[OFFICIAL] Manual v. Automatic Thread

[Endgame]

^ Hmmmm. Had not thought about that.... Good point...

[salvador]

My father have an Infiniti G37s Coupe AT (the first Infiniti in Spain), and he will change it to get a 370z.

Before the G37s he had got a 350z MT (in Europe haven´t sold the AT), and he tought that G37 AT will be so much quicker and funny than it really is.

I have a 147 GTA with Selespeed gear box with paddle shifters and it is perfect, but it is not an AT, it is a manual gearbox without clutch pedal as Ferrari F1 gear box.

For first time in Europe Z will arrive with Automatic Transmission, do you know if it will be the same of the Infiniti AT? He wants pleasure at driving and the actual car he has is not a good toy.

Sorry for my bad English

Cheers!

[Crash]

Originally Posted by chubbs

OK - I'll say what he wanted to say - Automatics are for retards who can't drive.

^^^ LOL!

I saw the thread title and was VERY reluctant to open this thread. I've already explained my part hundreds of times about this subject. But somehow I still opened this thread.

This thread = can of worms.

[Crash]

Ever since the no phone laws took place in CA, the roads have FELT safer. I went to Florida for the AVN InterNext convention and let me just say, you don't even REALIZE how good the drivers are now in Cali until you go somewhere where the laws are different. Getting on the freeway at one point, we almost got hit by 3 cars in a row that had drivers that were on their phones not paying ANY attention to the lane they were merging into (our lane). This happened a good 80% of the time we were driving through FL.

Seriously, if you plan to be on your blackberry or fiddling on your phone while you drive, do me a favor and stay out of Los Angeles. We got crappy road conditions, small highways, garbage public transportation, and serious road rage already. That's more than enough for us to have to deal with without adding mindless texting drivers or people with phones glued to their faces.

BTW, it's fun heckling the sh!t out of people that still have their phones glued to the side of their heads while they drive. Believe me, it's like cow-tipping here. Some people are too cheap to get a hands free kit (even though almost ALL phones come with one).

Back on the subject, I prefer manuals because no automatic thinks like I do. 3 speeds are better autos in my opinion because they're so much more simpler. I don't like that Nissan's auto waits a while before up shifting if you've been on the gas, but if it didn't, you may have to wait for it to down shift again if you step on the gas. Personally, I think having 100% full control over everything in the car makes it more of an extension of you. If the AT was a DSC trans, I wouldn't have an issue with it. But it's really just a glorified planetary gear train with a 5 disc torque converter.

Manuals FTMFW!

[Crash]

Originally Posted by bossman

Wow stop saying the manual is so much better to drive.. the 7AT also has synchro rev match with an additional gear! by saying its so much more fun to drive just goes to show that you think you can read everyone's mind.. what the hell? maybe some people find the smoothness or relaxation of an automatic better.. plus the Z's has one of the best auto's out there and Nissan specifically tuned it to produce as much performance as possible. The G37 7AT runs better times that the manual. Now what?

You can "tune" a transmission? Having an extra gear doesn't really mean it's better if the ratios combined with the diff ratio evens out its performance compared to the manual.

People saying "The manual is better" is just their opinion. Don't get so defensive. And driving a manual doesn't mean that it's going to be any less smooth of a ride than the auto. That's all about driving habits. I've been on car rides in autos where I got nauseous because the driver couldn't do anything smooth.

[Endgame]

^ Most things controlled by a computer can be 'otimized'.

[Lug]

By changing certain parts on the valve body, you can get quicker shifts and make it handle more horsepower. an example of a valve body upgrade for the 350Z:
SGP Racing Upgraded Valve Body for the Nissan 350Z / G35
I can't find any hard info on actual shifting speeds but have "heard" they are improved.

[Crash]

Yeah. I know about all that. But in the end, you're not really tuning the trans. Tuning a motor doesn't make the block handle more horsepower.

Changing the springs to stronger stiffer springs in the AT also helps it handle more power. Adding planets to the planet carrier, putting in a bigger ring gear, and putting better clutch packs in ALSO make the trans stronger. But that's not tuning. That's upgrading. Increasing line pressure to the valve body doesn't necessarily increase the transmissions strength, but it does help get quicker shifts. A shift kit will generally do this. A good shift kit will usually come with upgraded springs to handle the increased stress.

[psteng19]

Nissan put an innovative feature like synchro-rev match in the manual which has gotten nothing but excellent reviews, and people are considering the auto?

[theDreamer]

Originally Posted by psteng19

Nissan put an innovative feature like synchro-rev match in the manual which has gotten nothing but excellent reviews, and people are considering the auto?

It is a very good point, and I have yet to get to test drive the auto still as I am waiting for one to arrive.
Though talking with some co-workers, who know more about cars than I may ever learn (is fine since I do computers), but we got into talking about how "I" will be driving and when. This car will be my daily driver, through about one or more hours of traffic (living in the suburbs sucks sometimes), and the traffic is pretty horrible (I live in Houston). I have gotten many good pluses & minuses from friends who know more about this, and reading the responses here has shown me a few things, of course it all comes down to me and what I want.

[Endgame]

Houston! Wow.. traffic sucks there man!! I DEFINATLEY know which I would get in Houston.

While I am still 95% getting the 7AT, if my wife does not mind me getting the MT, I would definately pick that up. That is primarily due to the fact that I plan to work from the home office more this year, or will be traveling. Thus, a 'daily driver' will not really be needed.

Again, either way, you can't go wrong. You are still in a Z!!!

[wellarmed]

Originally Posted by theDreamer

It is a very good point, and I have yet to get to test drive the auto still as I am waiting for one to arrive.
Though talking with some co-workers, who know more about cars than I may ever learn (is fine since I do computers), but we got into talking about how "I" will be driving and when. This car will be my daily driver, through about one or more hours of traffic (living in the suburbs sucks sometimes), and the traffic is pretty horrible (I live in Houston). I have gotten many good pluses & minuses from friends who know more about this, and reading the responses here has shown me a few things, of course it all comes down to me and what I want.

It's not a good point. The point he is making is that because the manual is for him, anybody who would want a auto must be stupid. "People are considering the auto??!!"

I'm sure he hasn't driven one so I'll bet he would be surprised to know that the auto also has downshift synchro-rev matching when using the paddles.

Until somebody puts the two head to head in a real world performance match, nobody here can say for sure whether that auto might just out perform the manual.

In fact in a drag race I'll put my money on the auto. Why would ANYBODY want to use a clutch?

[semtex]

Originally Posted by wellarmed

Why would ANYBODY want to use a clutch?

Because it's not all about speed. For some people, they'd gladly sacrifice a little speed for more fun, and they perceive MTs as being more fun. This whole thread is kinda silly, to give my honest opinion, because the answer to the question 'Which is better? MT or AT?' is entirely contingent on one's criteria for what makes something better, which makes it entirely subjective. If speed in a drag race is what you're after, AT may well be the way to go. If convenience is what you're after, AT is definitely the way to go. But if you enjoy doing your own shifting and enjoyment is what you're after, then MT makes more sense. Point being, the question that this thread poses has no objective answer one way or the other. Everyone should just figure out what his/her priorities are, and then get the one that best matches up with those priorities and be glad that (a) the Z is offered with both AT and MT (unlike the S2000, for ex.), and (b) both transmissions seem to be very good.

Edit: I forgot to add -- we should also be glad that (c) Nissan didn't decided to scrap both AT and MT and replace them with a CVT (like they did with the Maxima).

[LenZToy]

Originally Posted by Endgame

Houston! Wow.. traffic sucks there man!! I DEFINATLEY know which I would get in Houston.

While I am still 95% getting the 7AT, if my wife does not mind me getting the MT, I would definately pick that up. That is primarily due to the fact that I plan to work from the home office more this year, or will be traveling. Thus, a 'daily driver' will not really be needed.

Again, either way, you can't go wrong. You are still in a Z!!!

Amen brother! You said it all!

[Endgame]

Originally Posted by semtex

Because it's not all about speed. For some people, they'd gladly sacrifice a little speed for more fun, and they perceive MTs as being more fun. This whole thread is kinda silly, to give my honest opinion, because the answer to the question 'Which is better? MT or AT?' is entirely contingent on one's criteria for what makes something better, which makes it entirely subjective. If speed in a drag race is what you're after, AT may well be the way to go. If convenience is what you're after, AT is definitely the way to go. But if you enjoy doing your own shifting and enjoyment is what you're after, then MT makes more sense. Point being, the question that this thread poses has no objective answer one way or the other. Everyone should just figure out what his/her priorities are, and then get the one that best matches up with those priorities and be glad that (a) the Z is offered with both AT and MT (unlike the S2000, for ex.), and (b) both transmissions seem to be very good.

Edit: I forgot to add -- we should also be glad that (c) Nissan didn't decided to scrap both AT and MT and replace them with a CVT (like they did with the Maxima).

I second that.