When Ford gave its iconic Mustang a dramatic redesign for the 2015 model year, the car came with a lot of big changes. One came out back, where the Mustang moved to a standard independent rear suspension for the first time in its existence. Another big change came under the hood, where Ford added the turbocharged 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine as the Mustang's volume engine option.
A couple years later, with the old V6 dropped from the lineup, the EcoBoost four-cylinder became — and still is — the Mustang's base engine.
However, despite being the base engine, and despite upsetting some Mustang purists with its lack of displacement, it's hard to argue the Mustang's 2.3 EcoBoost is lacking in the horsepower department.
The base model 2026 Mustang EcoBoost is rated at 315 horsepower, which is in fact, the same horsepower rating as the 2010 V8-powered Mustang GT, with the EcoBoost also outpowering previous V8 Mustang GTs of the '90s and 2000s as well.
The latest Ford Mustang EcoBoost is a car that shows just how far four-cylinder performance has come, but on the modern enthusiast market, it's not even the most powerful four-cylinder option..
To demonstrate this, we've rounded up five different four-cylinder vehicles that outgun the Mustang in horsepower rating, with a mix of cars that includes everything from hot hatchbacks to sport sedans, and even a crossover SUV.
Back in the '90s and '2000s, high-performance Honda and Acura vehicles were known for their unique, high-revving naturally aspirated engines. Today, though, Honda has fully embraced turbocharging, and the powerful Honda Civic Type R is known as one of the fastest front-wheel-drive cars in the world.
In terms of horsepower ratings, the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder powering the latest Civic Type R ties the Mustang EcoBoost with the same 315-horsepower rating, but Honda builds another hot hatchback that actually edges both of them out in the power department.
That car is the highly enjoyable Acura Integra Type S, which is a closely related and slightly more upmarket sibling to the Civic Type R, using the same platform and the same 2.0-liter turbo engine. While the Acura and Honda engines are basically identical, the Integra uses a more aggressive exhaust system, which boosts its output by five horsepower, for a total of 320.
Head-to-head comparisons between the two Honda products show that the Integra's isn't enough to give the heavier Acura an edge in performance, but both cars are still considered among the best hot hatchbacks you can buy.
Notably, the Integra Type S is very well matched against the Mustang EcoBoost in performance metrics, leaving buyers to choose between the Acura's precision and practicality or the Ford's rear-drive personality.
With American automakers being world-famous for their V8 engines, you'd expect most of the Mustang EcoBoost's top four-cylinder rivals to come from German or Japanese brands, and that's the case for most of the picks in this selection. However, Ford's arch-rival, General Motors, also has a very potent, four-cylinder engine of its own — and both larger and more powerful than the Ford 2.3.
That engine is GM's 2.7-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, which is known as the L3B.
The 2.7 turbo is primarily found in Chevrolet and GMC pickup trucks, where its 310-horsepower rating comes in just below the Mustang EcoBoost's output. However, in the high-performance Cadillac CT4-V sport sedan, the L3B gets a few tweaks that push its peak…
