Tall gearing on MT82

[tastetickles]

Thank you everyone for chiming in especially robvas with the excel sheet, that certainly made me rethink my use case scenario and objectively look at what speed I usually drive my cars at.

Rethinking why I wanna get a Mustang in the first place and the conclusions were reaffirmed by the experiences some of you had with your GT. It will indeed be for gran touring usage and some backroad driving which the former would welcome 5th and 6th gear and the latter wouldn't make much use of 4th gear anyway. I have never driven a large displacement V8 before, in fact it is so rare where I live all we have are inline 4 turbo charged 90% of the time.

I'll be staying away from the 10 speed which reminded me again why i got my Jeep gladiator in the first place so I don't have to deal with a Ranger Raptor with the 10 speed. There are times where I think even a ZF8 speed is too many gears to play with when manually selecting so a ten speed would be very busy to manage.

I decided to just get the manual and if necessary upgrade to a 4.09 in the future. Thank you again for your help, I do still welcome more sharing of experiences from MT82 D4 owners.

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[LouG]

The thing that surprised me when I first drove an S650 was the turn in, grip and general handiness of what is a biggish car down here on our narrow back roads. Much, much better than I had expected.
I'm certainly not trying to convince you to go auto, but Npole on here described how he does rapid downshifts using paddles and it really helps getting through all those gears for tight corners.

 

[Garcia172]

The gearing on the GT is exactly what the car was intended for ... being a GT. Personally I love it... tall R&P means the car pulls hard for a long time in each gear taking advantage of the wide TQ curve. If you buy a GT... understand it's a GT (Grand Touring). Reminds me of my previous 928's. Perfect for what it's supposed to be. A big car with a big V8, long gearing, all the right V8 sounds... and a 6 speed to connect you to the experience. Super fun daily driver & road trips. If you want something different... go get a DH. Both great, both intended for different audiences..... very much like a 911 and a 911GT3 (you don't want a GT3 as a daily driver).

 

[tastetickles]

The thing that surprised me when I first drove an S650 was the turn in, grip and general handiness of what is a biggish car down here on our narrow back roads. Much, much better than I had expected.
I'm certainly not trying to convince you to go auto, but Npole on here described how he does rapid downshifts using paddles and it really helps getting through all those gears for tight corners.

I hope it’s as good as it sounds, one of the things I wish the Mustang have is a front double wishbone setup. When I moved from my RX-8 to sti and Focus RS it was really apparent steering feel is missing, maybe it’s also the driven front wheels that numb the feel in these two. Never would have thought I would get a Mustang 20 years ago as I have always preferred very light cars but it’s just very rare to find one I can afford nowadays.

 

[LouG]

I hope it’s as good as it sounds, one of the things I wish the Mustang have is a front double wishbone setup. When I moved from my RX-8 to sti and Focus RS it was really apparent steering feel is missing, maybe it’s also the driven front wheels that numb the feel in these two. Never would have thought I would get a Mustang 20 years ago as I have always preferred very light cars but it’s just very rare to find one I can afford nowadays.

Same here. Always had smaller nippy cars, and bikes for real thrills. FWD is always a challenge to get as good as RWD. My SEAT Leon Cupra had very good steering, but not a patch on the GT86 we had before it.
But I was smitten with the Mustang, it's fun even when you aren't caning it.

 

[MikeyV]

I drove a 2014 GT for eleven years, the 3:31 rear gear. The drop from 5th gear (1 : 1) to 6th (1 : 0.65) was bullshit. I liked the closeness of the first four gears.

I now have a '25 GT with the 3:73 rear gear. It feels VERY close to the last set up as far as closeness but that annoying drop from 5th to 6th in the old car is gone.

So I like having the wider ratio so that I get 1:1 in 4th and two equally spaced ODs, but getting the 3:73 gears quickened the whole thing up so it doesn't feel too wide.

I also agree that a 4:09 gear set would WAKE it up. And it would not be too much.

 

[BrianJ77]

Just a practical comment here on my 2024 GT Premium with std 6MT. I find it just fine to drive in all situations. The shift action is smooth and fast and the ratios seem just fine for street and spirited backroad driving. You never get past 4th in those modes anyway, so the big drop-off going into 6th doesn't affect anything realistically, plus gives nice, relaxed cruise on the interstates. I know lots of folks say the DH Tremac is a big step-up, but driving DH at the Mustang Unleashed track day was not a noticeable difference to me versus my GT, and I have been driving all sorts of high-po MT cars for decades. So, in short, unless you are doing serious track driving or are just adamant on having all the hottest options, I see nothing to lose going with the std 6MT. The only car mag review I have read on the 10-speed auto was not complimentary, and I personally cannot see any real use for ten gears in ANY condition! Just my opinion! Hope you find a good solution and enjoy a new Mustang!

Having the performance pkg with 3.73 gears does make it a little better, and liveable.
Switching to 4.09 gears would be the sweet spot.

I agree with both of these comments. I drive mine in the mountains on some very curvy roads (I'm not far from the Tail of the Dragon), and the gearing and subsequent acceleration/cruising, IMHO, is perfect for this setting. That said, if I was drag racing it a shorter rear end would definitely improve the 1/4 mile time. I would get the PP as it has the shorter 3.73 gears vs the taller 3.55s with the non-PP. Bottom line: Buy the Mustang. Get the manual. You won't regret it.

 

[jml]

Hi,
Here is the same Autotopnl site testing the DH tremec at high speeds.


You will see that the overdrive problem is the same as in the MT.
Btw, these were the exact videos that made me get the AT10. Yes there are a lot of gears, but the AT10 is so fast going through the first 3 gears that it doesn’t really matter much. I love the manual mode and I use it all the time (but I don’t track).
And here he tests the GT Cabrio AT10.

 

[robvas]

You're not going to need overdrive until well past 150mph...

I'm more concerned with the spread on the way there. The old MT82/Tremec will have 30mph, 30mph, 40mph between three gears, while the new MT82D4 has a whole 40 and 50 mph between just two gears...

70-170 in the Tremec and 80-170 in the newer MT82D4

 

[Nightmonkey]

@tastetickles
I guess you get RHD AUS/EU-spec?
Because LHD USDM should be available with shorter diff ratio from factory (PP).
I like the long ratio of my 2020 EU spec Bullitt.

 

[tastetickles]

Ya. In fact I’m not even sure what exact build I’m getting, the dealership doesn’t even know what they are selling. All they told me is Ford dictates what we are getting. From what I see on the car I got a rear wing delete, I got black out lights so I thought maybe it’s equipped with nite pony stuff but I’m seeing non black out front grill Mustang logo. It doesn’t have the recaro but it’s got perforated seat. I’m not sure if it has magneride or not, it’s got the brembos and what looks like nite pony wheels. All these and it’s priced exactly as the auto without the black out lights but those come with factory stripes and spoiler which cost extra. I inquired why and they couldn’t give me an answer lol.

 

[EgoBoost]

You guys want to wake up the MT82-D4 w/out the cost and hassle of gear changes? The Soler Performance throttle controller is the answer.

My Roush blown/e85 +fuel system/LTH car felt like a dog. Instant big block torque feel after installing it today. I’ve owned several of these 18+ manual cars and I wish I would’ve found this solution sooner.

 

[RJW]

Ya. In fact I’m not even sure what exact build I’m getting, the dealership doesn’t even know what they are selling. All they told me is Ford dictates what we are getting. From what I see on the car I got a rear wing delete, I got black out lights so I thought maybe it’s equipped with nite pony stuff but I’m seeing non black out front grill Mustang logo. It doesn’t have the recaro but it’s got perforated seat. I’m not sure if it has magneride or not, it’s got the brembos and what looks like nite pony wheels. All these and it’s priced exactly as the auto without the black out lights but those come with factory stripes and spoiler which cost extra. I inquired why and they couldn’t give me an answer lol.

I don't understand. Are you saying that you special-ordered a Mustang and the dealer cannot tell if you will get what you ordered?

 

[tastetickles]

I don't understand. Are you saying that you special-ordered a Mustang and the dealer cannot tell if you will get what you ordered?

No we can’t even special order anything, we just get what we get. I asked for local brochure from salesperson which usually comes with the spec of the car. Went to showroom and looked at the cars, the auto and manual are so different on the exterior but cost the same. Asked him and his manager what’s up with that and manager says they are the same besides cosmetic differences. Knowing they don’t care enough to check, I asked for the vin number unfortunately vin check hasn’t yield anything besides it’s made in USA.

 

[RJW]

No we can’t even special order anything, we just get what we get. I asked for local brochure from salesperson which usually comes with the spec of the car. Went to showroom and looked at the cars, the auto and manual are so different on the exterior but cost the same. Asked him and his manager what’s up with that and manager says they are the same besides cosmetic differences. Knowing they don’t care enough to check, I asked for the vin number unfortunately vin check hasn’t yield anything besides it’s made in USA.

OK, so it's like when I got a mail-order bride. We can get you one, but you can't be picky. You'll learn all about her when she arrives.

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