Still think that your friend is a cool guy after reading your last post?

 

Catching up? Resonator delete,xpipe an 93 octane tune, sticky tires and driver mod.. Still practicing

 

Cut that 60ft time down a little and you will be in good shape.

 

Nice work! Have you had your car dynoed yet?

 

Reading the comments talking about rear seat room and versatility, it reminded me actually how versatile my Fox Mustangs were.

I had/have many Fox cars still as well as a new edge, and S197, and one thing that always impressed me about the Fox hatchback cars was how much gear you could pack into one.

I had a Strawberry '91 LX 5.0 Hatch and a Strawberry '90 GT Hatch (still have) during college in the mid 90's and I have fond memories of packing buddies (and girls) in the back. I moved into college multiple years with the seats folded down, the front pass seat tipped forward and had the interior packed head to toe with stuff.

I went on multiple spring break road trips with somebody always in the back seat without much issue as I feel it had more room than both my SN and S197 cars.

I also remember "camping" in the back with the seats folded down and on occasion freezing my butt off in the middle of the night and pulling the front end bra off and using it as a crappy blanket LOL! Those were the days...

Really the Fox hatch car was a great car for the times and am so glad I had them. I remember a friend having a similar era F-body and it was no where as versatile as a Fox hatch.

The thing about a Mustang is it always reminded me of a "wrestler" or a "bulldog". The cars were always ready to trounce! You sat upright in them with good visibility and able to dance them around.

I have owned an SS Camaro also and always felt so **** low and my legs were always flat when driving them I never really felt comfortable. I hope Mustang keeps with the stand tall and nimble tradition in the future.

 

I agree with you on this. But here are a lot of Just bad cars out there and people buy them. You either work through them or get ride of it. If you just wanted a fast car buy the bottom end no options and they seem to be the best. The Mustang has alot of issues Sync rear ends that suck motors blowing for no reason. They all have there issues. If the government would let them sell a car with no Government **** on it we would have cars that would last forever and no issues... HUM like the good old days!! LOL

 

I disagree, Ford is wayyyy better than government motors and dodge. No comparison. Every mass produced car will have problems, but not as much as gm(30 million recalls???) or dodge. I will never buy any gm or dodge product.

 

I actually bought a 2005 Dodge Magnum pretty much loaded. Looked cool and had the Hemi. The engine was incredibly smooth. The transmission gave out and was replaced after 3 months. Over the next several years bits and baubles and pieces would randomly fall off the car: side trim pieces, interior parts. buttons, etc. It wasn't unique to my Magnum either. I still see Magnums driving around with that lower side valance missing. The engine held up like a champ though and the parts that didn't fall off the car were nice to the touch and feel.

My now wife's 2006 Pontiac Solstice had similar issues with quality and had horrible feel. Things randomly would break (including an issue with the rear hatch not opening to put down the top down - a wide spread issue that renders the car useless for it's primary intent.) Additionally, every thing was hard plastic, creaky and just not good at all. Anyone that was looking for a similar car would be better off with a Miata.

Now Chrysler and GM (e.g. Pontiac) have probably improved greatly, but I'll still have worries about quality with both. Now, in fairness my 2015 had a bad A/C compressor that basically had me turn around and drive off the lot and turn around to take it back for warranty work.

 

I ordered my 2015 GT Premium (auto) with a 3.55 rear and had a Gibson exhaust installed the next morning. Gibson says "up to 32+ + horsepower, but real time dyno is about 15-20 range...according to guys who did actually dyno their cars. At about 450bhp (400 or so rwhp) and a lot less weight I think I am satisfied to drive a comfortable, technically superior, gorgeous Mustang. Thank you.

 

Your also aware the previous 07-14 GT500 didn't come with an auto trans either right ?

 

That was then, this is now...

What I'm saying is that for performance and power you used to go with a manual. That has changed, the autos are now better than a manual.

Yes, I understand some people like the old way, and that is ok, more power to you. But if the GT350/GT500 are going to be the best they can be, they need an auto.

 

So just one year ago was then, right ? Well your entitled to your opinion and that is ok.. However just because you feel auto's are better than manuals are, doesn't mean everybody else does..


There's a reason why Ford doesn't include an auto with the GT350/GT500, it's called paying tribute to the history of these models and if having an auto trans is that important and such a deal breaker for you ? Then perhaps you should consider looking into the Challenger as a possible alternative instead..


Just for the record, both the GT350 and GT500 are not mass produced cars unlike the Corvette and Challengers.. They're SE/limited edition niche models along with the Boss 302 which also was only available in a manual transmission !

 

They should have had an auto last year too...

It isn't an opinion, the facts are the facts.

Corvette is faster with an auto
Hellcat is faster with an auto
Ferrari is faster with an auto
Lamborghini doesn't even offer a manual anymore

Ferrari? They have 4 models that are auto only, including the Enzo, Challenge Stradale, 430 Scuderia, and the 458. All autos...

If you physically enjoy a manual, that's cool, by all means, I get the fun of tossing a shift lever around.

However, the fact is, a modern auto will beat a modern manual, every day of the week.

 

You are pretty much correct. IMHO I think the auto trannie is faster then a manual BUT one factor.... it depends on who is driving and how fast the guy can power shift the manual. I've seen auto's get beat but not very often, for it's hard to shift a manual that fast but I've seen it. I do think a manual though will shift when the driver wants to shift & get as many rpms out of the engine he can get, where auto's shift when the tranny wants to. Besides that I think they're way more fun to drive. I had a 65 Chevy 327, 300 HP with 3 on the tree (column shift) and could wind up that little 327 to 60mph in 1st gear. Thing would go from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. I had lots of fun nosing out 389 GTO's in the 1/8th mile with that little Chevy 327, auto's or manual if I could pull a good power shift, no easy feat though with a column shift. Of course, 1/4 mile was a different story, the little 327 stroke was spent when the 389 was just feeling it's oats. Nothing new though. We were having this argument/discussion back in the 60's, except in bars, drive thru carhop restaurants & get togethers, not on the internet or Stang forums lol.

 

Where does my post mention anything about being faster ?

My response to your post of being better had nothing to do as to which trans is quicker over the other, but rather a preference in choice..

If you feel having an auto is better over a manual just because it's shifts faster ? Fine that's your personal preference, however there are others including myself who could care less about being just a lousy 1/10th to a couple of seconds slower..

The fact is this, anyone can drive a car with an auto trans, but it takes real skill and coordination when driving a stick.. Personally I much prefer having control over shifting my own gears rather than a computer do it for me, so if that means my car happens to be just a couple of seconds slower ? then so be it..

The reason for every Mustang I've ever owned with a manual trans is because I happen to enjoy shifting my own gears aka having the wow/fun factor involved and I'll take that any day over any automatic regardless of losing just a couple of seconds..

With that said, that's my definition and personal preference of what I consider as being better !

 

Yeah i agree, I could care less if the auto shifts faster. I love to run through the gears and shift at the rpm of my choice. And also I fee more connected to my car, autos are boring to me.

 

I feel the exact same way as auto's are just boring to me as well, and your also right about feeling more connected to your car..

 

I'm not looking forward to the day where my knees necessitate an auto. Bad joints run in both sides of my family; I'm only 27 and my knees already pop slightly, yet I only weigh 170ish and keep a decently active lifestyle.

 

True, and it also depends on which auto is involved... some of those are better than others as well. For the purposes of this conversation I would assume and hope that a GT350/500 would have a "good one".

The auto in the Aventador can shift in just 50 milliseconds. No human can do that. Most of the autos in the above cars vary between 100 and 150 milliseconds in shift time. The new 8 speed in the 2015 Corvette is actually faster than the Porshe 911 dual-clutch PDK auto tranny in shift times, or so says GM.

Now, take the auto out of a F-150 and maybe that is no longer true, but we're talking about performance vehicles, not run of the mill ones.

Regarding shift points and revs, from the reviews I've been seeing of the new Corvette, the auto there seems to get that just right. MotorTrend took both around the track recently and commented that the auto was faster.

Now, as to the "fun to drive" comment, I get that. There is something about throwing around a stick in a gearbox that is just lost when you go to an auto. But keep in mind that most of these cars have a semi-auto mode. Using shift paddles you can control the shifts yourself and it will hold whatever gear you want.

So you get the best of both worlds, you can run auto for around town, and switch to a semi-auto when you want to pick your shift points yourself.

The nice part? You can keep the pedal to the floor and tap the paddle and the transmission will shift for you without you having to take your foot off the floor.

I'd like to think it wasn't an "argument", rather a friendly conversation. Words on the Internet don't always come across with the same sort of "light friendly tone" that they can in person.

I would like to be able to disagree, without being disagreeable. At the end of the day, we all love fun cars and clearly like the Mustang or we wouldn't be here. So no need to be disagreeable with each other.

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For what it is worth, auto or manual, a great driver will beat a poor driver, regardless of what is what in the gearbox. So skill has to come first. I think most of us could agree with that?

 

Perhaps I inferred it, since you said:

"They won't put an auto in it, as it's main purpose is for the track !"

Which is why I pointed out that the auto is faster. So if you want to go to the track and throw gears around old school, that's fine of course... if you want to win, get the auto...

So I guess either is fine, depending on your goal, I simply inferred that faster was the goal, my mistake.

I think you might be misunderstanding this...

With an auto, on the track, you're still shifting gears... you're just using the paddle shifts to do it... You can't race around a track letting the auto decide when to shift, what the auto does is get rid of the manual clutch and the need to take your foot off the pedal...

So you still have to have skill because you still have to pick your own gear... for driving around town, they are fully automatic, for the track, they are semi-automatic.

Fair enough, no crime in that! Do not misunderstand me, I get that the experience of a manual clutch and manual shift lever is an experience that can be quite fun.