2026 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Coyote

5.0L V8

A high-revving, naturally aspirated small-block that mixes old-school '5.0' muscle with modern dual variable cam timing, building to a hard-edged top end and a charismatic American V8 howl.

Introduced in 2011, the Coyote revived Ford's legendary '5.0' badge after a 15-year hiatus; engineered from the Modular V8 family, it shares core architecture like bore spacing and deck height with the 4.6L that preceded it.

• The Coyote brought back the iconic '5.0' fender badge that had been absent from the Mustang for 15 years.
• In the Dark Horse it borrows forged connecting rods from the supercharged GT500 to become the most powerful naturally aspirated 5.0 in Mustang history at 500 hp.
• Twin Independent Variable Cam Timing (Ti-VCT) lets it broaden both low-end tractability and high-rpm power.