Tyler88

Hey guys,
I hope you dont laugh, but im just getting into the engines and everything of a mustang and was wondering, does manual transmissions give you that much of an advantage over a automatic?

Thanks for all your help,
Tyler

luckythirteen13

depends on the driver and how well built the trans. is. a well built auto can kill a manual. a good driver with a manual can kill a factory aod

mkspeed26

stock, manual will most likely win. modified, an auto can easily beat a stick, not to mention being more consistant

DaGGer

of course and auto in the long run is better because its electronicaly controled and well you can't beat a computer on quickness...but manual stock like said before is going to be better and its a lot more fun to drive with

Whoa

Hopefully this doesn't turn into another 1000 page long war, but i'm going with these guys, the auto is normally quicker in the 1/4 stock for stock, but some people just prefer having that feel of their car, so they buy manual.

GreyStang

It's electronically controlled, but programmed by a roomfull of beaurocrats. They decide shiftpoints etc to optimize fuel economy, minimize driveline shock for longer life, and give the passengers a nice relaxing cushy ride [:'(]

From the factory the auto programming is FAR from "performance optimal" it's more of a commitee compromise. A standard tranny the driver can decide for himself if he wants to short-shift it for good economy, or rev to redline (or even a bit PAST redline if he wants to) to optimize performance.

But of course the stick driver needs to know what he is doing. A stick being driven by a dufus will lose to a dufus driving an auto [:'(]

99saleen351r

If you want to go real fast a auto with a trans brake is the way to go.Let me ask this have you ever seen a top fuel dragster or nascar or any 8 second or below car with a manual tranny??????NO cause the auto is way better and you cant shift a stick fast enough to run very fast times.I like sticks but autos are faster in the long run

GreyStang

Why is it you slush-box fans always go to the dumb example of "top fuel cars have auto so they must be best"??

What gives you any idea that something that works well in a +7500 horsepower drag car is going to have any parallel to a 200-300 hp street driven car?? I can think of a couple reasons why dragsters have autos.. First, it would be real tough to build a manual box that could take the shock load of that much horsepower yet be small enough to be practical. And besides, those guys spend tens of thousands of dollars on the tranny alone, and rebuild it after a few passes. No relationship at all to street driven stuff.

On the street, autos rob power. Check out this site: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/findacar.htm & have a look at any car, compare fuel economy of the standard vs auto. Most of the time the standard tranny economy is better. Why? Because it is more efficient. Another way of looking at it is, the standard tranny has better fuel economy because it is robbing less horsepower from the engine. So more power available for better performance.