Ford Mustang Review 2025

That most iconic of American muscle cars is back in the UK with right-hand drive. Now in its seventh generation this brute of a sports car looks even more purposeful and aggressive — but it's also quite expensive. Is its lofty price tag for the last naturally aspirated V8-engined car you buy here justified? Find out with our full Ford Mustang Fastback review.

Does the latest Ford Mustang Fastback look as good as its predecessor? That's up for debate, but to your eyes it's a bit fussy at the front and the wheels look a bit small. There's an an awful lot of presence, though — this will, in the best way possible, stick out like a sore thumb in a supermarket car park, even if you haven't optioned one of the more lurid colours available. 

Engine-wise your only option for the Ford Mustang this time is the 5.0-litre V8 — fine by us — in two states of tune, with the Fastback coupe available as the 446PS GT and the track-focused Mustang Dark Horse, with lairy aero addendum, upgraded cooling, a closer-ratio gearbox and 453PS of grunt. The Ford Mustang Convertible continues to be available solely in GT guise.

On the transmission front there's the option of a 10-speed automatic but if you're to do things properly you'll be sticking with the six-speed manual. Which will also save you £2000 in the process. 

The Ford Mustang Fastback is a truly unique proposition in the UK, with none of its core rivals from the US, such as the the Chevrolet Camaro, officially imported here in right-hand drive form any longer. Similarly, V8-powered rival coupes from Europe and Japan no longer sold in the UK since the demise of the Mercedes-AMG C63 and Lexus RC F.

Remaining alternatives such as the BMW M4 and the Mercedes-AMG CLE53 offer similar levels of performance but without the eight-cylinder soundtrack — they're not without appeal, they're simply different kettles of fish. If you can live without the Ford pair of tiny back seats then you may feel the Porsche 718 Cayman in GTS 4.0 guise is worth considering as well.

For pure emotional appeal and theatricality we reckon the Ford Mustang Fastback has them all beaten. It'll be the last with a V8, so get one while you still can.

We'd imagine most people are buying the Ford Mustang fastback for the engine and to a lesser extent the way it looks. Yet it does very well for itself in the handling department, even if it can't hold a candle to European coupes in the same monetary ballpark. 

It's evolved over time to adopt independent suspension and adaptive dampers — while there was a time when Mustangs had a reputation for being a little wayward, this one feels properly planted in the dry. A little more care needs to be taken in the wet when it can get a little squirrely, but the traction control does a good job of keeping on top of things without completely spoiling the fun.

There is the option to switch that off, plus you can also pick between driving modes comprising of Normal, Sport, Slippery, Drag and Track. These have an effect on the weight of the steering, the firmness of the adaptive dampers (if fitted) and the behaviour of the engine.

Generally, you'll want it in Sport, however the adaptive dampers can be a bit firm at low speeds in this setting, especially when you're negotiating speed bumps. Get the car up to speed on a country road and it tracks the undulations of the road adeptly, settling quickly whenever driving over a particularly rough patch.

The steering's on the heavier side in all of its modes but it's quick enough — and a bit speedier than the steering in the previous car, as it goes. There's even a bit of feedback from the road surface. 

The Mustang definitely feels most at home on wide, sweeping bends. Anything more nadgery and the nose starts to feel quite heavy and you notice the car's considerable weight, as well as its size — something you're never unaware of. 

Previously you could buy a Ford Mustang Fastback with a 2.3-litre Ecoboost inline-four turbo engine. Actually, you still can, but not in the UK. Funnily enough, most UK buyers wanted their American icon with an appropriate engine — a V8. The Ecoboost Mustang proved unpopular enough here that Ford ditched it not long after the sixth-generation car's facelift and didn't bother bringing it here at all with this one. 

That's just fine by us. The 5.0-litre naturally aspirated V8 suits the car down to the ground. With a lack of turbochargers, which you'll find on pretty much every other V8 still fitted to a new car here, the throttle is super-responsive, and the noise is to die for.

It sounds delicious all the way through the rev range but is at its best in the rumbly low- to mid-rev range. The beauty of it is that it sounds great whether you're pootling along or gunning it. 

Europe-bound Mustangs lose around 50PS relative to their American counterparts due to tighter emissions regulations, leaving these cars with 446PS for GT models and 453PS in the Dark Horse. That doesn't sound like much when there are four-cylinder hot hatches making almost as much, while the 5.3-second 0-62mph time and 155mph top speed for the manual-equipped GT might come off as underwhelming. 

Ignore that number, though because the Mustang feels more than fast enough for the road but isn't so fast that you almost immediately have to back off to avoid going too quickly. Rowing through the gears is an involving experience, meanwhile. The shift itself feels suitably meaty and old fashioned, but there's a nice feeling of accuracy when going through the gate. There's also a switchable rev-matching system, which works very well indeed. 

While the GT automatic shares the same top speed as the manual it's quicker from standstill to 62mph at 4.9 seconds.

That extra 7PS doesn't make the Dark Horse models go much quicker in terms of acceleration at 5.2 seconds for the manual and 4.4 for the automatic in terms of the 0-62mph sprint. The Dark Horse auto is still pegged at a 155mph maximum, while the manual's been derestricted to 163mph.

The current Ford Mustang Fastback hasn't been tested by Euro NCAP but it does still share much of its structure with the previous-generation car, and that didn't do so well last time the safety body assessed it.

Back then, it managed only three stars out of five, but that was actually an improvement on when it was initially tested without a lot of the safety tech Ford later added. In the earlier test, it managed only a two-star rating. 

The new one comes with plenty of safety features as standard, at least, including autonomous emergency braking, speed limit recognition and lane assistance. 

Looking at the sheer size of the Ford Mustang Fastback you might think it's massive on the inside — it's not. The back seat is cramped and access to it is tight and awkward, especially if you can't be bothered to unclip the front seatbelt from the seat itself as you tip it forward.   

Boot space isn't too bad at 408 litres and the rear bench does fold down for longer items. Whatever you're loading through it will need to be quite low and narrow to fit through the bootlid's gap — despite the Mustang Fastback's sleek styling, this is a two-door car, with no enormous tailgate to open when accessing the luggage space. 

In the front, the door bins are small but there are two cupholders and a handy storage compartment between the seats. 

Although the Ford Mustang Fastback's cabin is more modern than before, thanks in large part to the flat screen digital instrument cluster and infotainment screen combo, there's still quite a lot of cheaper-feeling trim, including hard plastics and some nasty fake carbon fibre stuff.

Ignoring the screens, it generally seems quite dated in there. It doesn't have any quality issues such as rough edges or ill-fitting panels — everything feels sufficiently resilient to last. 

The Ford Mustang Fastback now has a 13.2-inch infotainment touchscreen system. It's responsive but the menu layout takes a little while to get used to, not being as intuitive as some rivals' arrangements. We're also irked by the fact it now has to be used for most climate control functions, especially because the icons for them are small and hard to use on the move. 

The integral navigation system functions just fine but looks basic. We suspect a lot of owners will simply use the standard fit Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity to use their favourite navigation app instead. 

Let's not pretend otherwise — £55,725 for the least expensive Ford Mustang V8 GT Fastback with a six-speed manual gearbox is a lot of money. It also represents a significant 10% price jump compared with the equivalent model in the previous generation's range when that went off sale. Yet, within the context of what similar degrees of performance elsewhere will set you back, it's still a relative bargain.

A BMW M4 Competition Coupe, albeit with M xDrive all-wheel drive, will set you back £88,985, while the Mercedes-AMG CLE53 starts at £73,075. If you can live with it being a two-seater, the GTS 4.0 version of the Porsche 718 Cayman will cost you £75,300.

Adding the 10-speed automatic gearbox option to the Mustang GT requires a further £2000 but there's a more significant hike for the 453S Mustang V8 Dark Horse Factback — the manual is £67,995 and the auto's £69,995, so still undercuttng the competition, if only just.

At the time of writing there's a 22-week wait for a Mustang, so you'll need to be patient if you want one. 

You'd better enjoy trips to the filling station as the Ford Mustang Fastback's 5.0-litre V8 has quite the thirst — then again, if that surprises you, it's unlikely a Mustang's really what you're looking for in the first place.

According to the WLTP Combined cycle figures, the manual GT averages 20.7-28.0mpg with the automatic fractionally better at 20.8-28.0mpg.

Extra power makes the Dark Horse a little less economical with quotes of 20.5-27.2mpg for the manual, 20.8-27.4mpg for the automatic.

You might get a bit more than that if your mileage is heavily biased towards motorway cruising and if you take it easy but you're not going to want to do that in a V8-powered Mustang, are you? 

Speaking from our experiences, you will want to put your foot down a fair bit. We certainly did, which resulted in an average of 21mpg. At the very least, the fuel tank is a decent size at 61 litres, so if you have a long trip planned (and can stomach the fuel bills), you'll make it a reasonable way before having to stop and fill up. 

High CO2 emissions also mean high first year VED costs. The GT manual produces 275g/km, the automatic being quoted at 278g/km. For the Dark Horse those numbers are 279g/km and 282g/km, respectively.

All versions are comfortably over the threshold for the government's 'luxury car' £40,000 threshold, making the Mustang liable for an additional annual charge of £410 from years two to five of ownership on top of the usual £195 fee at 2025/26 rates. 

There are two distinct versions of the Ford Mustang Fastback available — the popular GT and the more focused Dark Horse — both are loaded to the hilt with equipment.

Go for the Ford Mustang GT Fastback for 19-inch alloy wheels, LED lights, heated and cooled front seats with electrical adjustment, part-leather upholstery, a rear parking camera, adaptive cruise control, keyless entry and start, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, plus best of all, a 12-speaker Bang & Olufsen surround sound system. 

The Ford Mustang Dark Horse Fastback is more suited to track driving, with various aerodynamic additions including a rear wing, stronger brakes, adaptive dampers with a specific Dark Horse tune, different wheels shod in wider tyres (they're still 19 inches in diameter, though), upgrading cooling and some darkened trim bits inside and out. 

Although the starting price for each is quite chunky, the options list is pleasingly light. Aside from the colours, which admittedly can get quite spendy, there's a Recaro sports seat option for £2000, while the GT can be specced with adaptive dampers for £1600.