The battle between American muscle cars and supercars runs thick in the veins of many automotive enthusiasts. The Ford Shelby GT500 is a definite fan-favorite among muscle car enthusiasts, and it puts down an impressive amount of power. Iconic styling paired with power and performance presses the cost of the GT500 upwards of over $70,000 and with such a modest price you may be surprised to know it even out-performs some supercars.

Power and heritage

The Shelby GT500 has been well known as a Ford powerhouse, and the 2020 model year doesn’t disappoint. It has the best performance of any Mustang Ford has created so far, and has some impressive numbers that would leave some supercar owners with their heads hung low.

Under the hood of this unsuspectingly quick car is a supercharged 5.2L V8 engine, combining the modern love of superchargers with a traditional high-displacement motor to keep the muscle car heritage alive. From the factory, the cars have a whopping 760hp and as much as 625 lb-ft of torque. That’s more power than the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, Audi R8, or even the Porsche 911 GT2 RS.

It features a seven-speed automatic dual-clutch transmission and is relatively high-revving, hitting the red line point at around 7,500rpms. It can go from 0 – 60mph in a reported 3.7 seconds and can go from 60mph to a complete stop in about 100ft. The GT500 can run a quarter-mile in 11.5 seconds and cross that finish line at 130mph.

The Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 itself

The Mustang Shelby GT500 doesn’t just outperform supercars, it outperforms all of the other American muscle cars, including the Camaro ZL1 and new Corvette Z06. It is the most aggressively styled Shelby yet, with narrower headlights, a wider grille, and even crazier aero to help the car handle the horsepower.

Being a performance car does have some downside. Having an almost 800hp car isn’t necessarily the easier thing to have in traffic and can easily add a speeding ticket to your daily commute. The stiff suspension helps that car handle better and the ride quality doesn’t make it seem like you’re going quite as fast as you actually are, making it easy to speed.

With such a large motor that is performance-oriented, the GT500 gets pretty abysmal gas mileage. It averages 12mpg in the city and only 18mpg on the highway, practically guzzling through gas as drivers will have to frequent the gas stations if they chose to use theirs for their daily commute.

Fully loaded with all available options the Ford GT500 is still less than $100,000. There are three main packages available, and the names of the packages do well to explain their purpose. The appearance package you can add on is the carbon fiber package – which of course adds on more carbon fiber detailing to the car’s appearance. The technology package improves the driver’s experience in the car, and the final handling package gives the car an upgraded handling and driving experience.