Automatic or Manual

[Super-Genius]

True, it fully accommodates a total no-skill klutz so he doesn't have to be embarrassed by his own ineptitude or heaven forbid be forced to improve his technique.

Man ... that was just savage

 

[Super-Genius]

Honestly, I had been driving trucks for a good while, all auto. I guess I got lazy. So after discovering how good the A10 is, it was a no brainer for me. I think it's perfect with the 3.55's

 

[Garfy]

True, it fully accommodates a total no-skill klutz so he doesn't have to be embarrassed by his own ineptitude or heaven forbid be forced to improve his technique.

Guess we'd better tell John Force and other NHRA nitro drivers that they're no-skill klutzes since their clutch is all computer controlled along with other stuff on the car. All they do is steer and maybe pedal the accelerator IF they lose traction (no traction control on their cars).

 

[Garfy]

Man ... that was just savage

What can I say, the guy's probably a NASCAR purist, but then they only drive in circles.

 

[Garfy]

Man ... that was just savage

True. This just goes to show that no matter the topic, subject, etc. there will always be division for whatever reason. You'd think that in a Mustang forum that most are happy with their Mustangs and that would be the uniting factor, yet there's EB vs. NA, auto vs. manual, PP vs. base; I mean gee whiz, can't we just be happy with what we have together? We picked a Mustang, not a Challenger or Camaro. BTW, I kind of dislike the names of cars that have nonsense names like Camry, Corolla, Camaro that mean nothing. Mustang, Challenger, Accord, etc. are real names or words you can find in a dictionary.

 

[Mrhavasu]

Back in 2006 I bought my GT with an auto trans thinking my wife may need to drive it. She never did. Not making that mistake this time.

Same here, made the same mistake. Not again.

 

[tdstuart]

Bought an auto because it was a good deal and I didn’t want to wait, plus I’ve never driven manual. But I think I would choose manual as the only way I drive the car is in sport mode with paddle shifters now

 

[Bobn57]

Bought an auto because it was a good deal and I didn’t want to wait, plus I’ve never driven manual. But I think I would choose manual as the only way I drive the car is in sport mode with paddle shifters now

Nothing against autos. I drove an auto GT for 14 years. Even if I had paddles, I wouldn’t have used them. Seems like cheating. I have paddles in my 2020 Explorer XLT. Used them once……just didn’t feel right for me that’s why I’m getting my stick back!

 

[SuperDave]

Well here is my 2cents,
I love my A10, its the best.
I do not drive my car on the streets anymore, just the track and the A10 is flawless.
Other than cooling it has been great, I have added an external cooler and no more issues.
With everything that is going on around you on the track the clutch is one less thing to worry about.
As I have said here in the past, when I 1st got the car I did not like the A10, but, with the adaptive learning on the A10 it has turned into a monster eater on the track. Too Much Fun...

 

[Bobn57]

Well here is my 2cents,
I love my A10, its the best.
I do not drive my car on the streets anymore, just the track and the A10 is flawless.
Other than cooling it has been great, I have added an external cooler and no more issues.
With everything that is going on around you on the track the clutch is one less thing to worry about.
As I have said here in the past, when I 1st got the car I did not like the A10, but, with the adaptive learning on the A10 it has turned into a monster eater on the track. Too Much Fun...

Makes sense to me. Mine won’t be going to the track. i haven’t driven a stick on a regular basis since I sold my Torino cobra in 1990.
Hope I still remember how!

 

[PoopyWolfy]

Whatever floats your boat. I voted manual even though I own the A10 haha. I imagine the mustang as that car you just want to have fun with and when I think of that, its always a manual gearbox. I feel like I just have more fun with a manual gearbox than I do with an auto.

The A10 wowed me enough on aggressive shifting that I bought it. After that initial wow factor has settled, it still puts a grin on my face when I drive it hard and it aggressively upshifts or downshifts to match. Currently I pre-occupy myself driving it in manual mode a lot. When I cruise around in a manual car, I shift based on sound and feel rather than looking at the RPM and yet I still know what gear i'm in most of the time. In an A10, its not instinctual and I have to actually remember which gear I upshifted to or briefly glance at the dash. If I need to downshift, I need to determine what gear is appropriate, how many gears it needs to go do, and if manually going down with the paddles is fast enough (using the paddles to drop 6 gears, there's usually 2-3 downshifts) or if I should bump it back into drive and stab the throttle to get it to downshift all the way down in one go.

If I got another mustang, I'd probably have to drive both back to back to see which one I'd get as a fun daily. As a secondary "fun" car, manual all the way.

 

[SuperDave]

Bobn57
Nice 68', I had a 67' fastback when I was a teenager, 302, dual quad tunnel ram, 5.13's, doing 11.90's at LIONS drag strip.... Yes, LIONS drag strip, for all us Fossils out there.
Love to know how you progress with it, as you go along.

 

[tdstuart]

Nothing against autos. I drove an auto GT for 14 years. Even if I had paddles, I wouldn’t have used them. Seems like cheating. I have paddles in my 2020 Explorer XLT. Used them once……just didn’t feel right for me that’s why I’m getting my stick back!

I like the paddles but I wish I had a true dual clutch as the shifts are a little slow. And it’s a pain when slowing down fast as you have to constantly hit the paddle instead of just pressing the clutch in. But makes autos a lot more fun atleast for me.

 

[Norm Peterson]

It's all preference, and I don't understand why anyone cares what someone else drives.

It's not about caring what anybody else prefers. It's about the inevitable "because it's faster" and the implication that that reason is supposed to be everybody's overriding reason for making their transmission choice.

For those that say the auto makes the car faster and it's not the driver who can take credit, that's true of just about every part of the car.

If you go faster with a V8 than a 4-cyclinder, it's because of the engine, not the driver. Or if you go faster with a Tremec than an MT-82, it's because of the transmission, not the driver Why buy anything that provides greater performance?

The choice to get a V8 over a sixxer or a 4 is strictly yours to make. Same would apply to Tremec vs Getrag if/where that choice was available. There isn't any automation or artificial logic (developed by somebody who's not-you) making those decisions for you.

Greater performance that demands more of me as a driver to extract that performance is one thing. Not just straight line performance, either.

Greater performance that takes me out of the decision-making loop for things I'm fully capable of keeping up with in real time . . . almost feels like cheating. That's me.


Norm

 

[Bobn57]

Bobn57
Nice 68', I had a 67' fastback when I was a teenager, 302, dual quad tunnel ram, 5.13's, doing 11.90's at LIONS drag strip.... Yes, LIONS drag strip, for all us Fossils out there.
Love to know how you progress with it, as you go along.

Thanks. bought my first 68 fb in 1978. Put a bunch of cash converting from 2bbl to 4bbl and top loader 4 speed. first attempt at body work…removed about 20lbs of bonds from driver side quarter. Rest of car was the same. Wound up parting it out…mostly drive train to my SnapOn dealer and scrapped the rest. The one in avatar was my best friends. He bought and restored it in 77..1969 351w, 4:30 gears, top loader 4 speed. It was on the road until 10 years ago.. unfortunately it didn’t age well. He gave it to my son two years ago. We stripped it down and put in new floor pans, inner outer cowl, front frame rails etc. have all new door skins, fenders and quarters ready to go..it will be a tastefully done Shelby tribute restored. All modern brakes, suspension etc. Rebuilding the 351W and adding 5 speed.