Having the auto, I was just curious for impressions from folks driving the S197 sticks.....

How would you grade the stock shifter and clutch?

Excellent? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumb.gif[/img]

Good? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/04.gif[/img]

Decent until you can go aftermarket? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif[/img]


Clutch release good? Shifter noisy?
All that stuff.....

Any impressions would be cool as I haven't driven a new Stang as a stick - and it would be interesting if there are any different impressions between '05 owners and '06 owners.....

 

Compared to previous Mustangs....The new one has a shorter throw and is much less "Notchy". The only thing I don't like is your hand can hit the front of the console if you are down on the **** a ways.

 

Shifter is awesome with the Saleen adapter kit. Its my first manual car, but everything is top notch as far as I can see.

 

This is the first manual car I have owned myself, but compared to other manual cars I drove before, this is one is fantastic. The shifter is great and the clutch is very light and easy to find the sweet spot. It took me no time to learn on it. I will be however, looking at purchasing the Saleen short shifter adapter.

 

I like the shifter and the clutch operation. Compared to other manual cars I have owned/driven (not Mustangs) it is toward the top of the list.

The shifting position is wonderful on the car, very comfortable and ergonomical.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Galaxie @ February 22, 2006, 12:45 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
This is the first manual car I have owned myself, but compared to other manual cars I drove before, this is one is fantastic. The shifter is great and the clutch is very light and easy to find the sweet spot. It took me no time to learn on it. I will be however, looking at purchasing the Saleen short shifter adapter.
[/b][/quote]

Wish I had that clutch! Mine catches hard in first and sometimes second. I used to have a 1985 Nissan pickup and it was easier to catch and not get that rocking motion I get with the Mustang. Sometimes I feel like I got the clutch out of an 18 wheeler. The shifter is great.

 

I absolutely hated the feel of the hydraulic clutch pedal when I bought the car. I'm just now warming up to it after 5 months. I am used to the cable clutch in the older cars and still prefer it by far. My gf has a '02 GT and it just feels so much more natural driving her car. The funny thing is when I test drove a new GT, I really liked the juice clutch. Once I purchased my car and got it home, I really didn't like it almost to the point of selling the car. Now that I've put some miles on the car, I think it's the drive by wire I really dislike more than the clutch pedal feel. The shifter is OK and there are tons of options for upgrading it.

 

I'd say stock is excellent. I've driven manual transmissions for the last 11 years and most have been on POS cars so it feels great to me. I let my friend take it for a spin and he loved the shifting - said it's short and real smooth (he liked it better than his shifter). He drives a manual '01 Vette. I'm still going to go aftermarket though.

 

I love it. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/04.gif[/img]

 

The shifting is fine... but it IS very noisy on mine. I've been told by a service tech that it's normal, but I'm pretty sure my problem relates to the '05 TSB.

 

I origionally planned to buy a stick, so I test drove one.

My impressions, the clutch peddle feels pretty heavy for every day driving. The cup holders are in the way if your carrying a drink or two. The shifter feels pretty smooth and comfortable, not exactly the "vroom snick...vroom snick" I had hoped for but nice and direct feeling and the throws were much shorter than what I was used to.

I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

I did really like the way the shift ball looked though, much MUCH nicer than the plastic cheap looking gear selector in the auto.

 

Thought the stock shifter was very good but still a little sloppy. Was expecting the clutch pressure to be more than it was.

 

We could've swapped for a run or 2 at Olde Town! OEM is better looking than any aftermarket one that I've seen (IMO). You've got to be paitient coming off the clutch while going into 2nd, other than that it's great, even for my short arms.

 

Before I bought my 05 stick I test drove several other cars for comparision while waitng for my 05.
1) 04 mach 1- Not real impressed with the play and travel there, way too sloppy and too much travel for my taste, could not imagine driving that every day.I know many drive these everyday and have no complaints, I guess it has to do with your perspective.
2) 350Z- tight short throw, smooth, a pleasure to drive.
3) RX-8 - as one mag article stated" the shifter and driving position alone are enough reason to buy the car". When you want to feel the best shifter outside of some zillion dollar European supercar, drive a RX-8 !
4) Having driven all the above, my 05 is not quite up to the 350Z or RX-8, but many times better than the 04 Mach 1.If they had not changed that part of the car , I more than likly would be driving the RX-8 right now!! Short, smooth, some clunks and noises when shifhting , but not enough to ruin the peasures.Clutch not too stiff to give you a sore leg in traffic.

My son asked me why I would want a manual shifter? I said , when you have a car you love to drive, it,s not enough to just sit and steer, you want to be more involed in the whole experience. I love my 05 and have no regrets, I love shifting it everytime I turn the key. I can hear those 300 ponies now !!!

 

The stock clutch & shifter in my 06 GT are great for stock equip. I have a 94 GT with a king cobra clutch and a Steeda shifter to compare to it.
For every day driving the 06 stock set up is great, the 94 is for everyday killing.

If i was to get the idea to mod out the 06, i would replcae the shifter and clutch.
However I have been thinking about putting the Hurst shifter in the 06, I like the look of the chrome stick and the Hurst logo with the white shift **** in the car.

Reminds me of the look of our 67 fastback.

TDS [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumb.gif[/img]

 

Mine is very hard to shift into 2nd when it is cold! It takes a pretty long drive before it straightens out. The dealer pretends it is fine. It works better if you wind it up but, I don't drive it that way -especially cold.
The RPM falls off too slow to shift it right.
My clutch works real good & has such light pedal pressure it is hard to get used to it. I lose my "smooth" for a little while every time I adjust the seat!
I wouldn't even consider an automatic before I bought it now, I wish I had got the auto!

 

This is the eighth manual transmission car I've owned, including classic sports cars to SUVs. The overall feel and performance of the Mustang's clutch and shifter set up is generally very good, if a bit noisy. I enjoy going through the gears on an open road, and driving in stop and go urban conditions is no problem. Two thumbs up.
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumb.gif[/img] [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumb.gif[/img]

 

Ernie that doesn't sound normal at all man. Take it to another dealer.

 

When I first received my car, the shifting with the fluid clutch coupled with the drive by wire took some getting used to for sure. With a good tune eliminating some of the drive by wire effect, along with the install of the Saleen short shift, I am very happy with the way she drives. It was good stock, but much better IMO now.


Paul

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Imatk @ February 22, 2006, 8:15 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Ernie that doesn't sound normal at all man. Take it to another dealer.
[/b][/quote]



I agree, that's not normal from what I've seen reported.

 

The clutch is great because so little effort is required and it hooks up smoothly.

The shifter is very good, as it has a relatively short throw, and goes into gear easily. A flick of the wrist can do it. However, the shifter is a bit notchy going through neutral.

This is my 3rd Mustang GT - an '87 and a '95 were the others, and the biggest improvement in this one is the clutch. I did like the cable feel of the '95 as it was super-smooth and entirely predictable, but it took a ton of effort. And the effort got worse over the miles as the pressure plate springs loosened. The '87 was even worse effort-wise.

But despite the improvement in the clutch, this shifter is definitely more notchy and not quite as solid-feeling as the '87 and '95. The reason is that the previous generation Mustangs had the shifters bolted directly to the top of the transmission, while this one attaches to the transmission with a linkage. This makes the new shifter overall feel a little flimsier than the previous ones. Don't get me wrong - it doesn't feel flimsy like a typical FWD foreign car - it's much more solid than that.

BTW, I've been driving standards now for a long time - I've never had an automatic, and have had 3 Z28s, an Olds 4-4-2, a Corvette, and several foreign cars, so I have a pretty good base for comparison. The new shifter/clutch rates a 9.5 out of 10.