Auto or Stick?

[MadOnion]

Anyone ?

[Mach 1]

Originally posted by Agent_4573
but once u learn how to drive it, you'll never go back to an automatic.

That is total bullcrap and I am so tired of people saying that. No offense to you Agent 4573.

There are millions of people who "know how to drive" a stick, but still choose an automatic for the advantages it offers, myself included.

[Mach 1]

Originally posted by MadOnion
What is a higher stall converter?

Will learning how to drive a stick shift on a 5.0 Mustang damage it? Where would you suggest learning how to drive one? None of my good friends or close by realatives drive one.

Do low gears damage the car in any way (3.53 or 3.73 which most people have.)

Dude, if you cant even drive a stick, and no one has taught you how to drive a stick, and you dont have anyone available to teach you how to drive a stick, and it is going to be a big problem for you, just get an automatic.

If you would like to drive a stick and want to learn, take someone else with you who can drive a stick to test drive the car you want to buy, then after you buy the car, have them teach you how to drive it, and then just practice in an empty parking lot until you can drive on the street without stalling all the time. Its not that difficult and can be mastered quickly.

Im sure you know somebody who can drive a stick car?

[Mustang_289]

Nothing like cranking through the gears with the sweet sound of your 5.0!!!

[91GTturbo]

Originally posted by bigred90gt
Besides, how many peoplewith automatics, in a street legal car, do you know who can cruise at say 60 and drop it into 3rd and get sideways. That in itself makes a stick worth having.

Oh, the thought of braking it loose at 60 mph . Can anyone honestly tell me this is fun and where would you ever want to do it or find the need to do it?

And buy the way, my little AOD does that now when it downshifts, except I'm in 2nd when it does it and it wasn't any fun, I don't care what you say. You don't have to have a stick to break the tires loose at any speed, that comes down to hp.

Like I said before, I have yet to meet more than a couple of guys on the street or at the track that could drive a stick car to it's full potential on ever pass. Most average guys can't, all you have to do is do a search on the web of the times guys are running with the 2003 cobras to see that. Most of these guys can't break out of the 13's with a near 400 hp car.

Have a nice day stick guys, and remember don't miss a shift .

Disclaimer:

Once again, just poking a little fun at you stick guys.

[bigred90gt]

91GTTurbo - It's not a matter of me enjoying getting sideways at that speed, or having a need to do it, just knowing that you can. That you are in total control of our car, it shifts when you want it to and it downshifts when you are ready for it to.

[SCOTTLT79]

I have to agree with big red on this one. I like knowing that my tranny isn't going to do anything that I don't want it to do.
I personnally would never want a high performance vehicle that wasn't a stick. I'm not going to say that if I get an Explorer or something that I wouldn't want an auto but no way in a Stang.
When something pisses me off and I'm fuming, I like being able to take my car our and rip through the gears at my discretion.
I love the stick but hey, to each his own, that is what I say. You have to figure out what you want and thats it but one more vote for a stick here.

Oh yeah, and if you have the money for a beater honda, I might go ahead and do that if I were you.

[LxMustangRacer]

I say go for a stick too. I looked around for about a year before I found a nice gt vert that also had a stick in it. I could have got an auto a long time ago and saved a couple hundread bucks, but I'm glad I didn't.
For the winter, if you can a beater car would be a very good idea, though it is possible to drive a v8 in heavy snow. I did it with my 91 stang I used to have. You will want to invest in a really good set of snow tires however.


should have known from your username you were an overclocker, when saw it the first thing that came to mind was 3dmark2001. How fast is your comp?

[lx5091]

I've owned about 19 vehicles in my time mostly Fords, but to the point...

A regular car gets extremely boring to drive all the time with a stick, I had a cavalier and a celica and a wrangler tj and a mercedes deisel, all very boring and tedious after a couple of months I couldn't stand to drive them anymore, but to me auto's are also very boring...
I had a nice '95 Tbird 4.6 that was pretty fast and fun to drive in a straight line, but I had no fun with it in the corners because you can't control the car in a corner like you can with a stick.

I've owned my '91 5.0 5spd now for about a year and I can't wait to get in it everyday, because it is so fun to drive, I simply can't get enough. These cars really are a blast to drive and I wouldn't want to try an auto, because in my opinion it would be an insult to the car. You'll never know just how fun it is....

[TwiLighTBluEGT]

Its obviously true that most people prefer sticks over autos, but it all depends what you are looking for. Don't let others make decisions for you. There just telling you what they like or want (including myself from previous post). If I were you, I'd test drive both an auto and stick and see what fits you best. I prefer a stick myself, but there is really nothing wrong with an auto. I have a 91 GT Conv that is an AOD and I love it. But I also have 3.73's, a shift kit, a tranny cooler, and some other high performance parts. It may not beat a stick, but hey, its good enough for a daily driver

[95mustanggt]

Well I think it's all what you want out of the car. My GT is a 5 speed and I love it. I would not have it any other way. I love just keeping it in second gear doing about 25 mph, letting a ricer pull up next to me and just hitting the gas. There is no tranny down shift or anything, just power! I also love the control of holding gears. I have driven my stang in tons of crappy weather (I used to live in Northern Canada where winter lasts as long as 6 months ). A stick is much better to drive in bad conditions.

I also love ripping throught he gears, no other feeling like it.

Having said that, my F150 is an auto and I love it. I can grap drinks or food or my cell phone. I can mess with CD's or whatever. While you still have to be carefull when doing this while driving it is way better than when I'm in the stang. I also like just "slow" cruising in it. It is also nicer for stop and go traffic. I do HATE it when it comes to performance type driving. Passing and other driving manuvers are way harder (remember I'm talking about a big 4X4 truck with a 4.6L V8).

Anyway, think about what you want to go for it. Just don't be afraid of a manual transmission. You'll teach yourself how to drive in a few hours and it is a lot of fun.

[lx5091]

I guess I got a little carried away with my post there, but if you were to read carefully, you would have found that I was replying to MadOnions response:

I would think stick would be more fun, but do they lose their shine after you've owned the car for awhile?

My opinion is that regular everyday passenger cars do lose there "shine", but my experience with the Mustang has been quite different.

sorry to invide this mustang post with an IT question, but since it was brought up by someone else....

MadOnion, do you have personal experience with an overclocked computer dying? I personally built mine with an Asus CUSL-2 133MHZ board, PIII 866MHZ CPU and Micron 256MB SDRAM and I am overclocking the board @ 166MHZ FSB and the CPU is running @ 1.08GHZ and it's been performing like a gem for over a year of daily use! Since there is so much new stuff out there I think I'm going to build a new one and give my old stuff to my brother. Who would own a regular computer long enough for it to crap out anyway? Just wondering?

[MadOnion]

OCing does shorten the life....
I've never heard of anyone having their CPU dieing on them though. As long as you are doing a moderate OC and you don't mess with it.

Its when you push it to hard or let the temps rise that it may just die on you. Also, pelts are real hard on a cpu, but I doubt you use one.

[88coupe]

It really depends on the person but I would say get a stick. I cant think of a greater feeling than slamming through the gears in a 5.0. Sadly my own mustang is an auto, and it gets up and goes really well for an auto car with just 3.73's and flowmasters (14.3@96.8). But I really think I can break into the 13's with a 5 speed and no other changes. So I've got my rebuilt t5 and all the extra goodies in the garage...2 more weeks till its in!

So in short....Autos can be quick in the right car w/ the right mods, and are nice if you cant do multple things at the same time(Drive,shift,eat,cell,feed dog)
Otherwise get a stick if you want the true mustang experience, I think.

[ultraflo]

Originally posted by 91GTturbo
Have a nice day stick guys, and remember don't miss a shift .
Disclaimer: Once again, just poking a little fun at you stick guys.

I NEVER miss a gear with my Jerico DR4 and Long Verti-gate shifter setup! ...I'm definitely a stick guy, and wouldn't have it any other way for a race car.

I wouldn't give up the auto-trans in the Z71 Silverado tow-rig, however... but I do prefer the stick 'stangs over the autos in stock trim.

[1jimmy__d]

You need to buy a stick. I believe you will have much more fun wtih a manual. Once you get one, you will know what i mean. I live in upstate NY too. Where are you? I could show you how to drive a stick in 15 minutes (not in my stang though)! Alkso, you definatrly need to get a winter car here in ny. No questions asked. I drove my stang once in the snow and was crapping the whole way home (its no fun)! I have an 89 maxima for the winters which is an automatic. It is nice to drive an automatic in the winters, BUT I always look forward to the 5 spped in the summers!!

[HotRoddin]

Good God 1Jimmy_D ... you guys have to have a different car for different seasons !!!! Now i know why I put up with this freekin crowd in Cailfornia !

[ChunkFunky]

Originally posted by bigred90gt
do you know who can cruise at say 60 and drop it into 3rd and get sideways. That in itself makes a stick worth having.

And this is a GOOD THING?

this is like paper or plastic.. there's pros and cons for both... bla bla bla... when it's all said and done... buy a car that has low miles and runs nice... you can convert to stick later... cause you're going to blow the AOD, I did it with a car with 85k , I think i had the car a month... cause I beat on it... but when it's all said and done, I dont care about the stick or not.. plus you can do the AOD shuffle if you need to shift manualy.. and that's alot more fun then just shifting in an H..

to be honest, you're probably better off with the automatic, if it's your first car or at least your first car with power... cause I dont think I've seen to many mustangs, camaros or firebirds that dont have front end damage or even worse, been totalled... I admit the AOD lacks balls... but that's why you get news gears... eitherway, you wont ever be happy with the car, it'll allways need more power... ALLWAYS... you can run a 4 second quarter with the top fuel guys and you'll walk away thinking about how you could go faster by adding a bottle of compressed air or a leave blower or something...so anyway.. you'll be adding stuff left and right.. and I'll still be typing this response when you're telling your grandkids about how you ran a 3 second quarter...
enough of me..
-as

[91GTturbo]

Originally posted by ultraflo
I NEVER miss a gear with my Jerico DR4 and Long Verti-gate shifter setup!

I don't usually see to many mustangs sitting for sale on a lot somewhere with a Jerico in them, but when I do, I might even have to switch to a stick car .

[ultraflo]

LOL!

Well, the DR4 is a blast on the dragstrip to say the very least... but it takes alot of finesse on the street, in other words, it can be a PITA! ...and that would prolly make ya wanna go back to the AOD for street use