Does anybody know the ratio of manual to automatic Mustangs sold in the last couple of years? At my local dealership it seems like about 60% manual, 40% automatic. I'm just curious if this is typical. How about for the Camaro?

 

Mustang GT's have been selling about 60-70% manual trans, from my recollection. Most of our customers looking for the GT want a V8 and manual trans. I order all the Mustangs for our dealership, and we were the #1 volume Mustang dealer in Washington in 2008 so I would guess that our results are fairly representive in our neck of the woods.

 

I suspect that east-coast and traffic-choked big-city folks would prefer automatic Mustangs. Beyond that, off-the-top-of-my-head I'd guess more manuals than autos.

And apparently my guess would be WAY wrong.

I found production numbers for the 2005 Mustang at http://www.mustangheaven.com/Product...197Mustang.htm ...

Total 2005 Mustangs produced: 160,412

-- GT = 60,792
-- V6 = 99,620

-- Automatic = 110,449
-- Manual = 49,963

Too soon for Camaro production numbers. But I expect it will be about the same as the Corvette -- which also favors the automatic by 2:1!!! For the 2008 model year, here are the facts from the Corvette Black Book:

-- C6 coupes: 20,030
-- C6 convertibles: 7,549

...over 69% (19,136) had the optional automatic (A6)!

BTW, I've driven a Camaro V6/auto... it's very smooth & responsive, pretty quick, and handles/brakes very well. And the 6-sp auto is terrific. But the outward visibility is terrible, especially when backing-up. That's a deal-breaker in my mind.

Is a manual better for drag racing? For most folks, probably not...

From another forum, 8 of the top 10 Corvettes are automatics:
Showroom Stock LS3 (2008 - ????)
11.71 @ 119.94 - AndrewZPSU - 08 M6 - (2590)
11.80 @ 118.82 - Gmrulz - 08 A6 Z51, NPP - (3482)
12.10 @ 117.60 - Dingrao - 08 A6 - (3567)
12.10 @ 115.19 - Odin - 09 A6 2.73 npp - (4329)
12.12 @ 116.59 - Pettvette - 08 A6 - (4282)
12.15 @ 115.59 - Old Goat - 09 A6 2.73 - (3712)
12.16 @ 116.54 - Vinsane112 - 08 A6 2.73 - (2744)
12.18 @ 117.72 - Hardhattg - 08 M6 Z51 - (2690)
12.23 @ 112.86 - 940CACC - 08 A6 - (2880)
12.26 @ 115.22 - Oklahoma - 08 A6 - (3767)

I believe the trend will increasingly favor automatic-equipped Mustangs, especially now that both the auto & manual have 6-speeds for 2011.

To the OP: Bottom line, forget the trends & numbers. Get the tranny YOU want!!

 

Most V6s sold are automatics. That accounts for the majority of the biased ratio. There are just that much more V6s sold than GTs.

 

I would say that its around 50/50 or maybe slightly more automatics sold then manual trans GT's.

 

Interesting. I was thinking about when I bought my 2000 Corvette in 2004. I was shocked when I was looking on Autotrader.com for 2000 and 2001 Corvettes. Within whatever radius I had chosen there was only 1 manual (which is what I wanted) and 21 or 22 automatics. I thought it would interesting to see the ratio for Mustangs as well as some other high-performance cars because based only on casual observation it seemed to me like Mustangs were more likely to be manual-equipped than a lot of other fast cars. It seems like Porsches tend to lean towards manuals.

My cousin was briefly thinking about buying a Dodge Challenger V6 but ruled it out when he found out you couldn't get it with a stick.

 

Same here.