Qusus

Does anyone else notice that when people on this forum refer to their manual-tranny Mustangs they frequently call it the "5-speed." But if you think about it this doesn't make any sense because all both the auotmatic and manual versions come with a 5 speed transmission. Even though every knows what a person means when they refer to their car as having a "5-speed," the actual term doesn't tell you anything about the car. Saying: I have an 08 GT Premium package 5 - speed is kinda like saying I have an 08 GT Premium Package, with 4 wheels. I mean... of course you do!

If you own other cars this also occurs on other forums as well. (For example, people with BMW 335i's refer to their manuals as "6-speeds" despite the fact that the automatic is also a 6 speed.) This term obviously originated from the fact that until VERY VERY recently, manual tranmissions ALWAYS had more speeds than their automatic counterparts in cars. So saying that you had the "5-speed or 6-speed" implied that you had a manual because the automatics were only 3 or 4 speeds. But now automatic tranmission technology is getting better and better, this will become much more rare.

Anyways, I don't really care but it did mildly bother me because it's such an anachronism and we just haven't adapted our language to the new tech. Thanks for reading what turned out to be a pretty long rant.

Think about it though.

Riptide

Yes I think it's silly when people say they have a "5 speed" around here.

Joolander

people do it in the real world too though

pat123

If everyone knows what it means does it make any difference? Why does it bother you?

tn_gt

well unless your talking to the gangsta ricers i think the people you associate with know what your talking about, but i get your point

JRT1

Why does it matter?

Mishri

Yes.. I have thought the same thing.. 5 speed doesn't mean much.. i think i'll have to add 5-speed to my sig

tn_gt

lol +1 ^^

Qusus

It doesn't acutally bother me, I mean I don't like stay up at night thinking about this or anything hahahaha. It's just in general, I don't like anachronisms; especially in language. I mean by all means say it, I don't care, I just don't think many people thought about what it acutally means to say you have a 5-speed and how that phrase originated. Don't mean to come off as fascist or anything hahaha.

And yeah people say it in real life too, not just forums.

Derf00

You could start saying well I have a 5-A or 5-M ..A for auto and M formanual for the slow people