Ford Mustang Sutton CS800 first drive

Something memorable was bound to happen, I thought.

Maybe it would blow the Ford Mustang's gearbox to pieces, or tear the rear axle clean off. Or perhaps it would twist the bodyshell so violently that the roof would crease and the windows would all pop out.

Doubling a car’s power output – which is exactly what performance car dealer and tuning company Clive Sutton has done to create the Mustang CS800 – seems somewhat foolhardy, like using a shoebox to contain a lit stick of dynamite. I was extremely interested to see how catastrophic the outcome would be.

As it turned out, there were no such dramas. Well, the carbonfibre ducting that connects the airbox to the supercharger did come unattached repeatedly during the cornering photography, snuffing out the engine each time, which is something Sutton will have to address. But heroic mechanical failures? There were none.  

The CS800 Mustang starts out as a relatively cuddly and benign 410bhp GT, but by the time Sutton is done with it, the thing is transformed into a snarling and malevolent brute. A stage-two Whipple supercharger, larger throttle bodies and high-flow fuel injectors bump power output to a faintly absurd 825bhp. The internals remain untouched. At £13,716, the engine upgrades are not cheap, and you’ll pay a further £3117 for the exhaust system and £1920 for installation and a 12-month warranty.

The adjustable KW coilovers, meanwhile, cost £2928 and the 20in wheels are £3120. This demonstrator ticks every single box on the options list, including a truckload of carbonfibre styling parts, which means the total cost is just about as ludicrous as the power figure: £101,735, including the donor car.

Some of the carbonfibre bits and pieces look the part, such as the £3270 bonnet, but the rear quarter window louvres and faux side intakes are questionable. You can at least pick and choose the styling parts you want, as you can for all the upgrades.

In this specification, the CS800 has massive visual presence. It can be hard work to drive, though, because with a short-shift kit, the manual ‘box is very tight and heavy and fourth gear seems to melt away entirely when the transmission gets hot. The soundtrack is complex and multi-layered; the rumble of the V8, the manic wind-rush of the induction system and the crazed rattle of the exhaust like Zeus with a chesty cough, all underscored by the wailing supercharger.