The classic American way of testing a car’s performance is over a quarter mile. Be it at a professional-grade drag strip or at a set of stoplights in an empty part of town, this measure of straight-line acceleration has been the source of countless wagers, debates, and brags from performance car owners and manufacturers alike. That includes owners of America’s best-selling sports car, the Ford Mustang.
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However, on longer stretches of track or on highways like the German autobahn, that acceleration will only count for so much. Instead, a car’s top speed will be the ultimate determinant of performance. Many Mustangs are officially limited to 155 mph, but some special edition versions boast higher top speeds, with the very fastest topping 200 mph.
Collecting data on these top speeds isn’t an exact science, since Ford doesn’t consistently release official top speed quotes for its performance cars, instead preferring to focus on those traditional quarter mile times. So, to rank these special edition Mustangs in order of top speed, we’ve combined data from independent tests by reputable outlets like Car and Driver and MotorTrend, as well as Ford itself, where such data is available.
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