I own a manual, but in reality the modern auto will out perform a manual in shifting on hard accelerations, unless you are really good at speed shifting (most are not even thought they claim to be). However, you tend to get more of a "enjoyable" driving experience when you are running through the gears on a curvy road or just tooling around.

Mine is not a daily driver, so I don't mind the manual so much. If I drove her everyday, I would probably lean more towards an auto as I get tired of shifting in traffic. But, I do like the control when I want to drop the hammer in a corner :-)

Scott

 

In all honesty, I'm to damn lazy to deal with shifting. My mustang is my DD. I know how to drive manual, but love my auto for my daily commute.

Why do something manually when it can be done for you? If I had a car that was strictly for fun, then I could see it being a manual. My mustang is my main form of transportation first, fun car second. Therefore it needs to get me from A to B as easy as possible.

 

My right arm is connected to my brain. My brain anticipates the gear that I will need. No automatic is as fast as the anticipation of my brain.

 

people always be like AWWW WHY when i tell them mines is automatic and i just give them a blank stare and say "so?" Its so stupid when people judge you for not having a manual. I dont understand where it all came from.

btw i wish the mustangs automatic transmissions where like acura rsx's. My brothers turbo rsx has the option where you shift the shifter over to the left of D and then you can shift up for upshifting and down to downshift. Its pretty neat and fun to have when your in an auto and feel like controlling your gears.

 

^^ ah, I don't really like the shift tronic shifters. I tried a few and unless they are crisp on the shifts, it feels weird. I drove a few chargers and magums with those and they were cool but slow. It would be interesting to drive the GT with full manual valve bodies with the stock shifter imo.

 

I have a mildly modded out 5.0 Explorer as my other DD and automatic V8 vehicle. So I don't mind at all having my GT as a Manual. Plus it is my first car with a stick and a great one to take all my lumps and bounds in. So having two V8's one auto and one stick works out perfectly for me! But I agree, maybe if I only had the stang an AUTO would be the better choice for me!

 

Surprised this thread hasn't turned into a flame-fest like the rest of the auto vs manual threads do.

I have an auto and it's great for traffic and daily driving when I'm not in the mood.
Only problem with that is I'm always in the mood... and I regret not getting a manual. The auto is very good with a tune though. Anytime someone "new" to S197 autos rides in my car they are blown away by how hard it shifts... chirping 2nd and 3rd is fun. :P

I just wish I could feel like I am the one chirping 2nd and 3rd, not the car.

 

Just shift it manually, I've played around with before when bored. Hard my hardest 2nd to 3rd chirp that way.

 

My GT is a manual, the wife's '06 V6 'Vert is an auto. I love my car, but when we want to cruise in some nice weather, we take her car. The auto is super nice then. When it's time to rock 'n roll, stick shift GT all the way!

Steve

 

The DSG auto-manual in the newer volkswagens and the twin-cluth SST in the new lancer evo are the ones you should try then! I've driven manual for 8 years now and I could never shift as fast as those cars, it's really incredible.

Definitely a good point above about anticipation. Even the most intelligent and fastest shifting multi-clutch transmissions can't see the road ahead of you. Nevertheless, vw's, evo's, Porsches etc with this technology post faster times than their manual counterparts under certain conditions