2022 Mustang Models Compared: Trims, Specs, and Price

TLDR

The 2022 Mustang lineup runs six trims: EcoBoost, EcoBoost Premium, GT, GT Premium, Mach 1, and Shelby GT500. Prices span $27,470 to $76,820 before destination fees. If you want a daily driver with real V8 sound, get the GT. If you want the sharpest thing Ford put on a showroom floor that year, get the Mach 1 — and know that 2022 is also the last model year Ford built the Shelby GT500 before pulling it from the lineup entirely.

• Best all-rounder: GT Premium
• Best value: EcoBoost Premium
• Best for track days: Mach 1
• Best for collectors: Shelby GT500 (final year of production)

Table of Contents

• Every 2022 Mustang Trim, Side by Side
• EcoBoost and EcoBoost Premium
• GT and GT Premium
• Mach 1
• Shelby GT500
• Which Trim Fits Which Buyer
• 2022 Mustang vs. Camaro vs. Challenger
• Known Issues and Recalls
• Resale Value and Why 2022 Matters
• FAQ

Six trims, three engines, two body styles, and one number nobody at the dealership will mention up front: the manual Mach 1 makes less horsepower than the automatic one. That’s the kind of detail that actually changes which car you should buy, and it’s the kind of thing the dealer template pages skip because they’d rather get you to the trim list and the “schedule a test drive” button.

This is the reference the dealer pages don’t want to be: every trim’s numbers in one table, no inventory push, no local CTA.

Every 2022 Mustang Trim, Side by Side

Trim	MSRP	Engine	Horsepower	Torque	Transmission	Body Styles
EcoBoost	$27,470	2.3L turbo I4	310 hp	350 lb-ft	6-speed manual or 10-speed auto	Coupe, Convertible
EcoBoost Premium	$32,495	2.3L turbo I4	310 hp	350 lb-ft	6-speed manual or 10-speed auto	Coupe, Convertible
GT	$38,045	5.0L Coyote V8	460 hp	420 lb-ft	6-speed manual or 10-speed auto	Coupe, Convertible
GT Premium	$43,065	5.0L Coyote V8	460 hp	420 lb-ft	6-speed manual or 10-speed auto	Coupe, Convertible
Mach 1	$55,270	5.0L Coyote V8	470 hp (manual) / 480 hp (auto)	410 lb-ft (manual) / 430 lb-ft (auto)	6-speed Tremec manual or 10-speed auto	Coupe only
Shelby GT500	$76,820	5.2L supercharged Predator V8	760 hp	625 lb-ft	7-speed dual-clutch auto only	Coupe only

Prices are MSRP before the $1,395 destination fee, and they climb fast once you start checking option boxes — Recaro seats, the Handling Package, carbon fiber wheels on the GT500 all add real money on top of these numbers.

EcoBoost and EcoBoost Premium

The 2.3-liter turbo four isn’t a punishment engine anymore. 310 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque, available in both coupe and convertible, and it’ll return an EPA-rated 23 mpg combined with the manual — a number no V8 Mustang gets close to. The Premium trim adds the 12-inch digital gauge cluster, the B&O sound system, and ambient lighting, but the drivetrain is identical.

This is the trim the enthusiast forums love to dismiss and the trim that actually makes sense if you want a Mustang that looks the part five days a week and doesn’t drink premium fuel like it’s on sale. The four-cylinder soundtrack is still the tradeoff nobody loves, even with the active exhaust.

GT and GT Premium

This is the Mustang most people picture when you say the name. The 5.0-liter Coyote V8 makes 460 hp and 420 lb-ft whether you pick the 6-speed manual or the 10-speed automatic — Ford didn’t split the numbers here the way it did on the Mach 1. EPA combined is 18 mpg with the manual, which tells you exactly what kind of fuel budget you’re signing up for.

GT Premium adds MagneRide adaptive suspension as an option, along with the Recaro seats and B&O audio the EcoBoost Premium gets. If you’re cross-shopping “should I get the GT or the Mach 1,” the honest answer is: the GT with the Performance Package gets you most of the Mach 1 experience for roughly $10,000 less, minus the visual distinction and the slightly sharper chassis tune.

Mach 1

The Mach 1 is coupe-only, and its power figures depend on which transmission you pick — a detail almost nobody outside the Mustang forums brings up. The 6-speed Tremec manual makes 470 hp and 410 lb-ft; the 10-speed automatic makes 480 hp and 430 lb-ft. That’s the opposite of what most buyers assume, since manual cars usually get treated as the “purist” option with no penalty. Here, choosing the stick costs you 10 horsepower, a byproduct of how the two drivetrains meet LEV III emissions requirements.

What you get regardless of transmission: Brembo six-piston front calipers, MagneRide suspension, a Torsen limited-slip differential, and a claimed 0-60 around 4.2 seconds. It’s the last Mustang before the GT500 that was actually developed with a road course in mind rather than a drag strip.

Shelby GT500

760 hp and 625 lb-ft from a hand-built, supercharged 5.2-liter V8 — and 2022 was the final model year Ford built it. Ford discontinued the GT500 after 2022, leaving the Mach 1 as the top performance trim for 2023 before the whole S550-generation Mustang gave way to the redesigned model. Every 2022 GT500 comes exclusively as a coupe with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic — there’s no manual option, and there never was for this generation of GT500.

At $76,820 before destination, it’s nearly $22,000 above the Mach 1 and firmly in territory where you’re not comparing it to a Camaro anymore. You’re comparing it to a Corvette Z06 or a base Porsche 911.

Which Trim Fits Which Buyer

Daily driver: GT Premium with the automatic. You get real V8 presence without living with a 6-speed in traffic, and the options list covers the comfort features that make a sports car livable every day.

Track use on a budget: GT with the Performance Package. It won’t out-corner a Mach 1, but with sticky tires and an alignment, it gets close for a lot less money, and parts are cheaper if you put it into a wall.

Track use, no compromise: Mach 1. The chassis work Ford did — wider front track, unique springs, the Brembo brakes — isn’t something you can bolt onto a GT afterward. If lap times matter more than resale flexibility, this is the trim.

Collector, buy and hold: Shelby GT500. Final-year production of a discontinued halo trim is exactly the profile that tends to hold value once the initial depreciation curve flattens out. Low-mileage examples are already trading at a premium over MSRP in some private-sale listings.

Budget-conscious enthusiast: EcoBoost Premium. It looks identical to the V8 cars from the outside, costs less to insure, and won’t punish you at the pump the way the rest of this list will.

2022 Mustang vs. Camaro vs. Challenger

The Mustang wasn’t alone in 2022 — the Camaro and Challenger were both still on sale, and all three get cross-shopped constantly.

The 2022 Chevrolet Camaro SS makes 455 hp from a naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8, starting around $32,138 for the 1SS — cheaper than the Mustang GT with more power, though the Camaro’s back seat and trunk are notoriously tighter, and outward visibility is worse in every direction.

The 2022 Dodge Challenger R/T runs a 5.7-liter HEMI V8 making 375 hp and 490 lb-ft — down on horsepower against both the Camaro and Mustang, but it’s the only one of the three with a genuinely usable back seat and a trunk you could actually pack for a road trip, since the Challenger’s larger LX platform wasn’t built around the same aggressive proportions.

None of the three is a clean win across every category. The Mustang splits the difference: better everyday usability than the Camaro, sharper handling than the Challenger, and the only one of the three still offering a factory 700-plus horsepower halo model in 2022.

Known Issues and Recalls

Ford issued several recalls covering 2022 Mustangs. The most significant affected more than 30,000 model year 2022–2023 units over a secondary steering torque sensor that wasn’t calibrated correctly, which could cause the steering wheel to turn unintentionally — Ford’s fix was a software update at the dealer, according to NHTSA’s recall database. Separate recalls addressed a loose transmission bolt that could prevent the gear selector from fully engaging park, a front-facing camera misalignment that could disable pre-collision assist and lane-keeping, and a low-pressure fuel pump that could fail and stall the engine while driving.

None of these are exotic problems for a modern Ford, and all had dealer remedies, but if you’re buying a used 2022 Mustang, checking the VIN against open recalls before you sign anything costs nothing and takes five minutes.

Resale Value and Why 2022 Matters

Model year matters more than usual here. 2022 is the last year you could order a Shelby GT500 new — Ford confirmed the discontinuation shortly before the model year ended — which puts genuine scarcity behind that trim in a way that doesn’t apply to the GT or EcoBoost. The rest of the S550-generation Mustang continued into a final 2023 model year with minor trim shuffling before the redesigned model replaced it, so 2022 GT and EcoBoost buyers aren’t sitting on anything especially rare — just a well-sorted, late version of a platform Ford had been refining since 2015.

If resale matters to your decision, the GT500 and Mach 1 are the trims worth stretching for. Base EcoBoost coupes depreciate like most mainstream sports coupes: steadily, and without much collector premium attached.

FAQ

Is the 2022 Mustang the last year of this generation? No. The S550-generation Mustang continued for a final 2023 model year before the redesigned version arrived. 2022 is, however, the last model year for the Shelby GT500 specifically.

Does the Mach 1 manual really make less power than the automatic? Yes. The manual is rated at 470 hp and 410 lb-ft; the automatic is rated at 480 hp and 430 lb-ft, a result of how each drivetrain meets LEV III emissions rules.

Can you get a Shelby GT500 with a manual transmission? No. Every 2022 GT500 comes exclusively with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Which 2022 Mustang trim is the best value? The GT Premium if you want V8 performance with daily-driver comfort, or the EcoBoost Premium if fuel costs and insurance matter more than a V8 soundtrack.