Auto or Stick?
02-19-2004, 12:17 PM
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
Auto or Stick?
Hi all. Has anyone else noticed on some of the other forums the big debate over auto vs. stick? Some claim that a true sports car must be stick. I disagree with that line of thought. I consider myself to be a purist and think that any after market add on's including a non factory air filter to be taboo. Who's to say what's right and what's wrong. What do others think? 
02-19-2004, 01:18 PM
#2
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Gerber, CA
Posts: 3,672
IMHO....A sports car should have a manual transmission. There is nothing sporty about an automatic. After-market add-ons do not determine whether or not somehting is a sportscar. Driving an automatic is a no-brainer. If you're on a winding mountain road, a manual tranny is far more exhilarating than an auto. IMO.
02-19-2004, 07:08 PM
#3
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Posts: 229
I must agree with 91zxtt autos suck. They take no thought or skill to drive. I won't even own an auto but thats me. I think that sports cars should have manuals because they are made to be fun, fast, and a level above everything else. Autos just don't cut it. Plus (this is me) I find autos boring. If I had an auto I would probably fall asleep behind the wheel there is nothing to do. And Tiptronics don't make autos any better wow you can choose what gear to be in but it's not faster and it doesn't take any more skill. Plus why would you get a Z with an auto? Zs are made to perform and autos take away from that meaning.
02-20-2004, 05:32 AM
#5
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Posts: 229
Even if i lived in D.C. I would still have a stick. I have driven sticks in alot of traffic jams in Nashville and I don't think its that bad. Also on the drop top thing. A true sports car would not come with a drop top (drop tops=roadster) plus that kills body rigidity (handling isn't as good). And not all of the original sports cars had drop tops some were completely open cockpits others were hard tops and some were convertibles
02-20-2004, 06:32 AM
#6
Guest
Posts: n/a
This is what I was getting at about right or wrong.You mentioned about the various car tops ( there wasn't a set code on everything ). Auto trans wasn't in the tech. market until about the '50's; if introduced eariler --who knows, some makers might have started out with an auto. As for drving in traffic----the D.C. area is on the nation's top 10 worst traffic congestions list, Tenn. dosen't appear on the list at all--that's a good thing for Tenn. But day after day of bumper to bumper traffic is hard on a clutch ( by the way, I have owned several ) and a person at times. For some of us, a wide open, winding road is not normally around, but we still like sports cars. 
02-20-2004, 07:34 AM
#7
confuzed member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Salinas, CA
Posts: 3,074
I think a sports car is a car that's meant for sport. Wheter it's auto, stick, a convertible, a hard top....all of this doesn't change whether a car performs or not on the track and off. Yes, some of those things may effect HOW they perform, so maybe a stick is more desirable as is a hard top. However, this doesn't make it a sports car of not. I think most would have a hard time saying a convertible ferarri w/ an auto is not a sports car.
02-20-2004, 08:46 AM
#9
Guest
Posts: n/a
Auto was designed so the driver would have less work to do. If you have a car that's your daily drive than you're not using it as a sports car, now are you?
Stick is more power to the driver, you do as you want. Though I believe that there is a certain level of power that a stick is no longer needed to "pull out the extra juice" and with the computer advacements in the cars chips today, auto is fine. For example, if you have 500+hp, you don't need to pull everything you can out of your car, it's got enough as is.
Though, once you go stick, you don't ever go back
Tis too much fun.
Stick is more power to the driver, you do as you want. Though I believe that there is a certain level of power that a stick is no longer needed to "pull out the extra juice" and with the computer advacements in the cars chips today, auto is fine. For example, if you have 500+hp, you don't need to pull everything you can out of your car, it's got enough as is.
Though, once you go stick, you don't ever go back
Tis too much fun.
02-20-2004, 08:57 AM
#10
Guest
Posts: n/a
My daily drive is just that--daily. So that's my sports car drive also. Sticks are cool---but an auto has it's place also. For me, I would love the idea of having 2 cars--one stick and one auto. But at 46 and driving in heavy traffic alot and can only afford one, auto is the way to go!
02-20-2004, 09:21 AM
#11
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Gerber, CA
Posts: 3,672
I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area/San Jose Area for 25 years. Don't whine about burning a clutch in traffic. I'm sure we were on that top 10 list. If not, then we were close. For 3 years, I spent 2 hours on the road Monday - Friday to go 40 miles. I've got over 100k on my clutch now without any problems. It is my daily driver, and has been for 4 years. I'm not exactly easy on my clutch, but I know how to make one last. Fact is, I've never worn out a clutch. If you know how to operate a manual tranny properly, then you shouldn't have a problem with it. If you slip the clutch like your grandma would, then you'll have problems. As James said, automatics are boring. They should be used in trucks. That is the only thing I would own with an auto tranny. Yes, you can still have a sports car with an auto tranny, but it's just not quite the same. It has no soul. A manual tranny will outlast and outperform an automatic 24/7/365. With a manual you don't need to wait for a 2 gear kick-down to pass someone with authority at freeway speed, even if you have 500 HP. FYI, the factory Nissan auto tranny will not handle 500 HP. The manual tranny will quite easily. Can anyone tell me why BMW doesn't offer an automatic in their M cars anymore?? Has a lot to do with what James and I have mentioned above. I don't recall hearing about Dale Earnhardt, Michael Schumacher, AJ Foyt or Colin McRae ever winning a championship with an automatic. Here's a picture of your auto tranny flex plate looks like in your Z when you have too much juice.....It's the one on the right in case you were wondering.
02-20-2004, 09:34 AM
#12
Guest
Posts: n/a
If you don't try to out think Nissan's engineers, the car will preform as expected---keep tinkering with it and it'll be a mechanic's dream. Also if sticks are the defacto for sports cars--why not make yours a rag-top, and have the total "true" sports car?
02-20-2004, 10:07 AM
#14
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Gerber, CA
Posts: 3,672
Originally posted by Dante
Also if sticks are the defacto for sports cars--why not make yours a rag-top, and have the total "true" sports car?
Also if sticks are the defacto for sports cars--why not make yours a rag-top, and have the total "true" sports car?
02-20-2004, 10:18 AM
#15
Guest
Posts: n/a
That's cool red-iyi. If we only centered on one aspect of sports cars, this site would be just a power tech. spec. sheet. 91zxtt, I personally do not like drop tops ( due to being in a roll over years ago ), however they are one of the images that alot of people see when the topic of a sports car is is brought up, maybe due to ads and movies over the decades. 
Last edited by Dante; 02-20-2004 at 10:22 AM.
02-20-2004, 11:58 AM
#17
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Posts: 229
I thought drop tops were marketed as roadsters? Isn't that why their is a 350Z coupe and then the roadster version. And then the S2000 and Z4s are marketed as roadsters. Yes, I know that a roadster falls under the Sport Car arena but it is a segment in the sports car area not an all out sports car. And another thing is you say you burn out clutches in heavy traffic well Autos fail too and its not as cheap to fix (in fact its better to buy a whole new tranny) an auto nor is it nearly as easy. And of course with the mentioning of auto repair and maintance costs they are more prone to problems.
I mean come on driving an auto takes no skill and as 91zxtt said noone who really knows how to drive i.e. F1 drivers, nascar, WRC, and all those fun leagues use autos all of them have manual transmissions. Autos suck their is no other word to describe them. Dante you say Nashville isn't bad well Atlanta is.
yeah 91zxtt sunroofs or t-tops you have to have the rigidity. And rolls suck and supossedly its not to hard to get a 350Z to roll (man that would suck in a roadster).
I mean come on driving an auto takes no skill and as 91zxtt said noone who really knows how to drive i.e. F1 drivers, nascar, WRC, and all those fun leagues use autos all of them have manual transmissions. Autos suck their is no other word to describe them. Dante you say Nashville isn't bad well Atlanta is.
yeah 91zxtt sunroofs or t-tops you have to have the rigidity. And rolls suck and supossedly its not to hard to get a 350Z to roll (man that would suck in a roadster).
02-20-2004, 12:07 PM
#18
confuzed member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Salinas, CA
Posts: 3,074
Personally, I own a 5 spd Z and wouldn't want an auto. But this is from personal experience....at the races, one guy with an auto TT and one with a SOUPED up NA (nitrous and every bolt on imginable). THe guy with the NA had his clutch slipping like mad and had to retreat early, he had an aftermarket clutch by the way (JWT). The guy eith the auto won a trophy for fastest E.T. The point is, yes, I like sticks better, but expense is about even and all depends on situations. In the racing situation, auto's are expensive to replace or rebuild and they need it at least once. But manual tranny owners go throgh clutches and synchros. The price about evens out. Most TT Zs will go through a clutch every 70K mi (there are exceptions thoguh....both ways). Also, a roadster is classified as a sports car. The point is, I believe that a stick is the way to go, others think an auto is. It does take skill to turn an auto into an advantage over a bad driver as well (i.e., tourque building, point shifting, etc.).
02-20-2004, 05:16 PM
#21
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Posts: 229
Oh and on the D.C. bit. When my Z was originally ordered by my grandfather he lived in D.C. the car drove in D.C. traffic until 1992 when my dad bought it from my grandfather (7 speeding tickets or something like that and he didn't even want to spend the money on insurance anymore). So I don't see the issue with the auto in traffic problems. I would rather have my manual anytime no matter what the driving conditions were. My grandfather didn't mind the D.C. traffic that much (and he drove it alot in that traffic) and I would still buy a stick if I did live in a metropolitan area. And I don't have problems with a manual in bad traffic i.e. Atlanta and Nashville can be really bad sometimes. I would still rather have the stick (it could almost be a workout lol).
Last edited by JAMESZ; 02-20-2004 at 09:51 PM.
02-21-2004, 12:48 PM
#22
Guest
Posts: n/a
Lets not forget that the Z33 auto has a manuel mode to control the 5 spd auto trans. You can have your cake and eat up those fords too. F1 cars have played with auto trans also ,does pushing a up or down button make them not as cool. No one can shift as fast as an auto trans. There is also the torque build up alowed by the torque converter. You turbo guys know this helps the car go better on the down shift by letting the turbo spool up more boost.
02-21-2004, 01:07 PM
#23
Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Posts: 229
HAHAHA! Tiptronics are no better than straight up autos wow you can select which gear your in now thats a no brainer it still takes the tranny as long to shift as if you aren't in your "maunal" mode the only thing is you can tell it when to shift. And paddle shifts and SMGs well maybe you need to learn how they operate (there is still a clutch) you can just hit a pad and the computer engages the clutch and you have to use the paddles because usually there isn't a no brainer let some computer do the work automatic. Paddle Shifts are the best but where do you get that autos are the best. Auotmatics weigh more are not as efficient and they are more fragile. Manuals are much better.
