There’s no mystery to why this latest generation of the famous pony express is so thunderous.

Price: $114,990.

Powertrain: 5.0-litre V8 373kW/567Nm, rear drive.

How big: 4819mm long; 1917mm wide; 1410mm high.

We like: Impressive presence; latest engine tune sounds great; decent highway ride; digital screens work well; has a good back-up camera (but no surround view).

Not so much: You really should have bought the manual; sub-premium interior; I know Mustangs are thirsty, but …

DRILL baby drill’ enthusiasm is all the rage Stateside …. but it’s nothing to do with why the car featured here is a rare sight.

Likewise, as much as the White House wants America’s car industry to again embrace Big Oil, seemingly at any cost, those car brands and a considerable count of Americans are resistant to being Trumped. Their view is that the world has changed … and the new way is better than the old.

Anway, in case you didn’t know, sales over there of Ford Mustang V8s are solid, but not sensational. The type that keeps ponying up bigger registrations is the ‘other’ one.

Mustang Mach-E didn’t hit targets in 2024, but nonetheless achieved year-on-year improvement. And sales of Mach-e are outpacing the petrol-addicted alternate by 10 to one.

Don’t fret, octane heads. The Mustang Dark Horse n test this week is not under threat of being sent to the knackers’ yard.

As much as it is held up as being a leading cause of global oil reserves’ deprivation, the Mustang coupe is a strong addiction, being an icon across the world for decades. The sheer brashness, that V8’s gargling burble … that’s an x-factor that’s incredibly hard to put a price on these days. So while it’s still up to earning a dollar, it’ll stay on the street.

But today it’s all about enjoyment in moderation. That’s Ford New Zealand’s ethos. The reason why this car is a rare sight is simply reflection of Blue Oval brand policy in face of legislative realities.

There’s good reason why the car’s return for a new generation is nothing like the ‘get-em-while-they’re hot’ stampede that unleashed when the first iteration of Mustang with factory right-hand drive availed.

The local debut of that first-ever global car saw 1000 cars in … and sent straight out into eager customer hands; Mustang frenzy was huge back then. Now it’s not. For a lot of people, owning a Stang was a ‘life’s dream-fulfilled’ itch that needed scratching just the once. They had their fun and moved on.

So that’s one reason why Ford has far brought in just 100 Dark Horses and why, even though it has all but a handful to yet to be spoken for, it is cautious about bringing in many more.

The other is the cost factor. Not just to customers, but also to itself.

Even with Clean Car Standard kiboshed, decarbonisation is still a thing. Distributors achieve credits from selling plug-in hybrids and full electrics, but also cop stiff and soon to rise penalties for importing product blackened by conspicuous consumption and copious CO2 output.

In a perfect scenario, good would balance out not-so. Mach-e and PHEV Escape could only do so much even if Ford was selling a lot of cars as well as light trucks. But it’s not; for years now, this brand’s hopes have been carried on a wellside. Ranger is Ford’s biggest volume achiever by far. It is another product that joins Mustang in the naughty corner insofar as emissions go. But any carbon credits go into keeping the ute in the market without undue penalty costs.

So if you see this hardtop, notch it up as a special sight. If you get to drive one? Yeah, count yourself lucky as well.

The Dark Horse might be considered a dinosaur by those who consider this period being an ecological age, but it’s utterly shameless in how it rocks.

Ford’s intent to deliver, initially as a celebration piece for 2024 being its 60th year of making Mustangs, a mean and moody, track-focused model is very coherently stated in how it looks, drives and sounds. The rumble has literally returned in this format. For delivering all of that, surely ‘instant legend’ status is assured?

When the right hand drive programme began, every Kiwi petrolhead needed a Mustang. That buy-in has died down considerably now, but almost all Dark Horses being snapped up before they landed here suggests the hardcore still have a hankering.

In a way that’s ironic, given the concept behind the ‘Dark Horse’ moniker is all to do with Ford desire to bring the Mustang into the future, rather than keep cred with those buyers who have fuelled its past.

With Dark Horse, Detroit wanted to make something that would appeal to a younger demographic new to this car.

Getting them interested in the Mustang required introducing something new to the lineup — “a trim level without pedigree, history, or legacy, that could begin to build those up for itself.” They said.

The end result of all that? It shapes up the much the same but stacks up on far more tech, mostly in the cockpit, where the drive faces two conjoined widescreens. Yes Donald, it’s all computer.

Reshaping the exterior is anything like as dramatic, because … well, you’d be stupid or suicidal to do that, right? The Fox body era was a close call; why try your luck again.

Prosthetic work has added additional millimetres to the nose and tail, but it’s no wider, the cabin shape seems unaltered and trademark features, such as glorious flared-out rear haunches and the sweeping roofline retain. Though triple-bladed front and rear lights are a new look, the housing shapes themselves are classic.

Within that nose still runs the same 5.0-litre V8, albeit with a fancy new induction system and internal alterations (one being adoption of stronger piston connecting rods hitherto used by a GT500 sold Stateside). These heft power to 373kW, but hold torque to the familiar 567Nm. Marriage to the 10-speed auto that arrived part-way through the previous car’s lifespan continues; just a handful of six-speed manuals arrived this time.

Closer scrutiny of the car is when you realise why the designers really have worked for their sign-off celebration beers and burgers. Big intakes in the front grille to channel more cooling air to the V8 are new. Likewise another vent on the bonnet to suck hot air out of the engine bay. Dark Horse specific touches include the black-panel detailing, a meatier lower body dressing and bumpers, a more aggressive front splitter and a boot spoiler, plus various logos and face on horse iconography.

Then there’s the interior. If you’ve been a fan of the traditional Mustang’s ‘dual-cowl’ interior, Y that ‘fighter jet fascia’ installed to win over those cashed up kids is quite the change.

Comprising a 12.4 inch display in front of the driver, for instrumentation, butting up to a main 13.2-inch touchscreen for the latest ‘SYNC 4’ infotainment system is quite a change, it’s totally in your face. Good news is this isn’t a case of revenge of the nerds; it’s not half as daunting as it looks.

It’s not as good as it could be, either. The climate controls no longer being separate and instead on the screen is personally annoying, even if that it’s part of a wider change to bump out those fascile ‘rocker’ switches with a plainer, but more ergonomically-sensible panel of six buttons.

Various other functions, including the drive mode switch, having relocated to the steering wheel (which no longer has an old-fashioned-looking round centre boss) is questionable, because it’s very stacked now; to point that trying to use a control when driving is risky, due to high likelihood of distraction and mis-hits.

That driving mode selector switch allows scrolling through the modes in one direction; you often have to negotiate through the five you don’t want before getting to the one you do. And what to make of the fake ‘manual’ handbrake lever that is actually an e-brake in disguise and the cupholders being so close to the gearstick that they cannot help but impede hand shifting if holding drink containers? Well, they do ‘different’ differently over there….

That might seem a bit backward, if not old-fashioned, but it reality that’s still the interior’s theme anyhow; Mustang seems to be forever stuck in a ‘Springsteen of a certain age’ vortex.

Plus, there’s the fit out. The car carries a fair swag of gear, but the overall presentation certainly reinforces that ‘premium’ from blue collar Ford of Detroit serves differently to how it is often delivered by Germany, Japan, South Korea or even China. Mustang’s leather is tough, but shiny; the plastics are hardy … but also hard.

The ideal of being modern with a yesteryear thematic shows when you start hunting through the model-specific submenus accessed via the Mustang-logoed control in that switch bank. The jackpot feature here for those dreaming of times gone by is a function that makes the dials go all analogue, replicating the dash from the third-generation built from 1979 through the eighties.

With all this going on, you cannot help but think any hopes of winning new fans were hedged against hopes it wouldn’t alienate the old audience. And just as well, because in NZ, they’re the ones with the money. Now they need more.

The Dark Horse sets a new price level for a factory V8 Mustang, including previous limited editions. Anyone who bought that $97,990 435kW/556Nm Mach 1 in 2023 must surely feel like a Lotto winner now.

Still, any Mustang whose development programme revolves around it being thrown into a bespoke race series - if you haven’t seen it, check out the Dark Horse race at Le Mans in June - is clearly of the right mettle.

It’s worth bearing in mind that the other imperative with Dark Horse was to present, as a fully factory product, the same kind of car that only previously came out as a special edition.

That it struck instantly as a new-age equivalent of my two favourite Mustangs - the Mach 1 and the as-exclusive Bullitt - suggests that ideal is reached. The only reason I have even fonder memories of those was because they were in nicer colour schemes and were both manuals.

‘Stick shift Stangs’ are not easily wrangled; the Tremec transmission is sensationally heavy-duty and massively sulky. But when you attune to its ways, well … special memories. Capable of flat-upshifting and rev-matching on downshifts, a manual Mustang is a huge thrill with ability to make any driver look like a hero.

The Dark Horse’s automatic seems about eighty percent-suited; it clearly tailors very differently to how it operates in a GT. Here, when you’re in Track mode - which, despite what the label says, isn’t a circuit-pure setting and is fine for decent fun roads - it has little reason to ever hunt out any gear beyond sixth.

That undoubtedly further eats into an already wallet-bruising fuel burn, but also keeps it in the meat of the power and torque zones, for impressive responsiveness. And, when the engine is operating thus, those quad exhausts are blaring out brilliantly.

The new pony coped very well with the same roads on which the Bullitt and Mach 1 were sent, as well you’d hope. Its spec is pretty serious.

The type has its own special tuning of the MagneRide dampers, mostly to make it sharper and more composed on track, while the Brembo brakes have been uprated from four-pot items previously to six-pot affairs. It employs a Torsen limited-slip rear differential, has larger rear sway bars than the GT, heavy-duty front shock absorbers and staggered 19-inch wheels shod with serious footwear. Pirelli’s P-Zeros are delivered in 245/40 front and 275/40 rear sizings, the latter deserve a bravery award for the hammering they get. this is a car that, even with traction aides in place, will still smoke its tyres if you hoof hard enough.

The steering is a little light, perhaps to mask the cars’ 1.8-tonne bulk and sheer physical presence, and though it doesn’t feel as dextrous as the Bullitt and Mach 1, neither does it feel like a cumbersome car. Also, all the different driving modes have potential on-road application, save perhaps Drag Strip. Probably.

In regard to size and substance. As much as one of the great misconceptions is that the Mustang now is as lardy and lazy as it used to be, it obviously does fill its lane. It’s not just the width; the view over that long bonnet is something else, too.

Curiously, in respect to that side of things, it’s the car’s interior dimension that leaves more pressing imprint than its footprint; for something of this size, Mustang is really not a spacious car all round.

The front seats are surrounded by enough space to accommodate a pair of tall adults, but the rear seats are too short on headroom for anyone of adult age and, even if they’re not bent up like a paperclip, there’s no legroom if a tall driver is running the show.

The boot is a bit of a joke, too; the 408 litres’ capacity is reasonable but far from outstanding but what screws it is that the loadspace and the opening are rather shallow. A comical daily repeating sights on our Route 66 drive last year was watching a participant work to fit into a back end of a Mustang convertible two hard-shelled cases my own Kia EV6 wold have simply swallowed.

Of course, ultimately it’s the being behind a V8 that makes the day. Ford says it has considerably reworked the long-serving Coyote into a fourth-generation unit, thanks to changes to the bore and stroke, and the fitment of dual air intakes rather than the solitary item it had before.

US models have more power because their exhausts aren’t saddled with petrol particulate filters that fit for export. Without those it would have more grunt than the Bullitt and Mach 1.

Still, even in auto, the Dark Horse is the most accelerative new factory Mustang.

From moment of being fired, the active exhaust is working to deliver to bring the best possible noises. In cruise, you experience what is often called one of the last true great soundtracks of the internal-combustion age. It does low-revs, burbly torque in the best possible way, too..

Opening it up shouldn’t be discouraged; the 7000rpm redline might seem a lofty stretch, but this one is happy enough to see it. It’ll go there cleanly and eagerly. Do so, and you’ll not be complaining about the speed the Ford can serve up.

The strange orange man wants the world to buy American cars. Mustang is such an all-around American hero, it’s probably high in his thoughts.

Reality, of course, is that it’s the other current car from the pony club that logically has a better chance; it has the technology for the future. Except, of course, in the Supreme Leader’s brain, electrics are just wrong … so wrong he’s cutting assistance at every opportunity.

Dark Horse is a car that struggles to be of this time; it drinks way too much - that 60-litre tank was empty before it saw 300 kilometres clocked - the interior’s barely up to snuff for the asking price and the impracticalities of a big, wide, heavy low-slung American car make it an awkward accomplice for daily life, even if you’re driving solo.

But as a muscle car that’s great fun to hustle down your favourite road, or just burble around town in, it is very much still a machine that makes every moment you spend with it feel special.