2018 Ford Mustang GT 10-Speed Transmission Improves Fuel Economy

We learned earlier this year that the 2018 Ford Mustang GT would get an increase in power and the new 10-speed automatic transmission, in addition to an exterior refresh and new interior technology. We knew that the added power and the new 10-speed gearbox would improve performance, allowing the 2018 Mustang GT to dash from 0-60 in less than 4 seconds, but it was expected that the new transmission would offer improved fuel economy over the current Mustang GT with the 6-speed automatic transmission.

Fortunately, the folks at Mustang6g.com got ahold of a window sticker for a 2018 Mustang GT with the new 10-speed transmission and fuel economy do improve – but not by as much as some had expected.

2018 Ford Mustang GT Fuel Economy
According to the information posted on Mustang6g, the 2018 Ford Mustang GT with the 5.0L V8 and the 10-speed automatic transmission will yield fuel economy numbers of 16mpg in the city, 25mpg on the highway and 19mpg combined. For comparison, the 2017 Mustang GT with the 6-speed automatic offers 15mpg in the city, 25mpg on the highway and 18mpg combined, so the 10-speed transmission helps the 2018 Mustang GT to go 1 miles further on a gallon of gas in the city and overall.

Now, I should point out that few people who buy a new Ford Mustang GT are going to be all that concerned with fuel economy, but for a car like this, getting slightly better range is a nice little upside to all of the rest of the key features of the vehicle. Most people will buy it for the sleek exterior design, the increase of 25 horsepower and 20lb-ft of torque increase of the car’s ability to blast to 60 in less than 4 seconds, but those folks will also enjoy getting slightly better fuel economy as well.

Honestly, I would have expected the new Mustang GT with the 10-speed automatic to get even better fuel economy, especially on the highway. In most cases, these modern transmissions with far more gears reduces engine RPM when cruising on the highway, which in turn improves fuel economy, but oddly, the 2018 Mustang GT with the 10-speed gets the same highway numbers as the 2017 Mustang GT with the 6-speed auto. I suspect that in the real world, owners will find those EPA highway numbers to be a bit conservative – but that stands to be proven.

In any case, the 2018 Ford Mustang GT with the 10-speed automatic transmission will move out from a stop to 60 miles per hour in less than 4 seconds, but it is also more fuel efficient than the outgoing version.