Wild one
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2025 Ford Mustang GTD First Test: It’s Not Just About the Numbers
It’s an insanely priced Mustang that weighs more than two tons. It’s also one of the best cars we’ve ever driven.Jonny LiebermanWriterWilliam WalkerPhotographerJun 04, 2026
Pros
- Crazy cool suspension
- Massive, extremely grippy tires
- Astonishing braking performance
Cons
- Very heavy
- Very wide
- Paltry mpg, tiny range
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
