Scott,
First question: Did you know that the car has traction control and the
default is "On"?
We own a 97 GT automatic which has a LOT less power and torque in its 4.6
V8 than my 2001 GT has. Assuming what is wanted is a peppy car for around
town and highway use, it would be hard to imagine a properly running
automatic feeling slow off the line . . . assuming you had it in Drive
rather than starting in second (the "2" position in the shifter). Traction
is generally the limiting factor. Both my wife and I generally beat just
about anyone across an intersection. I have to get a holeshot to beat her
with my 5 spd 2001 (and I'm quick enough off the line to have won a whole
bunch of Pro Solo's in my Formula Ford). If you left foot brake the
automatic (not power braking . . . just using the left foot) it is easier
to launch the auto quickly in normal driving than it is to launch the stick.
I'm not sure what you mean by twitchy throttle response. Both of ours
respond in a linear manner.
The steering and suspension are what they are . . . Mustangs are not RX7's
. . . but then RX7's are not Formula Fords <grin>.
The automatic is probably calibrated to be slow to downshift to first gear,
but generally the car has so much low end torque that you don't need a
downshift for any reasonable "street" acceleration, especially pulling away
from corners in town. Again, traction is more likely to be the limiting factor.
FYI I just drove a 2002 Nissan Maxima automatic rental for about a 1000
miles. Even with regular gas (premium is recommended for best performance)
that car was also quick. I accidently got to smell tire smoke once<grin>.
Dick
CM 85
1985 Van Diemen Formula Ford
At 12:37 PM 1/16/2003 -0800, Scott M. Stone wrote:
>anyone have one of these with an automatic? Was car shopping for my wife
>the other day, she's always liked mustangs.. so we hop into a brand new GT
>convertible automatic (she doesn't know how to drive yet - insists on
>automatic. bah. Let her drive the Rx7 R1 around a parking lot once and
>she did great with the 5-speed but she still insists on having an auto.
>bah)
>
>anyway, the thing was, how did I put it to the sales guy, "Alarmingly
>Sh*tty"... my Rx7 could smoke it in *reverse*. I blame the transmission -
>it will never touch 1st gear unless you force it there, it seems. Had
>very little low end... it sounded mean but could barely outrun the 2003
>Focus ZTS that we testdrove next, if at all. Plus the throttle response
>was very twitchy and the steering was heavy and the suspension wasn't very
>stiff...
>
>anyone else have a GT automatic? Are they all this way or was it just
>this particular one? Didn't have time to test drive the 5-speed or i
>would have, but...
>
>--------------------------
>Scott M. Stone <sstone@foo3.com>
>Cisco Certified Network Associate, Sun Solaris Certified Systems Administrator
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