Wheels (AUS) Magazine eliminates Mustang Dark Horse from 2024 Car of the Year (COTY).

[Bossburton]

Wheels conducted a review of 25 contenders for the 2024 review split between Electric, Hybrid, Petrol and one diesel.
The Dark Horse Mustang made it through to the top 6 cars in round 2 with Peter Robinson declaring "the best Mustang I've ever driven". Other reviewers were also flattering including "not as fast as an EV but 1000 times more soul" from Corby.
However, when it came time for the final Round Three, the Mustang was eliminated. The Mustangs undoing quote; "for a few hours it looked a sure thing to join the top three in the final round but then a recurring concern rushed back into the spotlight. "Can we really vote for a car you can't buy questioned Corby. The Dark Horse's Australian allocation

is limited to 1000 units and all are spoken for".
Accordingly, the Ford wasn't able to go further at COTY, noting " the Dark Horse is a remarkable machine- certainly one that delivers a driving experience that is more than the sum of it's parts", and "previous Mustangs have felt like they were never quite there dynamically".
Sadly, the Ford wasn't able to go any further in this years COTY assessment.

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[Deano1978]

Disappointing but the reasoning is sound, wonder if the GT could've made it through.

 

[AussieBob]

I think that is an excellent conclusion. Might make Ford rethink their artificial scarcity.

 

[Bossburton]

Disappointing but the reasoning is sound, wonder if the GT could've made it through.

From reading the full article...no the GT would not have made the top 3.

 

[xrs]

Fair, I wish it was 1000 but sadly only 700 and you can still buy one if you have deep pockets

 

[DFB5.0]

Gotta love how Wheels rewrite the rules to suit their current narrative.

Once upon a time, for a model to take part in COTY, the manufacturer had to supply a cross section of the entire range. And yet they only included a manual Darkhorse?

There was also a minimum sales volume to be eligible to compete. Who remembers when they awarded the gong to that stupid little Honda CR-Z, apparently that underpowered hybrid 3-door hatch was a game changing sports coupe...............................and yet they sold, what, 30 of them? Yeah, that was certainly The Car Of The Year.....................................Biggest Dud Car Of The Year more like it.

There was also a "newness" requirement, as in the model had to be significantly new to compete. In 2008, they awarded the 2-gen Honda Accord Euro COTY. That car was a top-hat refresh with carry over mechanicals and powertrain. The FG Falcon of that year was also a top hat refresh, but with improvements to the platform, including new front suspension and heavily refreshed powertrains. And yet no, it wasn't new enough, but the Honda was?

I used to read Wheels cover to cover, COTY was always anticipated. I actually have the complete collection of Wheels magazines from about 2000 up to about 2020. I think awarding those two lame Honda's COTY were I lost interest in the event, then lost interest in the magazine full stop when they moved away from gritty car reviews that would cover every last mechanical detail, to then becoming a "lifestyle" magazine. I get why they went that way, they needed to provide something different to what online car media offers. But sadly, they are just an obsolete medium trying to remain relevant.

 

[Kootnak]

Wheels magazine lost any credibility it had years ago sadly.

 

[Stevefreestyle]

If it was disqualified for unavailability - why not default to the GT - with the same brakes and suspension (Handling), and only a couple of Kw less ???

 

[5.0ALM]

If it was disqualified for unavailability - why not default to the GT - with the same brakes and suspension (Handling), and only a couple of Kw less ???

And not to mention the fact that the GT is more "affordable" in comparison to a DH.
Not that $90k could be considered "affordable" to those on Struggle Street.

Besides, anything automotive journalists say should be taken with a grain of salt.
This is how it works:
When reviewing a vehicle they might gloss over (or ignore) serious flaws whilst praising everything else. If they don't come out with a glowing review, they don't get invited back to the next junket media trip away. Usually involving business class flights, accommodation, and other perks. Hanging over the publisher's head is the risk of loosing significant advertising revenue from the vehicle maker/distributor.

I was watching the carsales.com.au review of the all-new Toyota Prado yesterday.
I watched in disbelief that they said so many negative things for the first 5 minutes or so... but of course the following 30 minutes was nothing but praise. The Toyota execs would be happy with that ratio.
Just enough negative points to give the illusion of a fair dinkum review without carsales loosing the Toyota account, and the journo looking for a real job.

 

[Stevefreestyle]

And not to mention the fact that the GT is more "affordable" in comparison to a DH.
Not that $90k could be considered "affordable" to those on Struggle Street.

Besides, anything automotive journalists say should be taken with a grain of salt.
This is how it works:
When reviewing a vehicle they might gloss over (or ignore) serious flaws whilst praising everything else. If they don't come out with a glowing review, they don't get invited back to the next junket media trip away. Usually involving business class flights, accommodation, and other perks. Hanging over the publisher's head is the risk of loosing significant advertising revenue from the vehicle maker/distributor.

I was watching the carsales.com.au review of the all-new Toyota Prado yesterday.
I watched in disbelief that they said so many negative things for the first 5 minutes or so... but of course the following 30 minutes was nothing but praise. The Toyota execs would be happy with that ratio.
Just enough negative points to give the illusion of a fair dinkum review without carsales loosing the Toyota account, and the journo looking for a real job.

They also tend to be blinded by their own Egos - not bothering to check on details, like falsely assuming the Active Exhaust is exclusive to the Dark Horse (also Standard on the GT), and failing to recognise our "Export" GT comes standard with the "Performance Pkg" - which gives it identical Suspension, Brakes and Tyres to the DH (although the DH gets an extra half inch wide rims), with the same Steering Ratio (15.5) etc.

In addition the GT has benefited by a major upgrade in Oil Cooling for both G-Box and engine - as the new sensibly relocated and enlarger Engine Oil Cooler below:

 

[Gregs24]

Maybe similar to the UK where car magazines have really dumbed down of late. Porsche or BMW seem to win every test even if they are not in it, probably because the marketing fleets are the biggest!

The other irritating favourite of late us describing a car's ride as 'brittle'. WTAF are the on about? Car reviews have not used the term for 100+ years until now it is the trendiest description on earth. If they are talking about secondary ride then describe it as such.

Brittle means 'hard but likely to break or snap easily'. How does that equate to a car's ride? The opposite of brittle is ductile, and I don't want ductile suspension either!

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