Difference between gen 2, gen 3

[Steve8989]

How big of a gap is it between the 2 ?
Does direct fuel injection on the gen 3 make that much of a difference? Somewhat itching for a newer car as my current is getting up there in miles and I would like a new project. The 10 speeds look really appealing.

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[robvas]

Stock for stock a gen 3 automatic car beats up a gen 2 automatic car pretty bad

No gen 2 car ever went 12.0 @ 118 bone stock

 

[Crew4991]

Going from Gen 2 to Gen 3 really depends on how you want to use the car.

Here is my unbiased opinion first:
The Gen 2 Coyote (2015–2017) is simple port injection only, has solid mid‑range power, and easier to mod without a bunch of headache. It makes about 435 hp and revs to around 7,000 rpm when stock.
The Gen 3 (2018–2023) is a pretty big upgrade. It adds direct injection along with port injection, bumps compression to 12:1, revs higher to about~7,500 rpm and makes more power 460/480 hp depending on year/trim in stock form. It also pulls harder up top and feels peppier overall. you will notice a nice difference in performance. Tuning can be just as easy as Gen 2 BUT because Gen 3 is more complex due to direct injection and higher compression there is a greater chance of things going wrong if you are not careful.

Reliability of both Gen 2 and 3 engines are generally great. Some minor issues here and there but overall very robust and can handle a beating. Not worth elaborating on.

OP you specifically call out the automatic transmission. I am a manual enthusiast so I will try to separate my comments from unbiased to biased.
Unbiased opinions:
Gen 2 6R80 automatic is a solid transmission but dated.
Gen 3 10R80 automatic is much quicker, better acceleration and keeps engine in powerband so you will notice the performance is a big step up while driving
Manual transmission for both Gen 2 and 3 is the MT-82, both have same overall character with gen 3 having minor revisions.

Biased opinions:
Yay manual. Enough said.
Moving on to the automatics, as someone that regularly works on these cars, I am an advocate for the 6R80 being the more reliable transmission. If you must upgrade to the Gen 3 cars, I HIGHLY recommend (almost begging you) to get the later years of the 10R80 from 2022-2023 as the earlier cars from 2018-2019 are not reliable over time in my opinion/experience fixing all my buddies cars... Avoid the earlier year Gen 3 ones.

General opinions on which Gen Coyote is "better" but it really depends on your use case.
Daily driver / modern feel: Gen 3
Best stock performance: Gen 3
Simpler modding / DIY builds: Gen 2
High‑RPM NA performance build: Gen 3
Budget performance build: Gen 2
Track ready monster: Gen 3
Old school analog experience: Gen 2

My final, VERY biased and completely subjective styling opinion... there are other cars I use for track use but the below meme sums up exactly why I continue to daily the beloved Gen 2 competition orange 2016 GTCS manual and cannot seem to convince myself to upgrade to the generally better Gen 3

I hope my unbiased comments are helpful to you in your decision making. If you are looking for a new project to tinker with, you cannot go wrong with another Coyote. Perhaps you got a chuckle out of some of my more biased opinions from someone that knows these cars exceptionally well.
Best of luck and cheers!

 

[John S]

Going from Gen 2 to Gen 3 really depends on how you want to use the car.

What a concise summary... Here's my take: The late 2022 10R80 transmissions got the CDF clutch housing sleeve walking issue addressed and hard anodizing of the CDF reaction shell but having ten forward speeds on any car, especially a daily driver, is just silly. The close ratio steps and instant shifts are great if you're racing but the factory calibration, with its busy shift schedule, can be annoying on the street compared to the 6R80. A Gen3 Coyote paired with a 6R80 or, even better, ZF's 8HP75 (10R series design and power-flow is so similar to the 8HP that Ford had to settle an unpublicized patent dispute with ZF) would have made more sense but Dearborn insisted on ten speeds because it was "more" than the globally popular ZF. My son just sold his 2022 Mustang GT PP1, partly because he didn't like the constant busyness of the 10R80. An E85 tune helped but the core factory calibration wasn't changed enough to stop the busyness. I'm trying to convert him to a stick but he's considering a ZF equipped Mopar or BMW.

 

[FLMustangMan]

Going from Gen 2 to Gen 3 really depends on how you want to use the car.

Here is my unbiased opinion first:
The Gen 2 Coyote (2015–2017) is simple port injection only, has solid mid‑range power, and easier to mod without a bunch of headache. It makes about 435 hp and revs to around 7,000 rpm when stock.
The Gen 3 (2018–2023) is a pretty big upgrade. It adds direct injection along with port injection, bumps compression to 12:1, revs higher to about~7,500 rpm and makes more power 460/480 hp depending on year/trim in stock form. It also pulls harder up top and feels peppier overall. you will notice a nice difference in performance. Tuning can be just as easy as Gen 2 BUT because Gen 3 is more complex due to direct injection and higher compression there is a greater chance of things going wrong if you are not careful.

Reliability of both Gen 2 and 3 engines are generally great. Some minor issues here and there but overall very robust and can handle a beating. Not worth elaborating on.

OP you specifically call out the automatic transmission. I am a manual enthusiast so I will try to separate my comments from unbiased to biased.
Unbiased opinions:
Gen 2 6R80 automatic is a solid transmission but dated.
Gen 3 10R80 automatic is much quicker, better acceleration and keeps engine in powerband so you will notice the performance is a big step up while driving
Manual transmission for both Gen 2 and 3 is the MT-82, both have same overall character with gen 3 having minor revisions.

Biased opinions:
Yay manual. Enough said.
Moving on to the automatics, as someone that regularly works on these cars, I am an advocate for the 6R80 being the more reliable transmission. If you must upgrade to the Gen 3 cars, I HIGHLY recommend (almost begging you) to get the later years of the 10R80 from 2022-2023 as the earlier cars from 2018-2019 are not reliable over time in my opinion/experience fixing all my buddies cars... Avoid the earlier year Gen 3 ones.

General opinions on which Gen Coyote is "better" but it really depends on your use case.
Daily driver / modern feel: Gen 3
Best stock performance: Gen 3
Simpler modding / DIY builds: Gen 2
High‑RPM NA performance build: Gen 3
Budget performance build: Gen 2
Track ready monster: Gen 3
Old school analog experience: Gen 2

My final, VERY biased and completely subjective styling opinion... there are other cars I use for track use but the below meme sums up exactly why I continue to daily the beloved Gen 2 competition orange 2016 GTCS manual and cannot seem to convince myself to upgrade to the generally better Gen 3

I hope my unbiased comments are helpful to you in your decision making. If you are looking for a new project to tinker with, you cannot go wrong with another Coyote. Perhaps you got a chuckle out of some of my more biased opinions from someone that knows these cars exceptionally well.
Best of luck and cheers!

I think when buying a used car, if you can get a good deal on a 2016 or so Gen 2 and under 60k miles I think that could be the better buy based on how wild some of the gen 3 prices are currently and you can simply tune it and CAI to get it closer to a 2018 power numbers. I like my 2020 PP GT and the price wasn't bad but if I did it over again I wish I would have went with like a 2016 GT Premium auto and tune it and save a lot of money. However I didn't see many good deals or low miles ones at the time around me. If my 2020 got totaled I think I'd get a 15-17 premium and mod it and save $$. Some of the more decent g3s I've seen, for the price they were going for you could almost buy a gen 2 and SC it and come out to the same price as a gen 3.

I"m worried about tuning my 2020 GT. I had the 1st gen but I didn't tune it because it was my DD and I remember with the 1st gen some of them were having cylinder #8 kabooming with tunes.

 

[accel]

2nd gen manual has close gear ratios I really enjoy.

But if you are an auto guy, then 3rd gen is def. better.

 

[engineermike]

Some good points made above.

A couple of other finer points:

- It appears Ford made some improvement to the OPG. I don't know if it was gen2 or gen3, but somewhere between gen1 and gen3 the OPG failures seemed to stop even though revs keep going up.
- Gen3 got a stronger block geometry and larger, gen1 style, head bolts.
- Gen3 got a larger exhaust system (2.25 at the bottleneck vs 2.0).
- I'm not 100% sure on this but I think Gen3 got a larger fuel line, 10 mm/3/8".
- Some even lesser known aspects of the Gen3 is that the computer controls advanced immensely. It received 2 additional knock sensors and seems to have switched to Bosch-style knock sensing and control. The Gen3 got a fuel pressure sensor (2 actually), which added a lot of functionality. With the fuel pressure sensor, Gen3 has a PID feedback loop to control the fuel pump. If the fuel pump gets weak or the filter starts to clog, it will increase the pump output to compensate and give you a DTC to tell you about it. It will also automatically increase injector duty cycle as a result of actual measured fuel pressure, which is pretty awesome. With the stock tuning, it's virtually impossible to run a Gen3 lean at WOT. Aftermarket tuning...different story alltogether.

 

[Hack]

How big of a gap is it between the 2 ?
Does direct fuel injection on the gen 3 make that much of a difference? Somewhat itching for a newer car as my current is getting up there in miles and I would like a new project. The 10 speeds look really appealing.

The 10 speed automatic transmission is a significant performance improvement vs. the 6 speed. Even on the street, there should be a noticeable difference in 0-60 if you are regularly doing all out 0-60 runs on the freeway on ramps, etc. I've read some negative comments on here about the automatic, but I've never driven one, so I can only recommend test drives and for you to make your own decision.

With the manual, the 0-60 of the two cars is really close 4.4-4.5 vs 4.3-4.5 seconds. It's not really the power difference giving a big performance improvement. It's the transmission. If the engine 25 HP difference is a big deal, you can add the Ford Performance power pack 3 to a Gen 2 and it gives you 37 HP peak gain and +60 HP at 7,500 RPM. Of course, the Gen 3 can be tuned as well.

I have droned on and on about the engines on here, so I'll try to keep it brief. I don't like Gen 3 with its plastic oil pan, spray in cylinder liners and doubled up injectors and fuel pumps. I think Gen 2 with a light tune is a better choice for reliability over time. But if you will own it a few years and then move on, either should be fine.

I don't like Gen 3 styling. The Mach 1 is beautiful, though it will cost you more.

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