5spd Man Vs 6sp Man Vs Auto

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I know this has already been done to death, but have any of you manual stooges actually thrown an auto through the twisty bits?

I have. But I resent being grouped (called) a stooge because I prefer manuals.

Sorry if I hurt your feelings, I didn’t realise you took everything in life so seriously. But looking at this argument every time it comes up there is minimal reasoning; I’m just trying to achieve that.

I resent being referred to as inferior because I prefer Autos, and you cannot deny that you have implied such a thing countless times over.

I’m not talking a dealer test drive around suburban streets but actually through mountainous twisty bits???

Yes again. Real nice mountain drive at my back door.

And…your impressions were? Did you learn to drive with the auto or just have a little hissy fit because it didn’t respond with instant precession?

The SSS box in manual mode provides a lot more torque lock and engine braking than previous autos,

Not really, only marginal and still not to the same degree as a manual.

Not the same as a manual - no sh!t, I was commenting that it is a better box then previous ones. I.e. the AU auto is archaic in so many ways compared to the BA tranny. Is that your way of winning an argument? By distorting my comments?

with the added bonus of not loosing boost or power to the wheels between upshifts.

Except that the upshifts are painfully slow - it takes the box a few days to think about what you've just asked it to do before it actually carries it out. Downshifts are even worse.

Try changing gears mid way through a corner in a powerslide with a manual transmission and you’ll understand what I mean.  And then do the same in an auto and try and wipe the grin off your face. 

Well I've done that in a manual plenty of times - very hard to do it in an auto and not lose the balance of the slide/drift because you never quite know when the gerashift will occur - if you don't judge the delay perfectly you'll be in the scenery while the manual drives through without a problem.

Learn to drive around it. It’s not that hard to keep in mind that you have to flick the lever one second earlier than you normally would. And you sidestepped the part about losing boost, can you not agree that an auto will accelerate harder coming out of a corner?

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OH MY GOD!!

YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE FINESSE OF DRIVING A MANUAL?? 

Now who the hell is going to drive Co-Pilot to bathurst     

shazzy - manual all the way!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's OK Shazz, I can lower myself to driving a manual if the need arises

And I know that you’re only taking the p!ss but you raised a valid point, if you can’t understand and appreciate how to drive a manual then you have no hope in driving an auto in manual mode, as it requires better foresight and understanding than just pressing the third pedal and flicking the stick.

It just p!sses me off that people go around sprouting their so-called knowledge of all things, when they probably haven’t even given the alternatives a proper go in the first place.

Ultimately it’s your choice – I’m just trying to remove some of the arrogant bias that’s all!

[Bain]

I know this has already been done to death, but have any of you manual stooges actually thrown an auto through the twisty bits? I’m not talking a dealer test drive around suburban streets but actually through mountainous twisty bits???

Yes I have. Great Ocean Road. Over 100km’s of tight and twisty sweeping bends.

Don’t get me wrong I do honestly feel that the manual would be better on the track, but how much of a normal T’s life is actually spent on the track?

Not everything is a straight line 400 metre drag. Myself and my mates regularly go out on hills runs. I bought my car for fun, not as a point A to point B car (hence manual)

The SSS box in manual mode provides a lot more torque lock and engine braking than previous autos, with the added bonus of not loosing boost or power to the wheels between upshifts. Try changing gears mid way through a corner in a powerslide with a manual transmission and you’ll understand what I mean. And then do the same in an auto and try and wipe the grin off your face.

If you think an auto’s engine breaking is anywhere near as good as a manual it just shows you haven’t driven manuals through twisties that often. The whole point of the manual is to allow you to get into a corner faster and allowing your engine to do most of the braking through the corner. Then accelerating out of said corner at the apex. You need to use a lot more brakes on an auto to achieve this.

If you are in the market for a new T (or any other BA for that matter) do not be blinded by the hysteria, get your butt in an auto, get used to the manual mode, take it for a real drive and decide for yourself. If you’re willing to sacrifice minimal drivability for the miniscule amount of time you’re likely to spend on the track, then go for the auto without a doubt.

With that being said. Ill add,

- If you like being lazy and don’t really want to ‘drive’ your car. Get an Auto

- If you just want it to go from A to B and have a few traffic light GP’s. Get an Auto

- If you do a lot of inner city and peak hour driving. Get an Auto

- If you don’t understand the true concept of a manual car. Get an Auto

Be warned though, if you like doing lots of hill runs, you will find your auto box will overheat, slip and generally stuff up. And if anyone thinks im wrong, im happy to take anyone in Melbourne for a few hill runs (and have them keep up) and we will see which box is running ok by the end of it.

One other thing. No matter how much you SSS Auto fans think your car is a manual.. It isnt. Its a glorified Automatic transmission.

Edited 22/09/05 12:04 AM by Bain

[jetute]

tabbie tabbie tabbie...

good comments... however I cannot agree that the auto will accelrate faster out of the corner it just wont... that's why the manual is faster on the roll

stand still... you will smash me every time

[gogo]

oh dear...

I wonder whether the people that started this thread are still reading...

Nice to see so many people so passionate about their cars!!!

Guys (and girl) - at the end of the day all XR6T's are relatively quick!!!

I think for all the relative merits of both types of transmissions, it really comes down to which is going to make each of us happier with the car we drive! There is no hard or fast correct answer for a street car.

Is the following a fair summary to date?

- An auto will accelerate better of the line

- A manual will produce more power at the wheels

- A manual provides direct driver control, with no interference from the ECU, manual mode in the automatic allows the driver to direct the ECU to change, but the ECU actually controls the gear change and will only do so within its prescribed operating boundaries - generally if the driver knows the car this will occur immediately after the driver shifts

- A manual will come off boost when changing up, an auto will not

- A manual will provide better engine braking coming into a corner, but the deference between the transmissions is less than it was with earlier generations of autos - at also sounds like the new 6 speed auto will be better again

- An auto 'uses' some power which results in rejected heat, dependant on power, auto mods and cooling this can result in over heating of the transmission under sustained load, which in turn can lead to a deterioration of performance and possible damage

- The T5 manual box in particular will be exposed modifying the car to produce additional power

- All of the boxes or clutches will require some level of modification or replacement if you want to produce much more than standard power (although edit can now provide higher line pressures in the auto - this will not help with cooling)

If you wanted the car to race and all other things being equal...

Auto should win on the drag strip

Manual should win on the track

what else can I say except GO XR6T's

Cheers,

Ben

[ms700]

This topic started well, then people started picking apart posts.

If this topic is kept open, I can see a lot more people getting peeved mighty quick.

So ill do some of these one's before anyone gets their nose out of joint any further.

It seems that the majority of auto v manual threads end like this, isn't it? Shame some people need to force their opinion upon others.....