My 2011 Mustang test drive. Uh Oh...not good.

[Michael_P]

I have always been a Ford fan but my loyalty might be waning. I test drove a 2011 Mustang with the Coyote motor & 6Sp man. It ran great for the first five miles, then it kept slipping out of 2nd gear. The salesman was with me on the test drive and told me this was because it was 40 degrees outside and once it warmed up the problem would go away. I waited till the operating temp was around 140 degrees before stomping on it. Bottom line; The shifting problems got worse and by the end of 9 miles, it was grinding into 5th. I'm glad the salesman was with me, otherwise I could have been on the hook for a new transmission. This car had 167 miles on the odometer. I went home and did some research and found out these Chinese made transmissions (MT82 Ford / Getrag venture) have been very problematic.
The sales manager is willing to cut me a deal on it that is so good (way below invoice), I could afford to replace the transmission with something like a Borg Warner or Tremec. Nonetheless I was a little disappointed. I really cant decide now. I will say I will be looking at Dodges and Chevys too. If the Hyundai Genesis coupe came with the V8 I would consider this too. I want a commuter I could autocross on the weekends.
Just paid off the house and want a toy....What to do....what to do.

 

[Mr Nice]

Buy a used low mile Vette, they depreciate like crazy.

 

[Nick R]

If it weren't for those horrible chinese built manual transmissions, the new mustang would be great. I don't know what ford was thinking building that thing over there. If you are looking for a fun, RWD, V8 car, check out the new Dodge Charger. The latest iteration of the Charger is absolutely fantastic all around. The R/T version should suffice I'd think.

{removed the copyrighted content that is linked to this site}

 

[97tbird]

The Charger looks like a truck to me.
How about a Challenger?

 

[JHZR2]

Chinese made transmission????!?!?????!?!?!??!?!?!?!???!?!????

Mustang just lost all cred. Boo.

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Chinese made transmission????!?!?????!?!?!??!?!?!?!???!?!????

Mustang just lost all cred. Boo.


You haven't heard about this? The 5.0 Manual is made in China. And it's a known source of problems ever since launch.

 

[Nick R]

I mean come on, that's a proper noise.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Chinese made transmission????!?!?????!?!?!??!?!?!?!???!?!????

Mustang just lost all cred. Boo.


Wow, Ford just lost some points from me too. What were they thinking?

 

[bdcardinal]

If you buy the GT500 you still get a Tremec.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Ouch! At 30 grand they could have spent a couple hundred more on a GOOD transmission!

And despite the new GT500's goodness with its all aluminum motor it's just silly expensive new.

The Coyote will not take well to the streets if it has a bad gearbox. Another example of the bean counters ruining cars by saving a few pennies.

 

[OVERKILL]

The Chinese transmission is the stupidest idea Ford has ever had.

 

[01rangerxl]

It's sad to see Ford cheap out on such a significant car. The "5.0 Mustang" is one of their legendary vehicles...not something to put a cheapo outsourced transmission in. I agree that for the price they are charging, they should be putting good transmissions in.

It seems like they should have known better. This isn't a car that usually gets driven gently, it needs a bulletproof transmission.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
It's sad to see Ford cheap out on such a significant car. The "5.0 Mustang" is one of their legendary vehicles...not something to put a cheapo outsourced transmission in. I agree that for the price they are charging, they should be putting good transmissions in.

It seems like they should have known better. This isn't a car that usually gets driven gently, it needs a bulletproof transmission.


Like the T-56 that SHOULD have gone in this car.

I'm quite bothered by this.

 

[LS2JSTS]

Other than the Cobra or GT500 the Mustang GT has never had a T-56 or T-6060. Why would they put a T-56 in the base GT when they never have in the past? I'm with you, I'd like to see the 6060 across the board in the Mustang, but that has never been the case...My 01 Cobra didn't even have the T-56, that year and before had the same old 3650 and T-45 from the base GT. It wasn't until 03 that the Cobra finally got the T-56. Excepting for the 2000 R model of course.

What I'm dissapointed about is that they didnt put the 56/6060 into the Boss...THAT was a huge mistake. The Boss should have gotten the same T-6060 as in the GT500 imo.

As far as this Getrag goes, I'm surprised. Getrag makes a pretty good transmission, at least Porsche used to think so...This was supposed to be a big upgrade from the 3650, looks like they are having some teething problems. Hopefully Getrag and Ford can get this straightened out.

 

[SteveSRT8]

It will be most interesting to see how the dealers handle this issue. That's where the situation will be helped or hurt.

Dealers these days are seeing their warranty reimbursements cut drastically and I think this hurts customer service.

 

[LS2JSTS]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
The Chinese transmission is the stupidest idea Ford has ever had.


Well aside from some of the stuff Nasser came up with I'd agree with you.

They should have stuck with the tried and true Tremec renditions of the old B/W designs.

 

[ls1mike]

I didn't know that. I just assumed they used the T56. I love the one in the Trans Am. It has been flawess. I have had to replace the clutch but that is because it really has a [censored] life.

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
The Chinese transmission is the stupidest idea Ford has ever had.


you've obviously forgotten about the Mustang II:

 

[rationull]

There's talk of this issue all over the place. I read something somewhere (don't remember if it was an article or a forum thread) by someone who worked at a tuning shop, who just ended up taking his transmission out himself, disassembling it, and looking it over after Ford wouldn't (couldn't) do anything to really fix the problem. IIRC he replaced his with a 6060 or something.

IIRC from his disassembly, the gears were all in good shape and undamaged, but the shift forks were screwed up, and he was positing that maybe the problem is in the shift linkage and forks. Either a misalignment, or just materials that are not strong enough.

I wish I could find the article and link to it instead of paraphrasing, but it was a while ago and I've lost it. I'll post it if I can find it though....


This is a pretty disappointing problem in such an otherwise awesome car. Pretty bad to have it show up on a test drive, too. When I saw the thread title, I thought the "uh-oh" was going to be "uh oh, now I want to spend a bunch of money and buy the car!"

 

[Michael_P]

I told my woes to the local Dodge dealer. We are working on a deal on a 2012 near invoice. The new 6.4. The new 6.4 has MDS, gets great mileage and feels lighter than I thought. I ran out of time or I would have gone to the Chevy dealers too.
As I look at the Mustang II pic above. IIRC, the 5.0 was detuned to around 140HP due to the transmission and body not being able to handle any more power. That car did have a great front suspension which is sought after by many hot hodders today. At least that car was more American.