From the Manual... page 158/159

D (Drive) with Overdrive
The normal driving position for the best fuel economy. Transmission
operates in gears one through five.

D (Drive) without Overdrive
D (Drive) with Overdrive can be
deactivated by pressing the
transmission control switch on the
right side of the shift handle.

Soo... it is a 4 speed.. with Overdrive...

1st = 1
2nd = 2
3rd = 3
4th = D + OD/OFF
5th = D + OD/ON

 

Got it...sorta cool...

Now...where's the warp speed button? I had problems locating that one.

 

basically for example driving down the freeway in an auto going 65, or what ever the speed limit is, when you look at the dash and dont see the "o/d" symbol then the overdrive is "on", giving the best fuel econonmy because it keeps the engine at a lower rpm going that high of a speed. Pushing w/ the pinky(i feel like a panzy doing it) the O/d button turns the overdirve off making the "o/d" light on the dash turn on. It will then take you out of fith gear and put you into forth gear. Your engine is now in a higher rpm range giving allot better throttle response but your using more gas. Hope that helps and isnt too confusing.

 

5 speed = 4 speed with o/d, 6 speed=4 speed with double o/d. thats the way i always understood it.


although a 6 speed gearing will be different from a 5 speed, not like just a 5 speed with an extra gear tacked on.

 

Uh, no need to use a pinky when turning the O/D on or off! Middle fingers work just fine!
Also, I don't recommend trying to shift this thing. If you want manual get a manual. Very easy to misshift and end up making a mistake.
Just pray someone at Ford realizes the value in a triptronic-type of auto-shift tranny option for those of us who want the ability to downshift when coming into hard corners, instead of having to brake!

 

haha i see your point w/ the middle finger! Im not sure if youve tried manualy shifting an auto through the gears. Its pretty much impossible to miss shift. The revlimiter(govoner) will not down shift the gears if the engine rev will be too high in the RPMs. Also worst case scenario is if you miss D when shifting out of 3rd to D, and ending up in neutral. Mostly all cars from like mid 1990s on up have a shift lock from d to R unless at a stop. I made that mistake in my first POS car(91' ford tempo) it didnt have a shift lock and I F'ed up my tranny badly. The engine would litteratly jump when put into reverse. Im glad I have a well made ford now and not one of their bed reputation POS cars.

 

I have had auto trans cars before, but the behavior of my GT auto is new to me. At the risk of being grotesquely layman, on my previous cars, when I set the tranny to "2", the car would still pull away from a stop in 1st gear, only going to 2nd as needed. In my Stang, setting it to "2" or even "3" means you are in that selected gear at all times, even stopped.

In other words, setting "2" on my old car meant "up to and including 2," but now it means "2, period." Not counting deceleration from high speeds, I understand that.

Since I do a LOT of stop/go traffic-jam driving, it is kinda nice to put it to "2" or "3" and save the clutch pack. Plus, when I finally do move, it is slow and smooth, even when I jam the pedal in roadrage after sitting still for 10 minutes... keeps the poor guy in front of me from becoming a hood ornament.

I kid you not, my car's average MPH is about 15 (don't even ask MPG). We BOTH need a vacation on the open road!

- K -