Why did you buy an automatic? (and why I ordered a 6spd)

[EFI]

uying A6/A10 S550's and I'd like to find out the inspiration, motivation

Because it's significantly faster, can be pretty fun with the paddles and the only other option is the MT82 and that's pure garbage (made even more so in 2018 with the whack gearing).

If the Tremec was available in all GTs from 2015 on I would say the decision would've been alot harder. But given the state of the current manual choice for GTs, it's almost a no brainer.

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[FinitePrimus]

Like many others, it was a compromise with the wife e.g. difference between getting the car and not getting the car.

Other reasons:

- Manual gets old fast in traffic and I daily in nice weather
- Bad reputation of Fords manuals breaking (I've broke manuals many times in older Mustangs and nothing sucks more than losing gears or a clutch pedal stuck to the floor when you are far from home)
- It's quick! Almost 1/2 second faster on 1/4 mile times (published)
- No auto-start
- No fancy drive mode adjustments - it's nice to have the transmission shift aggressively in drag mode but like butter in normal mode
- Free hand to do stuff
- No worries about advanced age arthritis/knee pain impacting my ability or joy to drive
- No missed shifts

Reasons I miss manual:

- More control over the power. I'm so used to clutching in if things get a little sketchy where now I am at the mercy of the auto trans (especially in wet weather)
- Easier to launch the car and control power with clutch
- Can rev at stop lights
- Something to do with my hand and feet - more active involvement in driving

 

[Qcman17]

If the Getrag was available in all GTs from 2015 on I would say the decision would've been alot harder. But given the state of the current manual choice for GTs, it's almost a no brainer.

I think you meant Tremec?

 

[Justpassingas]

I love the A10 and have no desire to own any more manuals, plus it's the Bosses car and she wanted an automatic....Happy wife ...Happy life

 

[GreenS550]

Both cars are good. However, when Ford changed the gearing in the 18+, the gear were too long. You would need a 4.21:1 in the +18 getrag to equal the 17 down getrag with 3.73 gears. Those years with a lower HP were very fast up to 60. Very hard to get low 12s in the newer transmissions.

The A10, especially in sport with a tune of almost any tuner will shift really, really fast.

It is still true that there is nothing like the total control you get with a stick. That's for sure. Not the speed of the shifting, perse, but the control. In a perfect world you would have both. I did for a while and could just decide based on the mood I was in.

Op, you still have a really great car. Enjoy!!

 

[sabtaj1]

I said I would never own a mustang with an auto. My friend bought a 2018 with an auto, I gave him so much crap for it. Then he stopped by and tried and tried to get me to drive it. I finally caved and drove it around the block. I actually was sold instantly and never even test drove a stick car. I bought a 2019 A10 with the pp1 so with the drive modes. For me, I love driving it and couldnt be happier. I do love a manual but this A10 is amazing.

 

[13GetThere]

All my points have already been made, but I am bi-transmissionable with a preference for auto's.
There is just something about being beat off the line by an old farm truck with an automatic that makes you reevaluate your manual transmission.

 

[Andrew@Lethal]

TL;DR -- I've been a car nut since early childhood, got "hooked" on manual transmission cars, and my experience has been that manual is fun (no matter how much or little power), and automatic is boring (regardless of power). But I see a lot of people are buying A6/A10 S550's and I'd like to find out the inspiration, motivation, and a little bit about your car story. Please do tell!

(full version follows)

Background (skip if you want): I'm gonna maybe show my age a little here. I'm 46 years old and I've been a "car nut" since at least the age of 5. Probably earlier for toy cars. But for real, live cars, I paid attention and knew makes and models at age 5. I vividly remember seeing (and loving) the late 70's Pontiac Trans Ams (I'd say "Tran ZAM") as well as the late 70's T-birds (I liked the window glass logo and the headlights). In that age timeframe, my mom had a daily paper route and I rode with her in the car for some 6-8 hours a day, so we saw cars constantly. Additionally, my parents had a rapid succession of what we, back then, would call jalopies (in the 90's, a hooptie, in present day, I guess sh**box). Lots of $100-$500 cars. When a major part failed, it got pushed into the back yard and another jalopy was purchased to get to work/school (my very young parents both worked AND attended full-time university with zero financial resources from either family).

Fast forward to about the age of 12. My dad was still buying jalopy-like cars, but also took to buying old pick-up trucks and "flipping" them for some cash. The first one he got was also the first vehicle I got to "drive"! It was a 1979 Ford F150 long-bed, single cab, inline 6. We lived on a large lot (didn't own it, still no money), and my dad would let me move the truck around our yard. Not far. A few yards this way or that, but imagine how a 12 year old feels being given the keys to a truck and told he can start it and move it?! I was king of the world! At that moment I knew that I was destined to own a Ford F150 For a long time, this was my "dream car." This became a series of flip trucks that I got to drive around the yard, including a 1977 F150, 1983 F150, 1983 Dodge Ram 1500, and a *lifted and tricked out* 1981 Toyota truck.

To my point: The Toyota was a "stick shift" 5-speed, and was my first exposure to personally driving a manual transmission (my parents had many manuals over the years, including my mom's two jalopy Ford Pintos). Without training or help, I managed to figure out how to move the truck around the yard without even burning up the clutch....somehow.

Fast forward a bit more to age 16. My first car was technically being handed-down my mom's 1985 Chevette. It was an automatic. A 3-speed. The car served us well, but let's be honest, those were terrible cars. I sold the car and bought a 1979 Malibu, which I promptly wrecked (hard, into a ditch). This left us with one car for us all to get to school/work, etc, and it was my mom's 5-speed (semi-jalopy) 1983 Mazda 626. It was on THIS car that I actually had to learn how to drive a manual by driving it every single day, and it was on THIS car when I fell in love with rowing the gears and having full control of the engine and motion of the car.

Going into adulthood now, I think back... I haven't owned as many cars as many people, but most of them (and over the most years) have been manuals. My last one I sold 4 years ago (a 2014 Civic Si) and I really miss shifting, even though I love my F150 4x4. The first brand-new car I bought was a 1998 VW Passat 5-speed 1.8 turbo. My second brand-new car was a 2000 Camaro Z28 6-speed (factory Hurst shifter).... I really learned the fun of a stick with the Camaro. I felt in full control of the car and I could control how and when to break loose the rear-end for a little intentional drift. Much to the chagrin of my passengers. I was 25 years old.

Finally to today! I want to get back into a manual car. I've even sold my wife on the idea (she also drove my Civic Si regularly). I have insisted that if and when we get a "play" car, it has to be a manual; otherwise, what's the point? Any car can be put into Drive and accelerate quickly. It's 2021. Your average passenger sedan can outrun the sports cars of the late 70's, all of the 80's and the early 90's. Whoop-ti-do. I know the A10 in the S550 is great for drag racing. I just don't care. I've owned an automatic Mustang (2001 GT). It was boring. The best part of the car was the exhaust note, but it was just a bore after a while and the too-fast-into-2nd-gear shifting was just obnoxiously dull. So for those who have chosen an A10 S550, I'd love to hear your story and your "why." Thanks for the discussion! Please keep light-hearted. I'm not insulting people who drive automatics nor automatics themselves, other than to say in my experience, they're boring. I'm curious, for those who have done so, why you chose an automatic S550....

Thanks for indulging me.

Welcome! Personally most of my cars have been manual. I've owned 03 cobra, 99 SVT Contour, 6 speed Cummins 2500, 18 Focus ST. My 15 Mustang was a 6r80, was not too excited about it and sold it a couple of months later. If I were to do it again I would purchase a Mt82 equipped car and do a Tremec T56 Magnum swap in it. I did drive my buddies A10 equipped GT and it was amazing. I'm a fan of either. If you are a die hard manual fan get the 6 speed. If you like to chase numbers on the strip and love that millennium falcon put you into the seat feel without wearing out your clutch leg get the A10. Both are great platforms and it just comes down to whatever you plan on doing with the car! To each their own.

 

[nustang]

slow traffic - stop & go.

Had 2 cars ... same brand model.
One manual, the one after auto.

Made me realize I really preferred the auto for daily driving.

 

[Spartan1]

The manual seems like it should appeal to every guy so we can pound through gears, pretend we're racing, get that visceral, nostalgic experience, etc. Like we're getting on and off the autobahn.

But the fact is many of us live in metropolitan areas where the manual is just a pain in the a$$ with heavy traffic, construction, shitty roads, 35 mph speed limits, etc.

 

[Deleted member 35644]

Dipped my toe in the A6 V6 & A10 Ecoboost with these cars before going MT-82 V6, and I'm so much happier with the MT82, since it's pre-2018.

The A6 was very ho-hum with the V6, and the A10 has some behavioral issues that I couldn't overlook with my Ecoboost coupe. There's still an A10 in my garage (the convertible), but I'm not the principle driver of that one. When I do drive, it, all that indecisiveness, hesitation and roughness rears its ugly head and I remember why I drive a manual.

When someone finally creates an auto that behaves the way I believe it should, I may go back to clutchless, but until the day I can afford something with a PDK in it, I don't see it happening, traffic & congestion be damned.

 

[Coastal-Mach]

All of my Mustangs with the exception of my first, have been manuals. I still enjoy the feel of a manual, but due to my body aging from abuse when I was younger, I’m forced to get the auto in my new Mach.

Maybe in the future I will get another Mustang that is a manual, to play around with.

One thing I will do, change the factory shifter to the white madness set up with the manual shift boot. Not to simulate a manual, I hate the looks of the factory shifter and the boot with the selections is useless as the gear selections are on the dash.

 

[Gnatsum21]

...
- No fancy drive mode adjustments - it's nice to have the transmission shift aggressively in drag
...

My 2021 manual transmission has "fancy" drive modes and a couple of track modes.
Normal, Sport+, .. I barely use them though, or forget about them.

 

[331GT]

haha, many threads/arguments about this. i bought the a10 mostly due to this car being a daily right now. i already have a 95 mustang that is the "toy" with a manual. i didnt want the hassle of a manual in chicagoland traffic. also, the A10 is far more fun than any other auto ive ever driven when it's in sport mode, and drives like any other car in normal mode. if i could only have 1 fun car/1 mustang, id have gotten manual. i feel i have best of both worlds right now.

i personally dont care that the A10 is a bit quicker, im not big into racing, certainly not to the point where the difference matters. it's simply an added bonus that didnt even contribute to my decision to get an auto. im still a manual guy overall but dont regret getting the A10 in the slightest bit

 

[Sigma6]

But it isn't always about how fast it can shift.

Shifting and torque go hand x hand. If it wasn’t about speed, manufacturing wouldn’t create it. No one likes lag between gears, which is why it creates a slushy feeling to begin wogh

There's a reason why supercar enthusiasts are lamenting the loss of gated manuals on Ferraris, Lambos, etc.

As an owner of an exotic and being around other owners, rarely does this get brought up. For anyone missing the “experience” they have the money to buy any number of classics which fills this niche.

.. But again, for me it isn't about how fast I can shift. I enjoy a good 1/4 mile race just as much as the next guy, but being a couple of 10ths faster, while great for bragging rights, just isn't in my list of priorities anymore.

Awesome happy you’re happy with a 6spd. You wanted to reasoning as to why people choose automatic, from my experience across ownership & racing, this is what I’ve picked up.

I just can't get over the slushy feel. I accept it in my F150, but wonder how people feel about that in a Mustang.

Tuning & timing does play a lot into it as you cannot compare f150 to a mustang… be like a variate of the same strain of apples but not it specifically. What you’re experiencing all comes down to personal taste. The a10 shifts are facilitated by six clutches, engaging and disengaging in (dual-clutch) pairings. The internal shifts do not require unlocking of its torque converter. Compared to a conventional two-piece designs, the a10 transmission has allotted towards quicker fill times, with the reduction in hydraulic passage lengths. Overall, this allows for a smooth launch and climb through the gears, as well as downshifting (as needed) without any sense of jarring interruption.

Addendum: Lots of threads about the MT82. Some issues, most don't have issues, but the exact same could be said for the T5 in foxbodies. Some say they are like a glass transmission, unreliable, etc, and yet the majority of fox owners in 2021 prefer and want a T5 car.... The fact that there are many of them still working after 35 years of service tells me they weren't that bad if you didn't abuse them.

The MT82 transmission hasn’t been around 35 years. It’s based on some off a Chinese design. While I agree you shouldn’t blindly take to heart everything someone says off the internet, there’s truth in the matter that the current mt82 does have its pitfalls. Especially when it comes to running and converting bigger power as the synchronizers aren't meant to handle the higher horsepower numbers. The was a revision in my18s as ford put in an all new aluminum shift forks design which tend to break off under hard use. Previous design was steel and even dating back to the my11 gen 1, weren’t meant to be thrashed on. I’ll further agree than most don’t have issue nor (knock on wood) do as many dont race or beat on their mustang but for those that do 3/4 gear becomes an issue. Referring back toTSB # 18-2175

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