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QUOTE (lagos @ Aug 17, 2009 - 3:36 PM) 
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Once you've owned one for a few months/years it becomes second nature and something that you dont even think about doing. Its as silly as someone saying they dont like automatics because they have to press the gas and the break from time to time.
Its also not about how fast a auto can shift through the gears vs a manual. Automatics generally add a lot more weight to the car, have more of a drive train loss and have totally different gearing. Go put your automatic on a dyno and compare it to the same car with a manual and you'll see what I mean.
you're absolutely right. i'm sure if i was born and raised driving a manual, i'd feel differently. i guess i'm just lazy. consciously or unconsciously, i'd rather not have to push a clutch pedal. i know shift speed isn't the only factor there but they certainly make it seem that way in the articles. i have yet to put my car on a dyno but it's nice to know that in a real-world race, it would take the manual z - as it should imo, i paid an extra grand for the upgrade. QUOTE (JoKeRkId613 @ Aug 17, 2009 - 2:52 AM)
>when i had my celica i thought the auto was great, till i drove a stick and i fell in love. i was determined to get my next car in stick. i chickened out and got an auto tc, supercharged it because i wasnt happy with it, then i was good for a while.
while i had the tc, my gf at the time had a stick corolla so i learned on that and loved it. i'd drive it for long periods of time but it would become very annoying. i'm sorry, maybe fort myers traffic isnt as bad as miami, but it sucks here. call me lazy. back in high school, i hated when the ricer boys with autos would say they dont get stick because of traffic. i thought it was a silly excuse (looking back, it still was because i doubt they had driven one)
then i moved on to my current car, 370z. i test drove the stick (6spd) and the manumatic (7spd). i spent a lot of time in both cars and found that i liked the auto more (really). a lot of people say the manual is more fun, and i get it. i have more fun in the auto. honestly, the feeling is very "manual" minus the clutch part. i know that sounds weird but the feeling, kick in your stomach, sound when shifting, is very manual. it's hard to explain. i find that i use manual mode 20% of the time and the other 80% im cruising in auto. i like the luxury and i guess the flexibility of being able to switch when i want. the paddles shift faster than a human can shift a manual (average people on the z forums swear they can shift faster than 500 milliseconds. i dunno about that... there have been a few articles and reviews showing the auto z running 0-60 .2 seconds faster (4.6 secs) than the manual and .3 secs faster in the 1/4.
anyway, my intentions arent to turn this in a transmission preference war, i just remembered the excitement of driving my first stick and just looking at how far autos have come technologically to the point where they're similar.
If you found a manual trans to be annoying than it just means that you only drove it a handful of times and never quite got good at it. while i had the tc, my gf at the time had a stick corolla so i learned on that and loved it. i'd drive it for long periods of time but it would become very annoying. i'm sorry, maybe fort myers traffic isnt as bad as miami, but it sucks here. call me lazy. back in high school, i hated when the ricer boys with autos would say they dont get stick because of traffic. i thought it was a silly excuse (looking back, it still was because i doubt they had driven one)
then i moved on to my current car, 370z. i test drove the stick (6spd) and the manumatic (7spd). i spent a lot of time in both cars and found that i liked the auto more (really). a lot of people say the manual is more fun, and i get it. i have more fun in the auto. honestly, the feeling is very "manual" minus the clutch part. i know that sounds weird but the feeling, kick in your stomach, sound when shifting, is very manual. it's hard to explain. i find that i use manual mode 20% of the time and the other 80% im cruising in auto. i like the luxury and i guess the flexibility of being able to switch when i want. the paddles shift faster than a human can shift a manual (average people on the z forums swear they can shift faster than 500 milliseconds. i dunno about that... there have been a few articles and reviews showing the auto z running 0-60 .2 seconds faster (4.6 secs) than the manual and .3 secs faster in the 1/4.
anyway, my intentions arent to turn this in a transmission preference war, i just remembered the excitement of driving my first stick and just looking at how far autos have come technologically to the point where they're similar.
Once you've owned one for a few months/years it becomes second nature and something that you dont even think about doing. Its as silly as someone saying they dont like automatics because they have to press the gas and the break from time to time.
Its also not about how fast a auto can shift through the gears vs a manual. Automatics generally add a lot more weight to the car, have more of a drive train loss and have totally different gearing. Go put your automatic on a dyno and compare it to the same car with a manual and you'll see what I mean.
I don't want to, but I have to. I taught myself how to drive it. I'm pretty good imo.
