WRX AUTO. vs STICK??!!

[VtecInside]

Hi all i'm new here and i'm a big fan of the Wrx.. I noticed some auto bashing on this website.. Can someone give me Pro's and Con's on a Auto WRX??? And some Pro's and Con's on stick Wrx.???? I think in theory a auto turboed car would manage a turbo better than a stick would ( for example Spooling ,, etc..).. ??!! What do you think ??
I have seen alot of turboed auto's kick ass at races..(Supras, 300zx)

Thanks for the help..

[Chris]

Autod cars can kick ass if they have more power. But on a road circuit, they need ALOT more power to win.

STICK:
Pro: LOTS OF FUN!!! Way more enjoyable than an auto.
Faster in a straight line (by .5 seconds to 60 in a decent car, 3 seconds for a PT cruiser)
Better gas mileage
WAY faster in the twisties (you can hold a gear, way more control)
Cheaper (to buy and repair)
Con: Not so much fun in a crowded city, but once you get used to it, its second nature


AUTO:
Pro: Easy to drive. Easy in city.
Con: More expensive (to buy and fix)
Not nearly as much fun as a stick
Worse gas mileage
Slower in a straight line and in the twisties.



About the spool time. with a stick, you can keep the revs up by selecting the right gear for the corner. This will keep the revs (and boost) up.

SO: GET THE STICK!!!

[DVSNCYNIKL]

For some of the same reasons that Chris said, I say go with the stick. It's more manageable in terms of shift points and maintaining higher rpm's for spooling.

[240S14GirL]

i agree with everything said.. the main thing i like about driving a manual is that it is fun of course.. but also, when you're racing, you have total control of what gear you are in and when you shift.

[Oz]

The other thing is, you actually have a lot more control of the car. Why buy auto? Is your iddy, biffy widdle left foot a bitty tender? Is your left hand weeaallly that pathetic. The difference is whether the automatic action is in your mind or the gearbox.

[Chris]

I got a car yesterday. It is an 89 Slopaz, with a stick. I paid $300 (really a good deal, it is in pretty good shape). I am using it to master a stick, and I had it in about 5 seconds. It is wayyyy more fun than any other car I have driven, because of the stick. I hope to get an MR2 SC soon, and guess what, its a stick

[LjasonL]

i have driven both auto and man wrxs and when it comes to either standstill starts and moving starts the manual is WAAAY faster. if all u were going to do is drag race, an automatic is better, just not the factory automatic. and automatic can shift faster than a person any day but for the automatic to be faster it needs a very high stall converter. look at the big v8s in the drag races, u now the really fast one running 7's and stuff they use almost exclusively automatics and the ones that have manuals wish they had autos. even if u dont like the hotrods u gotta admit theyve been tuning those things for like 50 or 60 years and with that experiance comes knowledge. even the fastest imports usually use autos, i remember an article on a supra in turbo magazine not long ago that had a supra that ran 9's on street tires, it had the 6 speed manual for street driving but when they went to the track they had a 2 speed auto they swapped in. however in a stock car the stock manual is almost always gonna be faster than the stock auto, and in the twisties a manual will be faster in nearly every car nearly every time. thats why i only buy manual transmission cars, thats the 1st thing i look at when i find a car i might wanna buy and if its auto i just walk away and forget it. and it does become second nature after a while i can now drive a man more gracefully than an auto (especially when i automatically try to hit the clutch in the auto and hit that damn wide brake pedal, did they make it that wide just to mess with manual drivers?)

[aek5513]

Sure ! manual is faster and more fun. When I drive my brother's 325, that's really exciting !! You can feel the power and control especially on the twisty mountain road.

BUT when I drive it in the city ......Oh !!
Besides, New WRX uses CVT auto transmission that is different thing than traditional auto transmission.

I've seen a test report of new Audi A4 with CVT and it just accelerate as fast as manual !! That's amazing !

New CVT transmission can reduce the shift time and makes no mistake. Even if you are a professional driver, the test report said, you may not be as quick as a CVT!

[Chris]

The WRX uses a regular automatic. Its true.

A CVT is faster than a stick if programmed right. It is like a snowmachine transmission, so if it is told to keep the engine at its power peak, it can keep it there exactly by adjusting the gear ratio constantly. But that would kill your engine, and a stick is still more fun

[aek5513]

really?? But on the brochure, it said WRX uses CVT with VTD !?

[MorrisCountyWRX]

i've owned an auto WRx for 6 months and...

yes it is slower off the line than a manual, but...

roll-on acceleration times are equal and the center diff in the automatic is a better unit. it applies a 60 rear/ 40 front split instead of 50/50, this gives more of a rear drive feel to the car. also the center diff uses computer controlled clutches instead of only viscous coupling. this means that it reacts faster (read - it doesn't have to wait for slip to occur before it re-directs torque). it takes signals from the transmission, throttle position sensor and determines the appropriate torque bias.


Plus - if you mod the car the auto makes up for any shortcomings it may have

[Chris]

Thats interesting about the changes to the diff. I'm going to get to the bottom of this! And roll-on acceleration would be slower with the auto, its just a law of mechanical nature.

VTD: Variable Torque Distribution?
CVT: Constantly Variable Torque?
I'll find that out for sure too

[Oz]

Who gives a flying something-or-other. You know what you really want, don't try to change your own mind by people's opinions on the internet who you don't even know! Just buy whatever you want and go from there. My preferance is for a manual for reasons as highlighted in my earlier post, but if it is for a daily commute in heavy traffic, I well understand that the choice of auto may be better.

[Oz]

<b>PS</b>

CVT = Constantly Variable Transmission. Just means infinate ratios instead of the 'step' system in traditional autos.

[Chris]

Originally posted by ozriceboy
<b>PS</b>

CVT = Constantly Variable Transmission. Just means infinate ratios instead of the 'step' system in traditional autos.

I know thats what cvt means. But the WRX doesn't have one, and if he heard CVT, I'm going to find out what they mean by it.