Do Stingray Owners Have to Worry About Mustang GT’s Power Bump?

Horsepower levels for Ford’s pony car now equal that of lower trim Corvettes.

Without going any further than this first sentence, we fully grasp the concept that the Corvette and the Mustang are inherently different cars. They come from different backgrounds, have different heritage, so on and so forth. But there’s been a bit of a party crash with the Corvette’s performance superiority. Base model Stingray Corvettes now offer near-as-makes-no-difference the -ame levels of horsepower as the GT. And, Mustang models only grow quicker from there.

But the big problem is, you can get into a Ford dealership and walk out with a Mustang GT for far less than you could with a Stingray. Granted, to match both forward and lateral pace with the Corvette, you may have to add-on some dealer installed accessories, but you still undercut GM’s sports car by a significant margin… Worrying.

One might point at the Mustang’s more crude approach to speed, but the S550 chassis is fully modern with full independent rear suspension. Gone is the live axle to be poked fun at. As well, it’s not full of cheap Ford plastics of yesteryear. Anyone who’s given it a chance will commend it for how far it’s come.

But perhaps this is the reason why the C7 hasn’t had a power increase. If GM knew Ford was going to posture the Mustang to fight a bit with the Corvette, it only makes sense that the C8 would be mid-engine. Why raise the bar, when you can put it completely out of reach?

The Camaro is already there to fight the Mustang, and it does a great job at it. We say, let the Corvette take on Ford’s best (as it has just done at Virginia International Raceway)… at a fraction of the price.