GTjoe49

Manual vrs Auto...
An age old debate. The simple solution is this: Ask yourself these questions: Do I really enjoy driving? I mean this in the truest sense. Do you look forward to your drive to work? Do you buy cars because of the way they feel? Are you inclined to participate in the rush hour gran prix? Are you the first to say, "I'll drive!"?

If you answer yes to all these questions, than you most definitly need to buy a 6-speed.

Learning is easy, my mother-in-law drives a manual. As far as fear of power, the Mustang has a good traction control system that will take the edge off of making a stupid mistake while learning.

I have nothing against auto's, But nothing is as good a drive as a 6-speed! Nothing.

Keep your options open...good luck.

Mpov

I learned how to drive a manual on a new car. Granted it was a Honda Accord but still it was brand new when I bought it. You are not going to hurt anything (except your pride when you stall out or grind gears)

The dealer gave me a lesson (about 1/2 hour) and I was off. Really, the hardest part is starting. Starting from a hill can be a particular challenge because you'll be concerned about rolling back. The dealer helped me with this by putting the car on a hill and telling me to hold the car in place, essentially hovering it, with just the gas and the clutch. Once I got the hang of that everything else was easy.

Once I learned I never wanted to go back to an automatic again. Particularly with a car like the Mustang the manual is, IMHO, a big part of the driving experience.

Unleashedbeast

IMO, once you own a manual high performance car you will never go back to an auto. Autos are BORING!

WeinerDog

The only way I would have an auto in a sports car is if I became physically unable to drive a stick. You will not hurt the car but since you are doubting, it is possible you won't like shifting.

Doubtful, but possible.

parchisi

Driving a manual is easy. Traction control off, push clutch, put into gear, push gas pedal all the way down, pause, quickly release clutch, then hang on.

But seriously, don't be intimidated about learning to drive a manual on a new Mustang. You won't break it and its actually a pretty easy car to drive; it'll become second nature after a while. I learned on my dad's 1990 F-250 5-speed, that was fun...

ShaneM

A lot of people worry about manuals in performance cars because they envision themselves dumping th eclutch accidnelty and spinnign or somethign. The traction control and stability control in these cars won't let you do that unless you are a true and complete asshat. My wife has driven maybe 2 manuals her whole life, she drove my blown ten withotu any issues and it pulls harder than the 5.0. don;t worry about it. the worst thing about a manual is on a hill that is steep enough to make you roll quickly and some asshat pulls up right on your bumper. in that case you just put on teh park brake, start to go forward and let it off. You are golden. Its not nearly as bad as you think to drive one. After you get the hand og it thesemotors have enough torque you can start a roll in traffic withotu ever touching the gas. its no different than an auto in that case, instead of letting off the brake to idle forward, you let off the clutch.

sonicx

It'd take a auto in city DD and or if i was hardcore into the Drag Strip though. Def plus in both locations over stick

onegoal

Yep. My 99 gt was manual and living in St. Louis not fun to drive in heavy traffic. My 06 GT is auto and still very quick and is just as fun to drive.

My next car down the road will likely be automatic. People are complaining about the low 3:15 automatic gears in the 11 GT but you can always change that.

WildWes11

I didn't drive an automatic until I was 19 at my job we had when I had to drive the company van and even our work trucks were standard ... I've had 4 manuals, a Intergra GSR, Eclipse, Ranger, Starion