2025 Ford Mustang GTD First Test: It’s Not Just About the Numbers

Every so often, a car comes along that scrambles conventional wisdom. Remember when EVs were nothing more than glorified golf carts? Boom, meet the Tesla Model S, a car so good it revolutionized the automotive industry. Porsches are great track toys, but when it comes to drag racing, leave that to the hot rodders, but have you met a 911 Turbo S in the last two decades? British cars are fantastically styled, beautifully appointed, but lousy in terms of reliability. OK, that last one hasn’t changed, but cars have only been around for 140 years. Maybe one day!

Looking over our First Test chart of the new Ford Mustang GTD, one number would seem to seal the uber-pony car’s fate before another word gets typed: weight. On the MotorTrend scales, we saw an astonishing 4,411 pounds. That’s basically what a Kia Telluride weighs. Here’s where we’re going to need you to read the opening sentence again.

See All 33 Photos33

GTD Nickel Tour for the Uninitiated

Assuming you’re here because you’re dying to know what a $438,200 (as tested) Mustang is all about, we’ll keep the preamble to a minimum. You can read all about the heavily modified ’Stang right here and here. However, if this is the first you’re hearing of a GTD, here’s a quick nickel tour. Ford sends Mustang body-in-whites northeast to Canada from Flat Rock, Michigan, to Multimatic in Markham, Ontario. From there, the Multimatic team removes the front and rear ends, installing carbon-fiber and aluminum parts up front and a tubular steel subframe out back. Torsional stiffness goes through the roof, and its roof is made from carbon fiber, as is every other body panel, including the door skins and the trunklid. This Mustang is massively widened, as well, swelling by over 6.0 inches to 81.7 inches. To contextualize that for you, the current Range Rover is 80.6 inches wide. It’s so wide that the side mirrors only stick out 0.2 inch past the bodywork. If it were a truck, it would need clearance lights.

The GTD’s mighty engine is a hopped-up version of Ford’s Predator 5.2-liter supercharged V-8 that in this application is good for 815 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque. And yes, children, there was a time not that long ago when 815 ponies was an eye-watering amount of power. Packaged low in its tubular rear subframe sits an excellent Tremec dual-clutch transaxle—the same one found in the C8 Chevy Corvette.

See All 33 Photos33

Multimatic supplies the hydraulically actuated spool-valve dampers front and rear. The rear dampers are especially trick, for not only are they horizontally mounted and pushrod actuated, but there’s also a piece of plexiglass where the rear seat used to live that allows you to look right at them. Be sure to tilt your rearview mirror down and watch ’em work. The lightweight magnesium rims are wrapped in sticky, freakishly large (325 front, 345 rear) Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 RS rubber. GTD spec, of course.

It all adds up to 4,411 pounds of fun. That’s a supremely heavy Mustang.

Astonished By How Magical It is

After just three turns on the racetrack, I was quite shocked to realize that my initial thought was, “This thing drives small.” One corner later I thought, “This is one of the best cars I’ve ever driven.” After three laps, I had the same thought in my head. Ford and Multimatic had sent a team of techs/minders out to the track with the GTD, and I walked over and began expressing my astonishment and admiration to them. Thinking back over my 21-year career, I can’t recall ever doing that with any other car.

The next day, up on some blistering canyon roads above Palm Springs, I was driving a 1,250-hp Czinger 21C alien attack vessel with a $2.5 million price tag, and I was pushing it hard. Yet as quick as I was going, every time I clocked the mirrors, there was our road test editor, Eric Tingwall, in the GTD on me like stink on French cheese. Well, I thought to myself: “I’m fat and old. It’s been a pretty good run, everything peaks, it’s all downhill from here.” So imagine my surprise when later that day after we swapped cars, I found myself steering with just one hand in the GTD and sitting on the Czinger’s bumper, while ol’ Tingwall struggled to keep the hypercar in its lane.

See All 33 Photos33

How do we account for the Mustang GTD driving so well? Tingwall thinks it’s the trick suspension. “There’s none of the float and bounce that’s characteristic of a regular Mustang,” he noted. “The nose dives into turns with perfect precision. The suspension is busy but not necessarily harsh, with firm damping and reasonable spring rates.” While the crazy, high-tech dampers are no doubt a large part of the answer, let’s talk contact patch. One of the reasons the Bugatti Veyron became infamous was because of its 365-width rear tires. The fronts? A still very wide 265mm. Well, the GTD’s freakishly large bespoke Pirellis put 6 percent more rubber to the road overall than a dang Veyron. Man. Just magic. You know what? The whole thing is magic.

The Numbers Need Some Context

The sprint to 60 mph happens in 2.7 seconds. Some context. Any RWD vehicle that gets it done in less than 3.0 seconds is seriously quick. However, ye olde regular Corvette (495 hp) got there in 2.8 seconds, and the current Z06 beats it with a 2.6-second scramble. The 1,064-hp Corvette ZR1 only shaves that time down by another tenth, taking 2.5 seconds. The 1,250-hp hybrid AWD ZR1X? In 2.1 seconds. Also, what’s a “base” Corvette going to do when the upcoming 2027 model lands packing Chevy’s new LS6 6.7-liter V-8? Probably at least tie the $438K Mustang to 60 mph, if not whoop it outright.

See All 33 Photos33

Still, 2.7 seconds is mighty quick, a time that beats a 5,406-pound hybrid AWD Bentley Continental GT Speed (2.8 seconds) that can (probably) be optioned up to the same price. Also, the slightly detuned Shelby GT500 with the same engine needs 3.7 seconds to hit 60 mph, meaning the GTD bests it by a full second, while the 2017 Ford GT needs 3.0 seconds to hit 60 mph. So there’s your context. Moving on.

In the quarter mile, horsepower proves more important than torque, and the Mustang GTD turns in an impressive 10.5-second sprint at 134.9 mph. Big numbers. Here comes some more context. The regular C8 Corvette needs 11.1 seconds at 123.2 mph, whereas the 670 hp Z06 takes 10.6 seconds at 129.5 mph. Now’s a good time to point out that the GTD weighs about 900 pounds more than the Stingray and around 800 pounds more than the Z06. Now, the big dog Corvettes? The 1,064-hp ZR1 breaks into the nines, running the quarter in 9.9 seconds at 144.2 mph. The ZR1X drops it down to an impressive 9.2 seconds at a big boy 153.3 mph. Back to the Fords, the GT500 was a full second behind the GTD, needing 11.5 seconds at 129.6 mph, whereas the Ford GT ran it in 10.8 seconds at 130.5 mph. Funny enough, that ties the Bentley, which also runs 10.8 seconds at 130.7 mph All that said, the 815-hp Ford GTD is damn quick, but bottom line, you can go quicker for less cash.

See All 33 Photos33

When it comes to braking prowess, the 2.2-ton curb weight should let us know that the GTD ain’t going to stop so well. Emphasis on should. For you see, friends, the mega Mustang whoas itself down from 60 mph in just 89 feet. That’s remarkable. That’s incredible. That’s almost unbelievable. Pick a superlative. Wow. In terms of stopping power, the GTD beats every single car mentioned above. The best of the rest would be the 3,354-pound Ford GT, which stopped in an also excellent 95 feet from 60 mph. That 89-foot number ties it with the Dodge Viper ACR (track setup; the street ACR needed only 87 feet) for seventh best all time. Perhaps this should come as no surprise, as the best car MotorTrend has ever tested in terms of braking from 60 mph is the 4,028-pound Ford Mustang Dark Horse, which did the deed in just 86 feet. (Actually, it’s tied for the best, a 911 GT3 Touring matched it.)

As for our signature figure-eight handling test, the GTD doesn’t disappoint, completing our 1,600-foot course in just 22.6 seconds with a max lateral acceleration of 1.13 g. As I’ve long said, anything under 23 seconds is a supercar. Case in point, the GT500 does it in a pretty decent 24.1 seconds. That said, 1.5 seconds over 1,600 feet is essentially night and day. As for the Chevy gang, the C8 Stingray runs a 23.3, the Z06 a 22.3, the ZR1 does a 21.6, and the ZR1X actually goes slower than the ZR1, needing 21.9 seconds. The Ford GT? 22.7 seconds. To me, this is insane, as I remember being blown away by how nimble and great to drive on a track the original third-generation GT was. Props to Ford (and Multimatic, who also helped build the GT) for getting a Mustang to beat its mid-engine supercar in a handling exercise. Oh, and the Bentley? 24.5 seconds, which all things considered is just fine.

Conclusion: If you love driving and have the money, the Ford Mustang GTD is an absolute must buy. My highest recommendation.