10 Best-Looking Muscle Cars for 2018

2018 BMW 4 Series M4 ・ Photo by BMW

John DeLorean became the father of the muscle car when he took the workaday 1964 Pontiac Tempest and transformed it into the GTO, stuffing a 389-cubic-inch V8 into its engine bay and adding hood scoops, dual exhaust pipes, redline tires, and GTO badging to the exterior. The muscle car wars were on. Brands clamored for bragging rights, boasting of high horsepower and low quarter-mile times.

The muscle car wars came to a grinding halt with the oil crisis of the early 1970s, only to be revived with the introduction of the fifth-generation Ford Mustang as a 2005 model. The Retrofuturist vehicle sparked a revival of 1960s automotive style, and improved technology and fuel efficiency made high-horsepower cars attractive again. Today, a wide range of automakers build cars that we’d categorize as muscle cars based on their performance and appearance. We've selected the 10 best-looking muscle cars, listed alphabetically. 

2018 BMW M4

BMW’s M division is responsible for boosting the performance of everyday models. In the process, it also spruces up the exterior, adding body kits, unique wheels, exhausts, and badging to set the M models apart from the crowd. The 2018 BMW M4 hits the sweet spot, where the M exterior enhancements improve an already classy coupe into a gorgeous work of art.

A particular exterior highlight is the integrated trunk spoiler. Knowing that the trunk lid is constructed from lightweight carbon fiber reinforced plastic only magnifies its beauty, as the weight reduction contributes to the M4’s remarkable performance capability. Piercing LED headlamps, a power dome aluminum hood, quad tailpipes with chrome tips, and subtle M badging all confidently express the M4’s muscle-car cred.

Photo by BMW

2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

The Camaro came charging out of the gate in 1967 as General Motors' answer to the Ford’s Mustang, but it faded away in 2002 after lingering too long after the first muscle car wars came to an end. When GM realized that it had to respond to the born-again 2005 Mustang, it resurrected the Camaro as an all-new Retrofuturist 2010 model that took styling inspiration from the original car.

A styling and mechanical overhaul for 2016 refined and sharpened the Camaro. The 2018 Camaro ZL1 takes an already attractive exterior and upgrades it to devastating menace with an available black metallic center stripe, carbon fiber weave hood insert, and carbon fiber fuel door, and standard 20-inch Dark Graphite-painted forged aluminum wheels, quad exhaust tips, wider front fenders, bigger front cooling ducts, a rear diffuser, and stanchion rear spoiler. Knowing that a supercharged 6.2-liter 650-horsepower V8 lurks beneath the ZL1’s hood only increases its attractiveness.

Photo by General Motors

2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon

It’s the rare muscle car that qualifies as an instant collector car upon its release. The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon achieved that status partly due to its overwhelming performance potential, and partly because its appearance so perfectly matches its purpose.

Limited to just 3,300 production examples for 2018, the Demon packs an 840-hp punch that ranks it as the fastest muscle car ever to emerge from a U.S. factory. Taking the Retrofuturist Challenger coupe as a base, Fiat-Chrysler's SRT division tweaked the exterior with a wide body kit, a functional low-profile hood scoop and air dam, a deck lid spoiler, air intakes in the center of inboard headlamps, and evocative Demon and SRT badging. The Demon is attractive standing still, and even more attractive on the drag strip, where it is the only production car to date capable of lifting its front wheels at launch.

Photo by Dodge

2018 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

One of only two sedans on our list, it was impossible not to include the 2018 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in this coupe-dominated company of best-looking muscle cars. The Charger bulges with muscularity, with a body that looks like it can barely contain its capability.

The SRT Hellcat trim level comes with an extreme level of power on tap in the form of a 707-hp 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8, advertised by a double-domed hood with a functional air scoop. Red-painted Brembo calipers are visible through the spokes of 20-inch low-gloss performance wheels. The Hellcat shares other Charger trims' unusual LED taillamp configuration, an attractive detail that elevates this muscle car’s looks and brings a heritage-inspired muscle car into the 21st century.

Photo by Dodge

2018 Ford Mustang Bullitt

A special edition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the classic Steve McQueen film, the 2018 Ford Mustang Bullitt is a gorgeous muscle car. It wears Dark Highland Green paint (like McQueen’s original) and its own front grille design with subtle chrome accents and an active valve performance exhaust with a unique Black NitroPlate finish. You can’t fake cool, and this Mustang has got it.

The fact that the movie car was recently rediscovered and restored to its original condition is more than just a side-note to the new Mustang — it’s evidence that the Ford design team got it right with this tribute.

Photo by Ford

2018 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350

Carroll Shelby left us in 2012, but his influence lives on in the 2018 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350. The GT350 starts with the already good-looking Mustang and upgrades its performance with a 5.2-liter flat-crank V8 engine and a specially tuned suspension, brakes, and other features. Then it replaces the standard grille with an egg-crate version, bolts on unique GT350 19-inch wheels, and adds Shelby badging.

You can specify racing stripes to really capture the cool vibe. The GT350 looks great in any color, but it pops the most in classic Shelby livery: white with blue dual racing stripes, a look that’s been classic since Carroll Shelby himself was out on the track sliding a Cobra through the corners.

Photo by Ford

2018 Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400

If the defining characteristic of a muscle car is an excessive amount of power in an otherwise everyday vehicle, then the 2018 Infiniti Q60 Red Sport 400 qualifies with its 400-hp 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 engine.

That standard met, the Q60 brings an undeniably sexy and gorgeous exterior design to the table. Low and wide, the Q60 wears a flowing metal skin that highlights its almost feline grace. Infiniti has perfected a paint process that produces some of the most liquid surfaces you’ll find on any vehicle: deep, rich finishes that beg to be caressed. Elegant proportions, sparkling brightwork, and tasteful details help make the Q60 one of the best-looking muscle cars you’ll ever see.

Photo by Infiniti

2018 Kia Stinger GT

The first Korean vehicle that we’d add to a list of muscle cars, the all-new rear-wheel drive 2018 Kia Stinger GT comes with a 3.3-liter twin-turbo V6 engine that pumps out 365 hp and 376 lb-ft of torque. It has an assertive stance, highlighted by a long hood, low roofline, and wide track.

The Stinger stares down its opposition with menacingly expressive headlamps and an expressive face that says, “Go ahead, punk — make my day.” Fastback styling emulates the shape of a coupe in this four-door machine. The growl from the dual chrome exhaust tips makes boasts that the Stinger confidently backs up with brisk acceleration, solid handling, and stop-on-a-dime braking. Signature LED daytime running lights and LED taillights leave little doubt that you’ve been passed by a Stinger.

Photo by Kia

2018 Lexus LC 500

Don’t let the badge fool you. The all-new 2018 Lexus LC 500 is no creampuff for a retiree; it is a fire-breathing, pavement-eating muscle car with a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V8 under its hood. The LC’s 471-hp engine is capable of launching this 2+2 coupe from 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds, using a 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters to send power to the rear wheels.

The best-looking Lexus yet, the LC is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous muscle car. Perfect balance and proportion, a taut skin wrapped around a carbon-fiber structure, 20-inch wheels that fill the arches, and an impossibly low roofline convey speed, agility, and power — a totally modern interpretation of the muscle car formula.

Photo by Lexus

2018 Mercedes-AMG S 65 Coupe

The muscle car’s origin story began with executive transportation elevated with an outlandish engine swap. The 2018 Mercedes-AMG S 65 Coupe reboots this origin story by handing over the already gorgeous and potent Mercedes-Benz S 560 Coupe to the mad scientists at AMG for a muscle-car makeover.

In place of the S 560’s 4.0-liter bi-turbo V8 engine (featuring 463 hp/516 lb-ft of torque), AMG jams its hand-built 6.0-liter bi-turbo V12 engine (621 hp/738 lb-ft of torque). If that wasn’t enough, AMG adds unique forged 20-inch AMG staggered wheels (8.5-inch front/9.5-inch rear), a Panamerica-style grille, aerodynamic bodywork, LED headlamps with Swarovski crystal highlights, and OLED taillamps. The S 65 is large and in charge, and is one of the best-looking muscle cars ever made.

Photo by Mercedes-Benz