[OFFICIAL] Manual v. Automatic Thread

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Originally Posted by Redglare

My only gripes with automatic in the 370 is that
A. Technically not serviceable according to service manual (i.e. throw away part)

That's true of a lot of things on the 370 and other modern cars, unfortunately. Same is true for the VVEL heads on our engine. They're not considered repairable at the dealership; any small problem and you just buy new ones and stick them on.

B. Automatics are evolving so fast the current one will be considered old tech soon.

Again, true of everything lately in the car world. But the 7AT is by far one of the best true autos (as in, torque-convertor, etc) around. On a lot of other modern cars the automatic isn't really track-worthy at all, whereas the 370Z's 7AT is pretty awesome on the track. I've lost count of how many times a rider or instructor has jumped in my car and done some variation of "An auto??.. " followed by "This thing is awesome " a couple laps into it.

C. Anyone can drive it

Kind of elitist? But no, not anyone can drive anything.

D. Can't take the power that a manual with an upgraded clutch can.

This car doesn't really need much more power than it comes with or that the 7AT can handle; the rest is only really useful for bragging rights and drag-racing, IMHO. With bolt-ons the car's power is a very good match for the rest of the car. Maybe a 15% bump to ~350-ish on a conservative dyno would be nice, if there were an easy way to obtain that. But still, even in the low 300's on a conservative dyno, this car will easily go into an oversteer slide in any gear, even with very sticky tires.

Also, like your clutch (and CSC), the 7AT is upgradeable. It does cost a bit more to upgrade, though, and the options are more-limited.

E. More expensive
F. For me; not nearly as fun as a manual. If the 370 is ur DD beater then AT makes sense, otherwise a waste.

I can see the auto as being useful in a very traffic jam prone city, but if you live anywhere with open roads/ low traffic it's a waste.

You may have a point there. This is me poking along in a city traffic jam in my 7AT a week ago in my DD beater: