The Mustang Dark Horse Is the Last V8 Muscle Car Standing — One Reviewer Just Put It Against Dodge’s New 550-HP Twin-Turbo Charger

Ford’s Mustang Dark Horse carries a naturally aspirated 5.0L V8 into a segment everyone else has turbocharged or walked away from. A well-known YouTube reviewer lined it up against Dodge’s radically different new Charger and picked a winner. Here’s the case for the V8, spec for spec, against 550 horsepower of twin-turbo inline-six.

Every other American muscle car built its next generation around forced induction, electrification, or both. The Mustang Dark Horse didn’t. Ford kept a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V8 under the hood, bolted a Tremec six-speed manual behind it, and dared the rest of the segment to catch up without turbochargers. That’s exactly the setup YouTube reviewer Raiti’s Rides put on camera, lining the Dark Horse up against Dodge’s brand-new, twin-turbocharged Charger Sixpack to settle which one actually deserves the “muscle car” name in 2026. The verdict, and the reasoning behind it, says as much about where this segment is headed as it does about either car.

What the Video Covers

Raiti’s Rides has built a following on straightforward, enthusiast-first reviews rather than manufacturer-scripted walkarounds, and this comparison leans into that reputation. The video frames the matchup in blunt terms: the Dark Horse is “the last muscle car with a V8,” while the Charger Sixpack is “all new” with a thoroughly modern interior and standard all-wheel drive. Rather than treating that as a knock against the Ford, the review argues the Dark Horse’s old-school formula, one naturally aspirated engine, one manual gearbox, minimal electronic intervention, is precisely why it still wins over enthusiasts who cross-shop the two.

The comment section underneath the video, which has pulled in tens of thousands of views, turned into its own debate. Several commenters pointed to the Dark Horse’s manual-transmission availability as the deciding factor on its own, with one simply writing “it comes with the Tremec? SOLD!” Others praised the Charger’s twin-turbo six as genuinely impressive engineering, while pointing out that a naturally aspirated V8 still delivers a different kind of driving experience, and a different sound, than a turbocharged inline-six ever will. One owner even described spotting three Dark Horses at a car meet, including one running north of 800 horsepower with an aftermarket supercharger, a reminder of how much headroom Ford left in this platform.

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Two Very Different Paths to the Same Finish Line

The Dark Horse nameplate itself only dates back to the current S650-generation Mustang, which arrived for the 2024 model year as the performance flagship above the standard GT. Ford positioned it as the spiritual successor to the old Bullitt and Mach 1 special editions, a track-capable trim built in low volume for buyers who wanted the most focused version of the car without stepping up to a dedicated GT500-style halo model. Three model years in, it has become the trim enthusiasts point to whenever the conversation turns to whether traditional muscle car values, big displacement, a clutch pedal, minimal computer intervention, can still survive in a modern lineup.

The Dark Horse represents the current high-water mark of Ford’s S650-generation Mustang, and the specs back up the reviewer’s case. Its modified Gen 4 Coyote 5.0-liter V8 makes 500 horsepower and 418 lb-ft of torque, helped along by forged connecting rods, revised intake tuning, and upgraded cooling hardware built specifically to survive repeated track sessions. Buyers can take it with a standard 10-speed automatic, but the Dark Horse is one of a shrinking number of new performance cars still offered with a proper stick: a Tremec six-speed manual with rev-matching, short throws, and enough mechanical feel to justify the extra pedal. With the manual, Ford quotes a 0-60 mph time of 4.6 seconds. Pricing starts at $63,080, with a track-focused Dark Horse SC variant pushing past $103,000 for buyers who want factory-level aero and chassis upgrades.
For readers who want the full story on a different era of underrated Detroit performance, our deep dive into how Buick’s GSX and GNX quietly became some of the brand’s most collectible muscle cars covers similar ground on why a car’s reputation doesn’t always match its engineering.

The Charger Sixpack takes the opposite approach entirely. Dodge dropped V8 power from the new Charger lineup and replaced it with the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six, built around twin Garrett GT2054 turbochargers. In its high-output Scat Pack tune, the engine produces 550 horsepower and 531 lb-ft of torque, routed through an eight-speed automatic to a 50/50 split all-wheel-drive system that can be switched to rear-wheel drive. Dodge quotes a 3.9-second 0-60 run and a 12.2-second quarter mile, with pricing starting under $55,000, meaningfully less than the Dark Horse. On paper, the Charger is quicker, more powerful, and available with more grip in bad weather. What it doesn’t offer is a manual gearbox, a naturally aspirated engine note, or the decades of pony-car heritage the Mustang nameplate carries into every comparison like this one.

What Actually Makes the Dark Horse Special

That’s the tension the video keeps coming back to: raw numbers versus character. The Charger Sixpack wins the spec sheet in almost every measurable category, and Dodge’s engineering behind the Hurricane six, twin turbos spinning to 185,000 rpm under 30 psi of boost, is legitimately impressive for a factory powertrain. But the Dark Horse wasn’t built to win a numbers game. It was built for the driver who wants to row their own gears, hear a V8 without a turbo muffling the exhaust note, and know that when the last of the naturally aspirated Mustangs eventually goes away, they held onto one while they still could. Several commenters framed 2026 as “the year of the horse” for exactly that reason, buying now rather than waiting to see what comes next.

The Bigger Picture for Muscle Car Fans

With Chevrolet’s Camaro still absent from showrooms and Dodge betting its future on turbocharged and electrified power, the Dark Horse currently stands as the only new American muscle car still sold with a naturally aspirated V8 and a manual transmission together. Dodge’s own strategy makes the split clearest: the Charger Sixpack is the gas-powered option, while the brand is simultaneously pushing the all-electric Charger Daytona as its other new-era muscle car, a two-track bet that hedges against exactly the kind of buyer this video is talking to. That combination, naturally aspirated, three pedals, no plug required, used to be the default for this segment. Now it’s the exception, and increasingly the selling point. Whether that makes the Dark Horse the objectively “better” muscle car, as the video’s title argues, or simply the more emotionally satisfying one, depends on what a buyer actually wants from 500 horsepower: the quickest way to 60, or the most memorable way to get there.

Watch the full video above and let us know your thoughts in the comments.