With so much power and torque driving the rear wheels, I never really felt as though I could drive this car as hard and aggressively as I wanted to. Behind the wheel of this car I immediately felt much more comfortable and was quickly able to be more aggressive with the loud pedal. That allowed me to focus on driving the proper racing line and not having to worry if I was in the best gear for that section of the race track. Every lap in this car brought a big smile on my face because I could be so much more aggressive and have so much more fun.
Laps in the manual car were much more nerve-racking and I never felt like I was extracting the best performance out of the car. That was not the case with the speed automatic, I was on it from the start and got quicker and quicker and more confident with each flying lap. I could easily imagine running a 1-hour race in this car, but an hour racing behind the wheel of the 6-speed manual would be much more tiring, harder work, and slower.
In this setting, the 6-speed manual is a more engaging route to go. But on a daily basis, commuting in heavy stop and go traffic, it is probably best only for the real die-hard enthusiasts. The automatic is less engaging, but with so many gears to go through, paddle shifting up and down through the gears makes the experience feel very racy and the sounds that are generated form the exhaust with each paddle shift are very rewarding with this big powerful V8.
If you have any aspirations of being quick at a race track at the odd track day, the Mustang GT equipped speed automatic will probably get you around the quickest, and allow you to really focus on the racing line, and hopefully, on having fun.
The great thing is, both of these cars are rewarding to drive, in either configuration. Open the windows, get aggressive with the throttle, enjoy the enthusiastic soundtrack from the tailpipes and miles of smiles should follow. If you are a diehard manual transmission driver, then enjoy them while you can.
The last of the manual transmission-equipped cars has not yet been built. Inevitably, that day will likely come, probably in the not too distant future. Lamborghini built their final manual transmission-equipped car in The last manual transmission Ferrari was built in For more than a decade all of the Prancing Horses leaving the Maranello factory have been equipped with automatic paddle shifting transmissions.
In Formula 1, the pinnacle of motorsports, teams have been using paddle shifting gear boxes for more than two decades. We all know the reason: automatic paddle shifting transmissions are quicker around a race track than row it yourself manual transmissions. But are they more fun and as engaging to use as manual transmissions? Many of you will answer no. At the very least, most of these shifts are smooth. Manual mode only helps a bit. It's too slow even in normal mode, and while sportier drive modes do speed things up, the shifts are never quite as quick as we would hope.
As we noted in our first drive of the Mustang s , we've also experienced some odd judder on tip-in, in several GT and EcoBoost automatics — but not all of them. Maybe it's a teething problem that'll go away after a dealer update. We're not sure, and the Ford engineers on hand weren't, either. On our long-term car, the issue hasn't cropped up, nor did it when we sampled the speed with the EcoBoost four-cylinder. Six-Speed Manual We definitely have a pro-manual transmission bias, but in the case of the Mustang GT , the manual is objectively the better transmission.
The speed auto is merely a slightly-better-than-average automatic transmission, but the six-speed manual is a very good example of its breed. The manual's shifter action is the highlight, which is a change from the previous version. Credit goes to beefier sychros, a dual-mass flywheel and a twin-disc clutch. Ford meant for these to make shifting slicker and easier, and that's exactly the result. The reduced effort lets the shift lever click into each gear positively, and fluidly, although the throws are a bit long compared to something like a Miata.
And while the carbon fiber knob in our test car may not be to everyone's taste, the fact that it didn't heat up to palm-scalding temperatures in the sun was much appreciated. What let's the manual transmission down a bit is the clutch. On our test car, the pedal travel was quite long, which isn't ideal to begin with.
The long travel became more frustrating upon discovering that the initial clutch engagement point was roughly halfway through the pedal travel. This made it tricky to execute the super quick shifts the slick lever encouraged.
There is good news, though. The clutch is lightweight, meaning you can skip leg day and still drive the manual Mustang in nearly any kind of traffic. Besides the slick shifter and light clutch, a few other aspects come together to make the manual Mustang experience the ideal one. The pedals are placed to make rev-matched downshifts reasonably easy. The engine doesn't hang up between shifts and is happy to build revs, further encouraging fancy downshifting.
Having just six gears also means each ratio is taller than those in the automatic, so you don't have to shift much more than you need, either. And while it's fun to shift this trans, being able to take a break is appreciated. Conclusion The automatic will work well enough for some people and in certain situations, but it's not as engaging as we'd have hoped.
If driving fun is what you're looking for, may we direct your attention to the manual transmission? Related Video:. View More. Thank You Thanks for subscribing.
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