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Automatic or Manual Transmission

6K views 57 replies 39 participants last post by  Leo41 
#1 ·
Hello, I am looking to purchase a 2013-2014 Mustang GT, should I get the manual or automatic? I live in the city, don't know how to drive a manual but definitely willing to learn. I heard the automatic was garbage with the stock tune, but with an aftermarket tune, it was great. I plan on getting the extended factory warranty. Would a CAI, axle back exhaust and tune void the warranty?

Thanks!
 
#34 ·
I went with the automatic on my 2014 GT mainly because I have a bad left knee that doesn't tolerate a lot of shifting. The other reason is that I really don't enjoy driving a manual in traffic and it gets tiresome to me pretty quick. My fiancée has a 2007 GT with the manual so if I ever feel the urge to drive a manual, I can drive hers.

Only you can decide which you like the best and what your circumstances are.

Wayne
 
#35 ·
Well OP, you now have 3 pages of pretty darn good opinions and or reasons why people prefer one over the other. Now, it is up to you to drive both and make up your mind. Good luck!
 
#40 ·
I drove a manual today. Found a 2014 V6 premium certified pre owned. I never thought I was going to say this, I want that V6. Plenty of power for me, six speed manual, 100k mile warranty, and the mustang club of america package for $21k. Saves me over $8k from the GT. For me just being 16 years old, the insurance would be too high on the GT. However, being able to buy my own car that still hauls a$$ at my young age makes me proud. Ill still be able to blow the door off 90% of the cars on the road.
 
#41 ·
Nothing wrong with that, and an MCA edition to boot. Just be careful with it!
 
#42 ·
Well as many others have said, it all depends. I love the feel, and fun of driving a stick, love the connection you get with the road, but living in the DFW area that would be a nightmare. I am in the market for a mustang and have been testing a few used, last week drove a 2011 6s and one test drive up I75 was all it took for me to change my mind. There is no way I will get a stick at this point, mine would be a DD so a MT just wont work for me.

If you are just driving for fun, and want to get the whole "muscle car" experience, then by all means get the MT, but a DD in a city, auto will save you lots of headache.
 
#44 ·
Had fun reading through this thread and the different opinions on auto-vs-manual. I learned to drive with a manual, and my first Mustang 5.0L was manual. I certainly enjoy driving a manual and it makes you 'feel' like you're really driving every aspect of the car.


I find it slightly amusing to read the comments about the auto transmission 'lurching'. Have you ever been a passenger in a manual transmission? I'm guessing if every auto and every manual car had a gyro constantly recording g-forces during all shifts, the auto would hands-down have much less 'lurching' than the manuals. I agree the auto sometimes 'feels' like it lurches a bit during a shift, but I think it has everything to do with the unexpected nature of it and less with the actual change in acceleration/deceleration.


Watch any video on YouTube of cars racing, you'll see massive 'lurches' during every shift in a manual car, very little in the auto cars.


I now have a 2014 GT conv with AT. It drives great, and putting it in 'S' adds a little fun with the higher rev shift points. There are times I wish it was a manual due to the fun factor, but I never kid myself to think I'd personally shift it any smoother or quicker than the auto can.
 
#47 ·
Watch any video on YouTube of cars racing, you'll see massive 'lurches' during every shift in a manual car
In the abusive world of drag racing, sure. But not in reasonably sane street driving, which was what I was getting at. You won't ever see my car 'lurch' on upshift, either on the street or on my kind of track. You'd be welcome to ride along sometime and see for yourself, at least on tracks where passengers who aren't instructors are permitted to ride with drivers who aren't instructors either.


Norm
 
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#45 ·
As someone who has lived in metro Atlanta for decades, and driven a Fox Mustang T-5 stick to 331,000 miles in that HELL we call traffic I would agree with 1 person above.... buy or borrow a crappy stick car, learn a clutch on it, and drive it for a few weeks on that commute, then sell it.

For some of us there is NOTHING like a stick, the connection to the car is well beyond anything an auto is capable of, however flat out.. the drive can be enough of a royal pain you no longer enjoy the car. But, to me, if you have saved for this car, and never experienced (what can be) the sheer joy of a manual you (to me) are shorting yourself from a very big part of the experience.

I had considered an automatic, and yes to me the in car vids they shifted WAY too soon WOT, and seemed sluggish. Watching a tuned auto reminded me of the old days... nearly barking 2nd & 3rd, holding to 7k, wonderful... but I could not have this car in anything but the connection a stick would give me. Had I gotten an auto every single time I got in the car I would be wondering how much I was missing on that drive. I will take that over the occasional tired clutch leg, or irritation over traffic. The cool afternoon fall day wide open road, windows down, complete connection of rowing gears and being in my GT... all that other BS melts away.

As posted above you get completely natural, fluid, and without thought in your shifting... in traffic too, it is natural, becomes second nature.. that connection.

I can count a handful of times I REALLY regretted a stick... each was either a 6 lane highway shutdown with 30 miles of crawling 1 ft at a time, a 18 hours run from GA to MD in the snow with highway shutdowns, the above mentioned 495/Wash/VA run, or down through Quantico VA on a Friday rush hour. That area... I'd move, but I would not buy an auto for it. For me it is about that connection, and that connection in THIS car... sheer joy.
 
#46 ·
The first four cars I owned where manuals and missed being able to shift gears and the connection you have with your car. Wife and kids can force you into something that's not so much fun to drive. When I was looking at getting a Mustang a couple of months ago the 2 things it had to have was a V8 and a manual, I just got lucky to find an '11 with both and a Glass Roof. I lived in LA and San Diego a lot of years driving manuals the clutch isn't that big of deal. The other good thing about buying a manual is my stepdaughter and neighbors don't bug me to drive it, they don't know how to drive manuals. I'm not about to teach them on a coyote powered Mustang.
 
#48 ·
Auto vs manual is all about personal preference. I have never owned a manual car so I am probably missing out on that being connected to the car, but the 6R80 is a great automatic transmission. An aftermarket tune will really wake it up as well. When I was first looking at trading my V6 for a GT I first thought about getting a manual, but then I was hearing about all the issues of the Chinese built MT-82 and that pretty much settled things for me. I know some guys beat the snot out of the manual with no issues, even supercharged, while others have had issues with no mods to their car. I just wasn't willing to risk it. The auto can handle the added torque from a supercharger all day long. I have only seen a few threads of the auto trans failing or having issues while there are a plethora of MT-82 complaint threads. Had Ford done the right thing and put a Tremec in the manual equipped stangs, I would have gone that route. At least in the 13-14 auto stangs they gave us the select shift option, although they should have put paddle shifters in instead of that goofy up/down button on the shifter. Its better than having to slide the shifter over and push it up or down but paddles are where its at if you have an auto. The 15+ auto guys have it made.
 
#50 ·
At least in the 13-14 auto stangs they gave us the select shift option, although they should have put paddle shifters in instead of that goofy up/down button on the shifter. Its better than having to slide the shifter over and push it up or down but paddles are where its at if you have an auto. The 15+ auto guys have it made.
I agree that any separate up/down button is a poor-ish solution, but disagree that paddles are better than a separate up/down gate for the shifter. Particularly if you come from years of MT driving, reaching for a shift lever to do . . . your shifting . . is the far more natural motion.

I've driven a few cars with paddle shifters and one car that had both paddles and a +/- shift lever gate (in that last car, the gate won out over the paddles, decisively).


Norm
 
#56 ·
Three year old thread, but I`ll leave it open as it still seems pertinent .
 
#57 ·
I've wanted a "new" Mustang ever since the 2005s came out... Other life priorities always took precedence until now. I've been shopping for a 2014 GT for a while. Was convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that I had to have a manual transmission.... Test drove a few... Manual was OK - but I began to think maybe I would tire of it over a long time.

Long story short - I found the car I wanted last week and it's an AUTOMATIC ! The car shifts fine especially in Sport mode and the exhaust sounds are wonderful. For me it just came down to long term convenience and personal preference. Yes, I know how to drive standard shift vehicles and have owned many of them over the years - I'm just old enough now that having what I want is more important than what others may think about it. :smile:
 
#58 ·
Just as a kind of add on to this I did the math and it seems for me in 30 years of driving all but 6 were in a manual transmission car. 5 of those have been in the last 5 years, and though my daughter spent the first 11 years of her life in the back of my Fox, from 12-17 she was never in a car with a clutch so she had no real memory of the shifting. At nearly 18 she has never (in her mind) been in a car with a clutch.

After a month with my GT, she of course loves it. She knows my plans are to keep the car, and that I do intend it to go to her in the hopefully somewhat distant future. I mentioned her first car (which we will be buying fairly soon) I'm thinking is going to be a stick. Her mother was shocked but as I said everyone I know at 48 drove a stick as a first car, and they are all decent drivers. Most all kids today have no clue how to, and the way I see it they need to be more engaged with driving. You can't text with a stick.

I was shocked to hear my daughter be all onboard, and argue for herself that yes, she should have a manual.
 
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