modifying an automatic...

Jordo!

On that note, for me, the greatest evidence of a change in attitudes that match the change in tech: The BBC Top Gear lads NEVER complain about "flappy paddle" gear boxes anymore, which they used to do almost without fail.

In fact, they are more likely to praise them if they even mention it -- there are virtually no more high end cars that even offer a traditional 3 pedal set-up anymore.

In any case, although our AT is technically a fluid coupling trans, it has full lock up (i.e., a solid, mechanical link from engine to gearbox) in gears 2 - 7.

Moreover, the gearing ratios are very good, very close, and similar to those for MT, although needing an extra gear to achieve it. Additionally, as it turns out, in 0-60 runs (stock), the AT is typically found to be about .1 sec faster than the MT.

Finally, I have seen no clear evidence of any extra drivetrain loss either; it seems to make just as much power as the MT from various mods. The only major caveat would be that gears 5 and up tend to be prone to failure with the substantially higher increased torque and heat produced from a boosted motor.

I have no idea if failures on OEM clutch are more or less likely at significantly higher levels of torque, but I know that clutch failures (CSC) even without mods are common on the MT, so you probably break about even there.

So basically, personal preferences aside, both perform very well (as well as have their own unique set of drawbacks), and are both are appropriate for a sports car.

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Apoc370z

Here we go again, the same MT vs AT ********.

Your car, mod it how you want. no one is gonna laugh at you for driving an AT no one will laugh at you if you mod it correctly. And when i say correctly i mean no lambo doors, no fart cannons, no stupid LEDs, no stupid camber settings, no random stickers/decals.

And definitely no putting the car on neutral on a stop light and pretends to be driving a stick.

JWillis72

My tune isn't locked but I don't have a UpRev cable to look at it. I will ask my tuner if he will send me it. We only tuned shifts above 4500 so on driving around town you cant tell. I have to imagine your stage 4 shift harder than my stock transmission tuned.

kenchan

wstar

Actually, I've just recently been staring at all the related numbers, and the ratios are quite different between the two:

7AT: 4.924, 3.194, 2.043, 1.412, 1.000, 0.862, 0.772 w/ 3.357 final drive
6MT: 3.794, 2.324, 1.624, 1.271, 1.000, 0.794 w/ 3.692 final drive

If you go ahead and multiply out for the final drive difference, you can see that the 7AT has a wider range on both ends; the low gears are even lower than the 6MT, and the high gears are higher:

7AT: 16.530, 10.722, 6.858, 4.740, 3.357, 2.894, 2.592
6MT: 14.007, 8.580, 5.996, 4.693, 3.692, 2.931

However, the percentage change in ratios between successive gears looks like this:

7AT: 35.1% -> 36.0% -> 30.9% -> 29.2% -> 13.8% -> 10.4%
6MT: 38.7% -> 30.1% -> 21.7% -> 21.3% -> 20.6%

Which means the 6MT has narrower gearing in the middle gears that you care most about (3->4->5), which keeps you in the powerband easier. The 7AT has wider gears at the bottom/middle, but then significantly narrower way out at the top (which is useless for anything but high-mpg cruising, unless you drop in a very very different final drive gear).

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wstar

It's good for your brakes no matter what transmission you have; if the pads are hot, you don't want to bake them into the rotors in one spot clamping them down at a dead stop.

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Z eliminator

In 5th it hits the speed limiter 155 mph 7 AT.

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Zbrah

I have an auto for my weekend car, it only gets driven when I need to haul the preggo gf around

JWillis72

My 7AT is spending this weekend running at Sebring running the 12 hour course close to the limit of it's torque so we will see what it can take. Fingers crossed!

wstar

I hope you have a trans cooler installed!

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Magic Bus

Dunno why all this hate about trannys. After all aren't tranny's people too

b15

It's been awhile since we've had another At vs Mt thread.

AT guys love claiming its faster and MTs are dinosaurs. MT guys love saying they're more in control and manly.

Who's going to compare the 370z AT shifting to a real DCT? Haven't seen that yet...omgitsofast

b15

Sure it has a manual mode but, to me, It's not the same driving experience. I extensively test drove both and bought the MT because I found it more enjoyable. Guess I'm a dinosaur! Still wouldn't change a thing if I had to do it over again tomorrow.

Wonka2581

And what is wrong with modding or buying a 7AT?? I have a 7AT and love it! I have had plenty of MT cars, and by far this car is extremely fun in the 7AT version. I took it over the 6MT at the dealer. if you have not tryed out a 7AT go and test drive one, you will be second guessing your self on that 6MT you got!

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Wonka2581

Dude you really need to drive the new 7AT in the 370z. its amazing, now thats only in the 370z/G37 the 350z/g35 auto trannys are junk...

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