GT owners...Is the A10 as bad as Roadshow says

[Mazman]

I left the review as soon as he said the A10 is slow...

In track mode and the shifter in sport mode the shifts in auto mode are just awesome.

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[sebounet]

very good. Some people mention lag using paddle shift and a dual clutch is better. Those people have never drivent a double clutch with variable conditions and sporty driving. There is a 0.5 sec where nothing happen and it bother me in cars like audi. Now audi is going back to traditional transmission. The automatic in the GT change slowly in manual mode , if you don't press hard the accelerator, and very fast if you do some fast acceleration

 

[Coyote Red]

I have adapted with experience to the small lag in my 16 GT w/6R80 trans & can "bark" 2nd gear. I won't trade this 16, it may very well be a factory "Freak". No a/c problems, no problems at all, now at 36,250 miles. Smiles per gal to at 20- 24 mixed.

 

[sebounet]

you shloud consider a change, i m coming from a 2016, and the 6 speed wasn t so bad, but the 10 speed is night and day compare to 2016. Plus some gaz saving

 

[Zinc03svt]

Misinformation is everywhere. Everyone should stop buying mustangs...

 

[thehunterooo]

you shloud consider a change, i m coming from a 2016, and the 6 speed wasn t so bad, but the 10 speed is night and day compare to 2016. Plus some gaz saving

Would only cost me $25k+ should be able to save that with the gas savings.

 

[Cobra Jet]

The auto journalists who report and write about the 10R80 don’t have ANY clue about the A10, that it’s an adaptive learning transmission nor do they even know HOW to drive it!

They’re jumping into an A10 Mustang for a 30min jaunt to write their “piece”... of course the freaking trans is going to be all wonky, because it was just being drive 30mins before that journalist by another... where’s there’s NO chance for the trans to adapt to ANY ONE type of driving style!

The 10R80 needs not only accrued miles BUT also CONSISTENCY with regards to the driver and his/her driving style AND TYPE of driving, meaning all highway, stop-n-go traffic, variable speed limits, etc etc etc....

These journalists hop in a vehicle that:
1) They’re NOT familiar with, other than knowing “it’s a Mustang”
2) They have NO experiences with a performance car’s operational or functional aspects and expect all vehicles to drive like a Bentley
3) Have limited seat time before they jump into another Manufacturer loaner to test and write a story
4) Don’t know ANYTHING about the engineering or design aspects of the 10R80, other than knowing it’s an automatic transmission

And I’m sure I could keep going and going...

The bottom line is, the 10R80 is an excellent trans, there’s lots of A10 owners who have posted they have beat the snot out of it and have no reported issues and any such issues are really few and far between. Some of the early issues posted to this site seemed to have been due to defective valve bodies.

——-

There’s a boatload of 10R80 threads on here now, but this one was an early post of which a lot of us participated in; it should give you more info about how folks are liking their choice of trans:
https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/question-for-18-gt-owners-with-a10.100341/

 

[Cobra Jet]

For those who want to read an excellent non biased article about just the 10R80 (or the GM equivalent 10L90), sit down with a beverage or fav snack and read this:

https://www.motor.com/magazine-summary/need-10-speeds/

 

[Zinc03svt]

A10 with a good tune is spectacular! It does take 20 minutes of driving for trans oil temps to get out of cold range. Fyi.

 

[Sawyerjames]

Here's a link to this recent review...

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/reviews/2018-ford-mustang-gt-fastback-review/

Comments are that it is poorly matched to every driving mode, refuses to downshift before a turn, and holds gears too long when at a steady speed.
I'll be ordering the GT with the A10 in a few weeks and would like to get opinions on this from actual owners with the A10, since I've also read some good write-ups on the transmission. This will be a daily driver with occasional track/autocross use and am anticipating a fair amount of time in traffic, so the stick isn't really what I want to go with.

Jim,
Just my 2 pennies on the new A10. I bought my 2018 new back in May. I now am tuned with 6,000 miles on the car. The transmission over all is not bad, especially rowing through the gears or at WOT. The tune definitely helps smooth things out, and creates better shift points even in regular drive mode. For me I didn't opt for the PP because I had some plans of my own for the car so I only have Drive, Sport (auto), Sport (paddles). The tune almost makes regular drive feel like a sport function, but not identical to the stock sport auto if that makes since. On the downside I do have complaints as this transmission is quirky as hell sometimes. It whines (which I found is normal?) also it feels like it is going to stall sometimes getting on to an on ramp and cruising at 40-50 and giving light throttle. Almost like you need to give more throttle to break it out of this stage, but then when you do so it wants to take off, which can't happen if you are behind another vehicle. My biggest complaint is after the car has been parked for hours, I leave my office and cruise to the first stop sign. As the car is coming to a stop from a light cruise, it will rev up and want to lunge forward on me. I come from a BMW dual clutch transmission, and I feel like it was light years ahead of this design, and It was a 2013 model. If you are at all accustomed to manuals I would maybe go that route for this one, or I could just be one of the unlucky recipients of a faulty trans. I opted for this transmission because of stop and go traffic, and the joy that the dual clutch in the BMW brought. It makes me wonder if this is the exact same design used in the Camaro ZL1? I find it hard to believe that a car of that caliber and price tag would have some of the issues I am seeing the Mustang guys have, including myself with this trans. Hope this help buddy.

Adam

 

[Nomadic]

I'm a bit baffled at the negative A10 reviews. I had a '15 GT PP (boosted). I test drove an A10 w/3.55 gears twice and an A10 w/3.15 gears twice. I thought the 3.55 were good but it did downshift a bit too much IMO. Kicking down to give you more power is never really a negative in an automatic (vs being reluctant to downshift) but I thought being a 10spd, the 3.55 wanted to shift a bit more than the 3,`5........BUT.....it was still very good and a minor quibble. And I would be able to deal.

The 3.15s I felt shifted smoother b/c it held the gears a bit longer but step on it a bit and it was ready to downshift and haul a$$ as well. I personally preferred the A10 w/3.15s. It never felt sluggish. I also test drove a '18 6spd manual before the A10. I preferred the A10. Definitely felt faster.

I can honestly say the A10 is fantastic based on my test drives. Best auto I've experienced. I only didn't buy one b/c I've bought/sold too many cars as of late and am trying to have some restraint. But can't imagine anyone not being impressed with the A10. If I was in the market for a new Mustang GT in automatic, I would be all over it.

 

[Sawyerjames]

N

I'm a bit baffled at the negative A10 reviews. I had a '15 GT PP (boosted). I test drove an A10 w/3.55 gears twice and an A10 w/3.15 gears twice. I thought the 3.55 were good but it did downshift a bit too much IMO. Kicking down to give you more power is never really a negative in an automatic (vs being reluctant to downshift) but I thought being a 10spd, the 3.55 wanted to shift a bit more than the 3,`5........BUT.....it was still very good and a minor quibble. And I would be able to deal.

The 3.15s I felt shifted smoother b/c it held the gears a bit longer but step on it a bit and it was ready to downshift and haul a$$ as well. I personally preferred the A10 w/3.15s. It never felt sluggish. I also test drove a '18 6spd manual before the A10. I preferred the A10. Definitely felt faster.

I can honestly say the A10 is fantastic based on my test drives. Best auto I've experienced. I only didn't buy one b/c I've bought/sold too many cars as of late and am trying to have some restraint. But can't imagine anyone not being impressed with the A10. If I was in the market for a new Mustang GT in automatic, I would be all over it.[/QUOTE

I'm a bit baffled at the negative A10 reviews. I had a '15 GT PP (boosted). I test drove an A10 w/3.55 gears twice and an A10 w/3.15 gears twice. I thought the 3.55 were good but it did downshift a bit too much IMO. Kicking down to give you more power is never really a negative in an automatic (vs being reluctant to downshift) but I thought being a 10spd, the 3.55 wanted to shift a bit more than the 3,`5........BUT.....it was still very good and a minor quibble. And I would be able to deal.

The 3.15s I felt shifted smoother b/c it held the gears a bit longer but step on it a bit and it was ready to downshift and haul a$$ as well. I personally preferred the A10 w/3.15s. It never felt sluggish. I also test drove a '18 6spd manual before the A10. I preferred the A10. Definitely felt faster.

I can honestly say the A10 is fantastic based on my test drives. Best auto I've experienced. I only didn't buy one b/c I've bought/sold too many cars as of late and am trying to have some restraint. But can't imagine anyone not being impressed with the A10. If I was in the market for a new Mustang GT in automatic, I would be all over it.

Nomadic,

I thought the same as well during my test drive, and also for the first few weeks of ownership even while the transmission was learning my driving style. It is not a bad trans by any means, but some of the stuff this thing does just throws me off guard. I could be the unlucky one that got a bad trans, and it is not bad enough to do anything other than annoy me sometimes (I haven't taken it to the dealer yet). It almost seems like it performs amazing when you want to go fast, but it lacks during cruise, especially for me at lower speeds (through my neighborhood) it feels as if it stalls out and is in neutral at times. Also the whole lunge forward thing that I mentioned earlier is a little crazy to me. Overall I am not un-impressed but I will say my BMW dual clutch, and other BMW with the ZF 8 speed auto is a lot better during normal driving condition. When you want to take off the A10 is right where it needs to be. I would take it to the dealer to get some answers to some of my questions, but i have not thrown any cell's and i don't feel like going through the "we can't replicate problem" and what not until the vehicle lacks performance, or breaks down.

 

[Nomadic]

I hear you Sawyer. My concern with the a new A10 from Ford is that it will feel great during the test drive but then after a few thousand miles......how reliable will it be? Then again maybe you have a bad one. You're definitely not the only one with things cropping up. I know during my test drive, the A10 auto with 3.15s felt extremely smooth at low speeds. I intentionally drove it in D at cruising speeds on back roads. Of course the car had 100 miles on it too.

Yes, I would say that the chances of the 8spd auto in a BMW being a more reliable transmission are good. My Dad has that in his M235i. I've never driven it but I heard it's a great auto. He told me he drives it mostly in manual mode though (he's going to be 82 next week, lol). I've actually been tempted to try out a barely used 230i auto....which costs the about the same base new '18 A10 GT (with haggling/rebates/discounts). The GT will be faster of course. I sold my GT PP 6spd and now only have my Golf TDI dsg. It only has 16K mi but the transmission is flawless. I drive it a lot in manual mode with the paddles too. I mainly love it b/c it's the only car I've experienced that's reasonably quick and fun to drive that gets 34mpg+ no matter how much you beat on it.

 

[Sawyerjames]

I hear you Sawyer. My concern with the a new A10 from Ford is that it will feel great during the test drive but then after a few thousand miles......how reliable will it be? Then again maybe you have a bad one. You're definitely not the only one with things cropping up. I know during my test drive, the A10 auto with 3.15s felt extremely smooth at low speeds. I intentionally drove it in D at cruising speeds on back roads. Of course the car had 100 miles on it too.

Yes, I would say that the chances of the 8spd auto in a BMW being a more reliable transmission are good. My Dad has that in his M235i. I've never driven it but I heard it's a great auto. He told me he drives it mostly in manual mode though (he's going to be 82 next week, lol). I've actually been tempted to try out a barely used 230i auto....which costs the about the same base new '18 A10 GT (with haggling/rebates/discounts). The GT will be faster of course. I sold my GT PP 6spd and now only have my Golf TDI dsg. It only has 16K mi but the transmission is flawless. I drive it a lot in manual mode with the paddles too. I mainly love it b/c it's the only car I've experienced that's reasonably quick and fun to drive that gets 34mpg+ no matter how much you beat on it.

You are exactly right. Mine felt fine as well, but I would say after 2k - 2500k it started doing some funny things (i am tuned and have 6k on the car now, and still have not taken it to get checked for transmission issues. This shows that it is annoying but not enough to worry about for now). I bought the car new with 48 miles on it, and it was in the show room. I do miss my 335is dual clutch. I did a lot of work to that car and pulled a little over 400 to the tires with 420is torque. The fear that i always had was the thing blowing up even though it only had 43,000 miles. I had to let my baby go and chose to try the American v8 route thinking even if i lose my warranty any issues would be a lot better money wise than anything breaking on a bmw. Just to get a fluid change for that dual clutch runs you around $700.00 it's ridiculous. I do still drive my wifes' 2016 535i with the 8 speed and i love it. Over all I do love the car and would not change a thing other than minor interior rattles, and the little quirks with the 10 speed. I can't wait to feel the Whipple in a month or so...

 

[Nomadic]

You are exactly right. Mine felt fine as well, but I would say after 2k - 2500k it started doing some funny things (i am tuned and have 6k on the car now, and still have not taken it to get checked for transmission issues.

Perhaps the tune is causing the quirks.......curious if you left it stock, you'd have the same issues. As far as maint on the BMW, I'm guessing the standard 8spd auto wouldn't be as pricey to maintain. Not like it has to go to a BMW dealer either. Plenty of independent German car shops here.

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