[VIDEO] C8 Corvette Stingray Meets the Mustang Dark Horse on U-Drags

The Chevrolet Camaro is gone again, and with it, the automotive world’s version of Yankees v. Red Sox. Luckily, Ford is repeating many of the mistakes that got Chevy’s Pony Car in sales trouble during its last generation. To layman’s eyes, the new “S650” ‘Stang isn’t all that different from its S550 predecessor – in many ways it isn’t as good looking – and prices are up across the board (you can’t even get a V8 until you shell out $46,560). These factors have led to a 32% year-over-year sales decrease in Q1, despite being the only pony/muscle car left on the market, and embarrassingly, the real Mustang is getting handily outsold by the all-electric Mach-E crossover.

We say “luckily” about all this bad news, because price hikes have also landed the Mustang to get the 500 horsepower Dark Horse, directly in the pricing vicinity of a new and even more iconic rival: the C8 Corvette! Knowing how compelling this matchup of legendary American performance machines has become, Edmunds got the pair together for its most recent episode of the best drag racing show on YouTube, U-Drags.

U-Drags pools all the vehicle tests you know and love into a single run, beginning from a standstill with a quarter-mile drag race, entering a braking and high-g cornering zone, then heading back to the start/finish line with a roll race. It’s always a lot of fun to see how cars compare in this format, and Corvettes have starred in more chapters than just about any other model, but never has America’s Sports Car U-Dragged such an evenly matched foe.

The Dark Horse in the opposite corner is a Grabber Blue 2024 that rang up at $74,155 – 2025s saw a $3,645 price hike, and another is expected for ’26. Pricing aside, the DH features the most powerful version of The Blue Oval’s long-time 5.0 “Coyote” V8 staple, besting the previous Mach-1. That DOHC 307-cube bent eight revs to 7,500 RPM and makes its peak 500 horsepower just 250 spins earlier at a lofty 7,250. The Achilles Heel of Ford’s architecture, when compared to the classic GM Small-Block, has always been torque, and that rule of thumb stands pat, here, with a relatively meager 418 lb-ft. It sends that power to the rear wheels, and as tested, it weighs 4,016 lbs., giving it around 8 pounds to haul around per horse. Also, pertinent and good news for the parity of this comparison, but otherwise unfortunate, is the fact that Edmunds’ example was spec’d with the 10-speed automatic transmission instead of the model’s main selling point: the standard TREMEC six-speed manual.

The 2025 Stingray starts at $68,300, but the Torch Red 3LT Coupe on hand was optioned all the way up to $95,405, including the must-have $6,345 Z51 performance package that scores buyers more serious Brembos, performance exhaust good for five extra ponies, the e-Diff, upgraded suspension and axle ratio, better cooling, grippier tires, and a smattering of aero goodies. It finds itself just shy of the Mustang, but it makes up for that deficit with 52 extra lb-ft. of twist and a 3,662 lb. curb weight that isn’t just 354 pounds easier on the scale than its adversary, it puts its weight-to-power ratio .6 lower at 7.4 lbs./HP.

This is going to be a good one, and we aren’t going to spoil the result(s), so turn your speakers up for more dualling V8 goodness, get out your red face paint, and enjoy it while it lasts; this latest rivalry might not last forever.

Source:
Edmunds

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