Just how much will be on tap for the fourth-gen Coyote V8?
There’s building excitement among the Ford faithful about the 2024 Mustang and the promising performance it should provide. We should be more specific: enthusiasts are excited about the Mustang GT, not the wussy EcoBoost which undoubtedly will frequent weird meets where Honda Accords are considered muscle cars. With the excitement has come some debate about just how much power the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 will have on tap in the Mustang GT.
Whatever the power output, Ford is making the new Mustang difficult to tune.
It all started with Ford Authority saying it obtained a Monroney label for the 2024 Ford Mustang GT. On it is clearly printed 450-horsepower for the fourth-gen Coyote V8. You can also see on the window sticker the car in question has a manual transmission and Performance Package.
To some, this sealed the deal and they know the S650 GT comes with 450-hp and not a drop more power. However, autoevolution pointed out on the Monroney label is printed “vehicle not for sale.” It seems obvious it’s not for sale considering the release of the 7th-gen Mustang won’t go on sale until the summer of 2023.
Autoevolution also points out SYNC 3 is listed on the window sticker, which is suspicious since the S650 will be coming with SYNC 4. As Sherlock Holmes himself would say, it’s elementary deductive reasoning which would lead one to conclude this sticker is probably from a pre-production car. Thus, autoevolution claims the pony in question “makes at least 480 horsepower.”
If you’re thinking that’s a logical leap, there’s more info to make sense of it all. Autoevolution spoke to Mustang chief engineer Edwin Krenz at the S650 launch event, who said something about a competing muscle car making 485-hp and “I don’t like to be second.” Therefore, it’s obvious the fourth-gen Coyote V8 will be pushing 480-plus horsepower.
There’s just something about that logic: the 485-hp competitor is the Dodge Challenger with the 392 Hemi V8, an engine which is going away after the 2023 model year. Replacing them will be the Hurricane inline-six, which when paired with twin turbos makes a claimed 400-hp. So you see, at 450-hp, the S650 GT would still be the top dog.
So how much power does the S650 Mustang GT make? It’s possible Ford has floated some erroneous figures out there as it fine-tunes the engine, so it might not even be finalized. Maybe the Blue Oval is gauging market interest in different figures? Maybe employees are just having some fun with automotive journalists by feeding them conflicting info? Or maybe Ford will go crazy, strap a 2.5-liter supercharger onto the Mustang GT and dial up output to over 700-hp. We know that last piece of speculation won’t happen because, sadly, the days of crazy American muscle car performance for the masses seem to be over, for now.
Sources: Ford Authority, autoevolution
Photos via Ford
