
So on a private road, what of the car’s performance? Although it’s no rocket, taking 4.7 seconds to get to 100km/h, it does it with such flair and sound that it feels faster. The V8 pulls hard to its 7,250rpm red line, with no drop in power over that range.
On the open road, the V8’s power means you can really punch it out of bends, but with the weight and only being rear-wheel drive, a slow in/fast out approach works best. The steering is very direct, and like the brakes, is a highlight of the car.
Changing drive modes sees alterations to the car’s suspension, steering, exhaust, aircon, and traction control. It’s nice that in Track mode, the fuel gauge changes to show % remaining, rather than distance to empty.
Dare I bring up fuel economy? On returning to Wellington from our roadie, we had covered a total of 1,100km and managed to get fuel consumption down to 11.0L/100km – bettering Ford’s figure of 13.8. At the end of our test, we had driven 1,500km with that consumption sitting on 11.3L/100km. Around town, expect say 350km of range on a good day, and around 500km on the open road, from that 60-litre tank.
READ ON TO CHECK OUT OUR SUMMARY OF THE 2025 FORD MUSTANG DARK HORSE.
2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse – Specifications
| Vehicle Type | 2-door rear-wheel drive Sports Coupe |
| Starting Price | $114,990 |
| Price as Tested | $114,990 |
| Engine | 5.0-litre, V8 petrol |
| Power, Torque kW/Nm | 373/567 |
| Transmission | 10-speed automatic |
| Spare Wheel | – |
| Kerb Weight, Kg | 1,811 |
| Length x Width x Height mm | 4819x1917x1403 |
| Boot Space / Cargo Capacity, Litres | 376 |
| Fuel tank capacity, litres | 60 |
| Fuel Economy, L/100km | Advertised Spec – Combined – 13.8 Real-World Test – Combined – 11.3 Low Usage: 0-6 / Medium Usage 6-12 / High Usage 12+ |
| Towing Capacity Kg, unbraked/braked | Not rated |
| Turning circle metres | 12.2 Small: 6-10m / Medium 10-12m / Large 12m+ |
| Warranty | 5 years, unlimited kilometres |
| Safety information | ANCAP Rating – Unrated – LINK Rightcar.govt.nz – 5 Stars – RAR639 |
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