a few things...i have a heavily built automatic transmission (727)...

in the muscle car era, the manual transmissions were brutal, as ive learned from speaking to several 833 owners. the throw was long, and it is my understand that due to the archaic setup of the internals, they were hard to REALLY powershift. however, modern manual transmissions are far more smooth...more precisely engineered, shorter throws, etc...this allows for better hard shifting and power shifting, so there is less issue with having to jam the trans into gear, as i understand is a problem with the 833 when shifting it hard. the reason that an automatic looses in acceleration, is because an automatic trans car puts less power to the wheels due to the added stress put on the engine by having to turn the increased internal weight of a fluid driven transmission...so there is only so much that you can do to make an auto trans better. the ligher internals of a manual trans yield more whp, so the mtx cars end up being faster when well driven...however, unless the late ronnie sox (RIP) is driving, its hard for an 833 to out perform something like my built 727...but that only applies to old manual trans...that is why there was so much development by race teams like the ramchargers crew to find a way to make an autotrans better for classes like SS/AA.

the case is very different for new transmissions..manual trans (on performance cars) are made much better, and even the best auto trans in the world is still going to cost some power...

is it a crime to buy an auto trans? i say no, but at the same time, i feel that pure performance cars like the viper (and srt10 ram) should not be sold as automatics...the ability to drive a manual trans is a fleeting skill, and i feel that high performance cars should come with an mtx as a sort of right of passage...for a car like a mustang even, with the modern auto trans, the mtx models are still faster...the case is much more severe for weaker cars, such as my stratus...the added weight of the auto trans on the engine REALLY slows it down, and it bothers me at least once a week that i bought the autostick, but i had an ailment that didnt afford me the option of a manual trans at the time.

i did not go with the 833 trans for the demon because of the brutal nature of them, plus i have lots of parts for 727s laying around...and the 833 is an expensive conversion...however, should we get the evo or the challenger in a year or so, it will be a manual so long as its offered.

another thing, in working as a tech, and as a valet, i have found that fords clutches, especially in the rangers, are among the worst....