Die hard Manual guys get in here!

[Hi-PO Stang]

Automatics can be real fun because they allow you to drive your car aggressively and you can focus on quicker lap times because you accelerate, break, and steer without having to clutch and shift. Now, if you want to just have fun shifting, then manual trans are for you. The best plan is to get one Mustang with an auto and another one with a manual trans.

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[SJulian10mm]

1938 Mercedes 240D 4spd
1991 Toyota Pickup 5spd
1998 Toyota Tacoma 5spd
2006 Toyota Tacoma 5spd
2011 Toyota Tacoma 6spd - Current (daily)
2016 Ford Mustang 6spd - Current (Friday/Weekend car)

Iv never owned an auto trans anything, at least not street car...i use autos in all my derby cars

 

[1mic]

Nothing brings greater joy to me than smashing Autos when I can...

Just remember there is always someone faster... so if you're trying to be the fastest you got a long road ahead of you with empty pockets... Just grab the one that brings you the most joy.

but I vote the manual and I'll keep voting Manual till I can't press a clutch again in comfort.

There is always someone faster and that someone is in an auto car.

I still have love for the 6-speed, but I'm a realist and know the autos are the quicker (straight line acceleration). I would never get one though for road course driving.

You guys need to look at the single and twin turbo mustangs. They haul ass, I'd say a good amount are running 9s or quicker. Part of that formula is the auto. If it was a stick it would be running 10s. Fuck the mt82.

 

[Asharus]

that 10 speed auto is gonna be sick....

but if i get an 18, it will still be a manual...

autos are boring. if i want to drive an auto, i'll drive the wife's car.

 

[Stormtrooper5.0]

Based on the responses it looks like you should get the Manual.
But of course drive both first, then ask yourself which one you will get bored of faster.

 

[Detector]

If I was buying a car just to run faster I 'd buy something else. I bought the Mustang for the driving experience and manual is a good part of that.

 

[MRGTX]

So, you can either buy the unproven transmission (in this platform), or you can buy the GARBAGE transmission.
...

I still don't understand this. I have a very early build 2011 GT 6spd (built in June, 2010) and I have had zero problems with it. I've hammered the crap out of it for 32,000 miles with 200 Treadwear tires for much of that time...original clutch is holding up great too.

:shrug:

It's not as heavy/solid feeling as the TR6060 in my dad's Shelby GT500...but it's still a pretty damn great transmission, IMO.

Maybe I just lucked out.

A good manual driver should be able to beat the auto in a straight line...

While you're right about the consistency question, I hate to say that you're wrong about the quoted part above. The fastest manual drivers will still get their asses handed to them by a modern auto on the drag strip. It's not humanly possible to shift that fast...and even if it was, the linkage or clutch would become the next bottleneck.

Automatics can be real fun because they allow you to drive your car aggressively and you can focus on quicker lap times because you accelerate, break, and steer without having to clutch and shift. Now, if you want to just have fun shifting, then manual trans are for you. The best plan is to get one Mustang with an auto and another one with a manual trans.

I hear what you're saying and you may be right but on a road course or autocross event, I feel I might personally be slower in the auto because I'll be devoting brain power to anticipating what the transmission is going to do next and if I need to intervene. I've been driving manuals for almost my entire driving life. It may be too late for me to relearn.
:headbonk:

...
Just remember there is always someone faster... so if you're trying to be the fastest you got a long road ahead of you with empty pockets... Just grab the one that brings you the most joy.

If I was buying a car just to run faster I 'd buy something else. I bought the Mustang for the driving experience and manual is a good part of that.

YES! This is where I'm coming from too.

Face it guys, the Mustang is formidable for the money but in a couple of years, the base model 30K Tesla Model 3 will likely mop the floor with a Mustang GT. Already, the Model S beats any production car ever made to 60mph (really rooting for the Dodge Demon though!)...

...so I totally agree with this point. The manual transmission is already obsolete and therefore future proof. They still make them because they're fun as hell in a driver's car, fast or not.

 

[Dominant1]

manuals are fun to drive on the street i'll give you that, but all the top stangs at the track are auto's, from powerglides to turbo 400's to 6r80's etc...The track is your house of pain, while your tied up trying to get your mt-82 in gear i will be gone!!! Get some....

 

[Norm Peterson]

Automatics can be real fun because they allow you to drive your car aggressively and you can focus on quicker lap times because you accelerate, break, and steer without having to clutch and shift.

Automatics aren't smart enough in automatic mode to downshift before you enter the corner so you'll already be in the appropriate gear coming out of it. They're still MindlessHarry-Street-Driver devices that can only downshift in response to the throttle being floored. The way MindlessHarry drives when he merges onto the Interstate and suddenly realizes he's going 35 mph slower than everybody else.

Consider it the difference between anticipation and reaction. Here, it's humans that can do the first, machines can't.


If you're paddle-shifting instead, the price of avoiding only the clutch work is the lag between tapping the paddle (or the shift lever in a +/- gate) and the shift actually occurring. Even though this is mostly perception (because your input takes less time compared to moving a MT shift lever), it's still an annoyance that detracts from the experience out of proportion to any effect on lap time. It's an "I've been done with my part for a while, what's taking you so long?" kind of thing that's absent with a manually clutched MT.


Norm

 

[FranzVonHoffer]

Automatics aren't smart enough in automatic mode to downshift before you enter the corner so you'll already be in the appropriate gear coming out of it. They're still MindlessHarry-Street-Driver devices that can only downshift in response to the throttle being floored. The way MindlessHarry drives when he merges onto the Interstate and suddenly realizes he's going 35 mph slower than everybody else.

Consider it the difference between anticipation and reaction. Here, it's humans that can do the first, machines can't.


If you're paddle-shifting instead, the price of avoiding only the clutch work is the lag between tapping the paddle (or the shift lever in a +/- gate) and the shift actually occurring. Even though this is mostly perception (because your input takes less time compared to moving a MT shift lever), it's still an annoyance that detracts from the experience out of proportion to any effect on lap time. It's an "I've been done with my part for a while, what's taking you so long?" kind of thing that's absent with a manually clutched MT.


Norm

I figured the pro-ATM guys were talking about straight tracks, quarter mile not circuits.

 

[Agent_S550]

Manuals are generally more fun depending upon your attitude towards them.

Automatics are quicker, more consistent, yet more anemic.

Manuals have the old school analog feeling to them.

Automatics are just another portion of control you lose with a car.

Given how much technology has been invested in these cars, the digitizing of every portion of a Mustang is inevitable. With that in mind, we are also consistently seeing the encroaching reality of the analog era dissolving inch by inch. Despite most opinions on here, the manual won't always be around. We won't always have control of our cars. Things will be automated piece by piece till one day we wake up and the cars drive themselves (for good reason).

Take it with a grain of salt. But if you want what a Mustang used to be about, get the Manual. If you want the future and bleeding edge of technology, get the Automatic.

 

[sonicc]

The answer is pretty much always manual.

5-6 years from now that automatic will feel like it's shifting slower and slower...whereas manual will always be the same and depend on how fast you shift.

 

[swat 79]

A big piece that a lot of guys are missing here is that most automatics are not good at Downshifting. The 8 speed zf transmission found in BMWs, Range Rovers, Jaguars, is excellent, but unfortunately the exception not the rule. While PDKs are awesome and a GTI is better with that than the manual, if you look at the majority of cars, the manual is still the preferred transmission.

Automatics are best for straight line acceleration, but lack the downshifts. Manuals also have always matched or between automatics in the performance aspect (besides the above mentioned) in testing, though the gap has decreased and the margin for error is even less.

There's really only one thing, if you are bracket racing or have knee problems, you should get an auto. For everything else, a manual is supreme.

 

[Fordever]

manuals are fun to drive on the street i'll give you that, but all the top stangs at the track are auto's, from powerglides to turbo 400's to 6r80's etc...The track is your house of pain, while your tied up trying to get your mt-82 in gear i will be gone!!! Get some....

But most of us, I would think, street/country road drive most of the time. And some of us (me) will never track. So manual all the way just for the "more fun" factor.:cheers:

 

[Chad11491]

I would go manual. I don't get the hate on the MT-82. It's been great for me, it's been great for my uncle with an S197 that has a ton of miles on it. A sports car to me is meant to be fun and engaging and an experience to drive. I don't get that personally with an auto. It's just boring and nothing sounds lamer to me than a lazy auto shift on a great sounding car.

Ignoring that, the 10spd camaro track videos that have been posted show it to be lightning quick. If it was a DCT maybe i'd be more tempted, but the 10spd looks to be promising if you're dead set on an auto.

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