notsofast

I was leafing through the March 2010 5.0 Mustang mag at Walmart today - there is a 16 page article on the 5.0 Coyote engine development. A couple of things stood out - one is that they say the rods aren't strong enough to stand up to forced induction. Second, they mention that the 6-speed manual transmission will have a 1-4 skip-shift function like the Corvette. I hope the authors are mistaken on both counts. Anyone else heard about this?

effin' speedracer

What does the 1-4 skip shift function do?

notsofast

My understanding of it, and I could be wrong since I've never driven one with it, is that when shifting from first to second, unless you are at high RPMs, the computerized nanny will force the shift to fourth gear instead of second. I think Corvette did it in the past to improve gas mileage.

effin' speedracer

That's something that would keep me from buying one...

Lax07

yeah not a fan at all. I wonder if you can disable it. it would be pretty dumb to force a shift to forth.

effin' speedracer

Where I live there is some pretty big hills... a 1-4 shift would stall the car.

notsofast

My guess is that under load, such as while going uphill, it would not force the shift from first to fourth, probably only when under light load such as slow acceleration on a level or downhill surface. Still, it would suck. Perhaps an aftermarket tune could disable it.

Free Agent

Don't worry about the skip shift feature. If it is like most GM products with the skip shift you can either tune it out or just buy a little skip shift eliminator piggyback kit for about 20 to 30 bucks and it's gone. Try a Google search on skip shift eliminator kits and you'll see they are cheap and take about 15 seconds for plug and play. Hope that helps.