Jeez, where to start.....
Even when they put in the LS2 you can still just throw on some headers and a supergharger for 4K and rape the crap out of that pansy GTO
The lamest argument in the world is the old and tired "you could do this and that for that and then you'd have that" crap. By that argument, I ought to just buy an SRT Neon and install an adjustable wastegate on it, run high twelves, and trash-talk that Mustangs are slow and that I've only got $23K in my faster Neon...
The reason the Automatic GT Could achive a better time than the manual GT is because
A. manuals arent as consistant as automatics
B. It takes more time to shift than on an automatic
C. there is more chance for driver error
D. The Automatic gearbox on the stang has 5 speeds so the first 3 are closer together making it accelerate faster and the last 2 give it more speed.
Lordy lordy lordy....
A. Consistancy has nothing to do with a better time. If a manual car has nine botched 14-second runs, and then has a clean run of 13.40, and an automatic runs ten 13.60's in a row, the manual is faster. Period. It can run a 13.40, the auto can only manage a 13.60 (this is a purely hypothetical scenario of course). Just because the driver of any given manual-tranny car is a hamfisted uncoordinated imbicile/bozo, doesn't mean that the car ITSELF is slower. It just means that the driver blows chunks. Don't tell me that a new Dodge Viper is "slower" than an auto Mustang GT if some prep-school panty-waste dork grannyshifts and mis-shifts the Viper down the track to a low-16 second 1/4 mile run. The Viper still would mutilate the Mustang, it just needs a driver transplant.
B. Takes more time to shift than an auto?? LOL!!!!! Only if you SUCK at shifting!!! The difference in time-out-of-power between a properly speed-shifted manual and an automatic doesn't even BEGIN to narrow the gap of horsepower and time LOST due to the parasitic drag and increased weight of an automatic transmission.
C. See A and B.... I rarely miss shifts, 2005Mustang05. If you mess up all the time, blame yourself, not the car. Driver error doesn't mean a car is slower.
D. The automatic has 5 speeds, the manual has 5-speeds. While I don't have the specific ratios of each handy, I'm failing to see any glaring advantage here.
It's common knowledge, with the emphasis on COMMON, that automatics sap more horsepower from the driveline (meaning less power to the rear wheels) just by their operation and fluid-dynamics. Some autos are more efficient than others, but on the whole, manuals provide less driveline resistance, and are lighter. I am not aware of a SINGLE production car ever that has actually been measurably faster in the 1/4 mile in automatic trim as opposed to manual. Consistancy doesn't mean a thing, faster is faster. I used to race sportsman class in my '93 6-speed Corvette when it was new at our local dragstrip, practically every weekend. There was a really nice guy (Don) who had a brand new '93 Corvette automatic, and he actually competed and won the southeastern NHRA sportsman points race that year. Both our cars were bone stock, but Don was obviously far more serious about racing. He was deadly consistant, he kept all of his runs logged into his laptop, recorded temperatures and humidity and barometric pressures and adjusted and tweaked his dial-in and tire pressures accordingly. He was always running right on his dial. HOWEVER, his car was .4-.5 tenths SLOWER than my manual. My car was a consistant 13.30-13.40 @ 105-107 mph, his was a a consistant 13.70-13.80 @ 102-103 mph. He was CONSISTENT, and always nailed his dial-in, and had sharp reaction times, which meant he usually whipped me to the traps (because he got a head start due to his slower dial-in). But from a head's up, who's car is FASTER standpoint, my car would spank him silly in a heads-up race. Don would beat me and eliminate me, and then he would come see me by my car in the pits and say "man, you were reeling me in like a fish, I thought you were going to catch me for sure. That thing is FAST"....
So, that's the difference between consistent and fast. I could give a damn about consistent, give me the machinery that has the POTENTIAL to run the fastest, and I'll horsewhip it to a faster timeslip every time. I can't think of a single car ever produced, where the automatic version was faster than the manual. Ever. Whether it's "easier" to get a fast time out of an automatic is irrelevent. It's easier to pick up a fat ugly girl at a bar and take her home. Yeah, she may get lucky more consistently 'cause she's easy prey, but I'll keep trying for the hot chicks, it's worth it when you get it right and you hit all your gears!!