Any "Auto Drivers" miss the banging of gears ?

[whyask]

I drove my buddies 07 manual and WOW i miss the shifting of gears, Anyone else with an auto go through this withdrawl yet.. Ive had a manual ALL MY LIFE this is my first auto...

Worst case.....whats it take to swap to a manual..?

 

[Amstung]

I started going through those withdrawals not long after I got my '04 GT automatic -- my right arm made phantom shifts all the time. I finally broke down last year and swapped for an '07 manual (and love it!) Depending on how you look at it, that could be more or less complicated than changing trannys. I feel for you.

 

[EZGoing]

Nope.

 

[steedman07]

Yes and no...I shift mine manually alot now, I cant help it..if I was going to do it all over again, I would have went with a stick..I will be swapping in a 6-speed at some point in the next year...

 

[Mr_Q]

Yes...I gave up my 470hp Alloy GT for a 5spd Shelby GT and haven't missed the power one bit since being able to slam my own gears and control the car the way I want.

 

[metroplex]

My 00 Crown Vic is an automatic and I wish it had a manual. The 5-speed manual in my 07 GT is pretty sweet. I am thinking of keeping 1 automatic and 1 manual car so that I can get "both" and switch depending on my mood.

 

[Lenster]

I have had manuals in the past and currently have an 07 GT Auto. What I did notice was that after I installed the CAI and had a Custom Dyno Tune it made a big difference. The car feels much livelier and responsive.

 

[FFR snakeman]

miss the control of the stick BUT DON'T MISS the pounding on my knee

 

[The Fang]

...

Worst case.....whats it take to swap to a manual..?

Anthony05 has performed the swap and I believe has a write up on it. It is quite a job tho. PM him.

 

[whyask]

hmmm good looking out.. i may do that...

And yes with my 1 hour commute through the city, i dont miss my calves feeling like there going to explode ! It is nice to just sit back and "cruise" home

 

[stanmckinney]

I drove manuals for years. I am 55 and have arthritis. The auto is a necessity. My problem is actually so bad that I have a handicapped parking permit. I get strange looks sometimes from people when I park my torch red GT in a handicapped parking space. Where is it written that people with handicaps can't drive a sporty car?
Yes, I miss the manual. But the auto allows me to keep driving Mustangs.

 

[GusinCA]

Manuals are a lot of fun when the road is a lot of fun.
I guess that's the appeal of those flappy-paddle automatics, being able to select the gear you want and yet have an automatic whenever you want it.

I have found something interesting to be true of my 08 GT vert:

The engine is so flexible, has such a broad torque range, that on back roads (where I would want a manual) I basically just select back and forth between 2 and 3, and that does the trick for every situation.

But when I drive my buddy's manual, I think "this is fun" at first.
A few dozen shifts later I'm thinking "man, now I have to shift again" and want my auto back.

I guess I'm just old and lazy...

 

[scupking]

It would be nice if the automatics came with a manual shift mode like a lot of today’s cars, then you have best of both worlds.

 

[GusinCA]

Yeah, but that's just more tech that can go wrong.

Keep it simple.

 

[kooldawg6]

I do miss shifting, but not enough to give up my auto now! When I build my Shelby Daytona kit car(10+ years away), it will have a manual

 

[steedman07]

I heard of a paddle shift kit for our cars..Im looking into it..I think that would be pretty damn sweet..

 

[cowtown]

Yeah don't miss it at all, especially with the traffic around here. No more sore legs from traffic creep, no more people riding up on your bumper on a hill. I agree with the sentiment that I missed it a lot less once the CAI, Tune & Pullies were installed.