Wierd what dealerships got what....

[MikeMach1]

I went to Loman Ford in Woodbridge,NJ last Friday where there are lots of surrounding highways - great for manual drivers. Funny thing is they had 2 automatics and no manuals on the lot.
the Saleperson I was talking to complained that people where turned off that they where not manuals.

Today, I went to a nearby Ford dealership (Island Ford) here in Staten Island, NY. Here on Staten Island there is way too much traffic and every single corner has a red light - horrible and annoying for manual drivers, even my friends who swear on them hate driving them on this island. Island Ford only got two manuals on the lot and no automatics, the dealer didn't even know that a automatic is an option. Today the saleperson was complained that people are turned off because they are not automatics. (I loved the Torch Red :D)

These two dealerships should swap the cars, I was told the sales guy in Island Ford that it was funny because Loman can't get rid of theirs cause they only have automatics and people there are looking for manuals, and they have manuals and no one wants a manual here in SI.

[mufftang66]

and all the dealerships around here have no machs at all... while dealers in some areas have a huge surplus.

[rsnider]

DO NOT CONSIDER 1/4 MILE TIMES WHEN DECIDING WHAT TRANSMISSION TO GET! For the 1% of the time you are at the drag strip or showing off on the street its not worth sacrificing the other 99% of the time. If you drive in heavy traffic get an auto, if not get the stick if you have the notion.

In Arizona we've found that with STOCK Mach 1's... the automatics are outrunning the sticks in the 1/4 mi anyway. Settle down class... we don't need 50 nasty responses in this thread. A professional driver, that has tons of seat time at the drags can get better numbers with a stick. The posts and their enclosed time slips prove that. But for the rest of us, its so much easier to launch an automatic that I've seen no clear advantage to either transmission.

Bottom line, if you like sticks, get one. If you want an automatic, get one, it really doesn't matter. I agonized over this decission for the entire 8 months that I waited for my mach to be delivered. Now I am completely satisified with the automatic and don't feel I gave up any performance by doing so.

Buy it, drive it, enjoy it. They are all beautiful cars.

[wdwrdcrzr]

you can do huge burnouts with the auto's

[2003_shaker]

I like the stick for a higher level of "participation in acceleration". . . Downshifting is also a kick, especially with my Magnaflow exhaust.

Both my cars are manuals and I'm so used to it, even in Chicago traffic, that I'd never go with anything else in a performance-oriented car (unless it's a BMW w/SMG, or Ferrari with F1 gearbox). I've been turned off by some models simply because a manual isn't available.