Why The 2018 Ford Mustang GT Automatic Is So Much Quicker Than The Manual

Testing (and computing) to determine a definitive drag-race winner.

It used to be that if you wanted the quicker version of a car, you’d order the one with three pedals and a row-your-own manual transmission. Today, however, it’s not unusual for the exact same car to be slightly quicker with an automatic or automated-manual transmission. Modern automatics’ torque converters tend to lock-up sooner than their “slush box” forebears, and shifts are getting very quick. Automated double-clutch transmissions especially shine for their directness, smoothness, and near-instantaneous shifts ... read more