6MT vs 7AT and the Track/Auto X

blinkme323

That pretty much sums it up right there.

kannibul

That's Car and Driver. My experience differs.

It won't jump gears, except from 7th to 5th, when bumping the paddles or kicking the stick over from D. Otherwise, it is sequential, but still quick. Certainly not F1...

shabarivas

Come on ... the Zs A7 is good - have you ever driven a real modern day sequential? There is a HUGE difference - stop fooling your self about it... but if it helps you feel better then w/e

earwicker7

Hmm... I'll have to pay more attention, but that's not really the feeling that I get; it seems pretty seemless to me.

As someone who has driven both manuals and automatics, I think there is a little bit of "Back in my day we walked five miles to school!" style thinking when it comes to glorifying manual transmissions. Does anyone really think manuals will even be an available option twenty years from now? Five years ago I would have been in total agreement with most of you, but it seems like we are at the point where automatics are catching up to and possibly surpassing manuals.

370Zsteve

Great post. I take the opposite tack with the lifecycle of manuals, though. In twenty years I think a stick and a clutch pedal will be an option, just as it is today. In Europe they still scoff at AT's unless it's on an F1 car, then of course it's ok.

In the US, the AT rules since the US is so auto-centric for commuting as opposed to EuroAsia which is public-transport-centric for commuting. In the US, the rush-hour traffic jam is a fact of life that begs an AT. In Europe it's like 'ok it's Saturday let's take the Carrera out for the day'.

The Manual Transmission/Clutch Shall Endure. I hereby decree it.

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Endgame

I did try that when I was test driving on Monday and, at least in the one I drove, the same occured; the shift did stall some. The plus side is that the stall was not bad as other Sport ATs can take that long to shift period!

But, this would affect track/autocross overall performance.

awesomez

You can never have this discussion on an internet forum. Manual people love the manual and simply hate automatic. Automatic people love automatic and hate manual. As someone who loves both, given the choice I would drive a manual on track but since I drive my car 90% on road I bought automatic. In my opinion, auto will beat manual but you won't see it happen for two different reasons. People who bought automatic don't care that much about driving it on the track. People who can drive on the track very well won't know how to drive the automatic very well.

Also, I bet you that manual transmission will overheat engine oil and hit the limp mode a lot sooner than automatic will overheat.

Endgame

I disagree Awesomez... The AT's engine oil should overheat at the exact same rate. And as an earlier post indicated, I am sure an aftermarket Tranny cooler would be needed. Some of the RX8 guys that track their 6AT have all had to do this..

Lug

The Auto has been faster straight line so far. The manual will have an advantage when you have to downshift more than one gear at a time. I conclude that the tighter the track, the more it will favor the manual, but at what point they cross only time will tell.

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Red370

well gentlemen, theres only one way to find out, lets head to Buttonwillow and put down some times shall we?

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shabarivas

^ no that does not really work unless the same driver is driving both cars... which is why I say.. lets throw em on a dyno... and see how much delay there is before the TQ picks up for the A7 vs the M6

Lug

Throwing them on a dyno is no different that running them at the strip. It doesn't address the issue of downshifting speeds in the Auto. The Auto has been the fastest at the strip so far but more runs are needed. The MT should make up ground tracking the car.

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j.arnaldo

Does anyone here know the torque difference in the 370's AT vs. MT? In the 350 it's 260ft/lbs for the MT, vs. 274ft/lbs for the AT. Would that make a significant difference?!

shabarivas

You do not understand what I am saying... I am saying... If we want to EXPERIMENTALLY determine which one shifts faster all we have to do is the following:

Same Dyno same day...

1. Graph a MT 370z shifting from 1->2 etc etc... 4->5 when looking at the power / tq graphs - we can see a power over time plot which will show us how long the power drops for between shifts... this tells us how fast our "competent" MT driver shifts

2. Do the same w/ an Auto Z and compare the times taken

3. Profit?

EDIT: this is to see who can upshift quicker - I dont want to get started on the downshifting as obviously the 6mt has an advantage anytime you want to skip a gear

shabarivas

Yep - thats what I was referring to - Guess that explains the confusion. There is no doubt that a real "sequential" is better than both our Autos and Manuals... but I misunderstood when you said sequential - I didnt realize you meant just shifting through the gears.