Who else has christened their Mustang with a lil bump and grind due to the unorthodox reverse gear placement? This is only my second manual; my other was a traditional 5 speed with reverse being over and down. Because of not being used to location of reverse and the fact you have to push it down hard to engage I have hit many things .

The first time I hit something was when my car was 4 days old. I was trying to pull out of a parking lot and I quickly put it in reverse (or so I thought) and let the clutch out and bang, hit the cement curb/block thing. I was so mad at myself. Fortunately, it left minor scraps. The second time was about a week after that I was parallel parked and put my car in what I thought was reverse, again not pushing down hard enough to engage it and BAM hit my sisters car in front of me . That didn't cause any damage fortunately. I wasn't going to tell her anyway .

I know I can't be the only MT Mustang owner this has happened to. There are other MT 6-speed owners that have christened their cars with a bump or two or three. So, what's your story??

 

Maybe unconventional for a 5 speed, but many 6 speeds have reverse in the top left, especially German, even the BRZ/FRS. I'd say bottom right for a 6 speed is unconventional (e.g. Civic Si), harder to tell if you're in 6th or R.

 

I haven't had any bumps, but I have trouble pushing mine down. I always let clutch out cautiously because I worry about it not being in reverse, especially backing it out of my garage.
I have the MGW shifter, it makes it a little tougher to push down.

 

I don't have any problems getting into reverse. No effort getting it in. the ONLY problem I have is After driving my wifes mazda 3 for a few days I forget reverse is forward. LOL nah no problems.

 

Maybe a dash light or beeper would help?

 

No problems here....you just need to make sure you push down before engaging reverse....until it becomes second nature, concentrate each time you engage reverse...haste makes waste...or in this case...scrapes...

 

I've been driving a car with reverse gear top left for years. I like the placement actually, as it's out of the way of 1-6. I spend very little time in 1-2, so reverse is out of sight out of mind.

Very common positioning for 6-speed trannies

 

I like it there .. my Jeep Wranger has Reverse right next to 6th ... I've accidently grinded it many times.

 

This is the only thing i didn't like about mine new 14. Damm sometime its too embarrassing when you r showing off your ride to people and put 1 instead of reverse.

 

Second manual you have owned.....learn your car.

Hard to push down....really.....my wife has no issues with numerous pain issues based on arthritis.

Nothing is traditional as far as reverse position unless it is an automatic. Check out more than two vehicles.

A little hint....keep the brakes applied as you ease the clutch out..once you feel the car moving in the desired direction.....release the brake pedal and continue normal application of gas and clutch.

To bad drivers ed is not still a requirement......

 

Yeah...it's not a weird placement at all. German cars have had reverse up there for a long time, even before going to 6-speeds, since it's closest to 1st and that's obviously the next gear after using reverse. Never had a problem with it in my Mustang.

 

My GTO had it top right. That 4-5 shift at 149MPH always made me nervous. I would always think "I hope this is 5th instead of reverse" and pucker a little

 

agree... most 6 speeds have R in that spot.. learn the car.. not everything has to be dumbed down or made to be like everything else.

 

As I posted over on AFM, be glad reverse is harder to engage, just think if it wasn't, you would end up backing in to someone at a stop light because you thought it was first gear...

 

Ever see the Top Gear episode where they had a Mercedes 190E I think it was with the dog leg gearbox? If the Mustang had that, then I could see some people complaining (although personally I'd love that... makes so much sense for certain applications)

I lived in Europe for a couple years, drove about 15 different cars for 1+ month at a time. I prefer the "R" on upper left out of everything I drove

 

Why not just be extra careful?? At some point driving the car properly is up to the owner of the car.

That being said, I'm glad I got the back-up cam. Makes it painfully obvious when I'm in 'R' or '1st'.

 

User error is not the fault of the transmission design.

 

I understand your feelings, and I am sure was said to take care as you let out the clutch. Since I park in a garage I take care to bring the clutch out slowly so I dont shoot through the garage.

 

My only issue is that the stick occasionally drops out of 'R' even though it feels engaged, and results in grinding when I go to let the clutch out. I've since learned to feel for a double 'notch' when going into R, and it hasn't happened again.

With the reverse sensor (or backup camera) option, there's an in-dash indication that you're in 'R' also, which makes it doubly hard to miss whether you're in it or 1st.

 

That is actually what my car has. I have the reverse parking sensors and when I shift in reverse it tells me the parking sensors are engaged, as well as those beeps if I'm going to back in to something. I bought the car off the lot new, so I didn't order that option. But it is handy to have. Reverse being where it is seems alien to me, but only because all the previous cars I have drove were 5 speeds, with reverse where are 6th gear is.

But, no, never had an issue where I hit anything because of the gearbox.