Automatic is the way to go no matter what.I know I'm gonna take some ribbing over this plus being a newbie to the website does not help but having bracket raced for years with mustangs and camaros I have yet to meet a person alive that can shift faster than a built automatic.Built being the magic word here.I wish someone would do a comparison between a stick and a auto with a higher stall coverter.Being new it might have already been done and I haven't seen it yet.If it has I'd love to know where you bought it and what type it is and is it a lock up converter so we can keep our gas mileage.I think this is one of the biggest performance gains anyone with an auto must do if you want to get the most out of your max!Don't get me wrong I like driving a stick shift because it feels like it has more torque when you can control what rpm you can launch from and is fun to drive on the street but for racing purpose most of the guys I race with have changed there sticks over to auto.

 

ugh...why? 5spd has better gear ratio than auto. whoever thinks 5spd is slower than auto is because they don't know how to drive a 5spd. yes auto has perfect shifting, but it lose a lot of WHP due to torque convertor. therefore resulting a good .3sec off from quarter mile.

 

This was suppose to be a reply to the Auto vs Stick poll so I was trying to post on his tread.One of these days I'll learn how to operate this darn computer.

 

well..u have come to the right place. it's time for you to meet the following people on the org:

1. nealoc
2. ceasar chariot
3. veetec
4. h2kPinkPanthr

believe me... plenty of people knows how to shift faster than auto. their timeslips is the best reference to back up their skill.

 

I never said you don't lose power through the drivetrain with an auto that is a given. I said and auto is more consistent and with higher stall we can get better lanches and 60 ft. times.If a guy is at the track and wants to bracket race he will get farther with an auto than a straight drive because of consistence.I can't tell how many times I seen fast cars get eliminated because of missed shifts.This is just my experence and opinion and we all know how opinions are.

 

I'm with you, but I don't like proclaiming it too loud because its not a popular opinion.

A 5 or 6 spd Maxima has not beaten the 60' times of either my 95 or 02.

I also have a stock tranny.

 

I've always thought that was weird too. Seems with muscle cars like the stangs and camaros, the autos post faster 1/4 mile times than the sticks, and sports compacts and such, the stick shifts tend to have faster times. Why do the stalled autos run faster for the muscle cars? But then there's Jimes times with his 95 auto, which are the fastest of the 4th gens.... so I don't know. Maybe it's dependent on the torque and power. The more you have, the importance of minimizing drivetrain loss falls in relation to faster/more consistent shifts? What do you think?

 

yeah, it is true, i think it does depend on how much power your car is putting up with. i do remember a lot of drag mustangs do have auto's, and they seem to work just fine. but for our cars, that are not built to drag, stick is faster. but everyone is entitled to their opinions. interesting post.

 

There's more to life than bracket racing.

Dollar for dollar, a 5-speed max is flat out faster, no two ways about it.

 

Niether. Air shifting dominates all. Hehe. Your all right. 5Spd is always faster for NA cars or lighly boosted Max's. As you get higher in power shifts become less consistant. So a high power auto usually has faster 1/4 mile times, but put that same auto on a road course and it gets slaughtered by something with significantly less power. Each tranny has its application. This arguement will exist until an automatic can be invented that has the same drivetrain loss and gear selection as standards. Until that day we will forever argue. And don't go off and tell me that it exists. Yes, in F1 cars maybe but not in street legal machines. All the tipronic systems that I've driven are terrible. In my moms Saab the downshift lag is still terrible. In a 5Spd when you would be able to downshift by rev-matching and clutch draging the TCM doesn't let you. In most situations you have to be below 3.5-4K before the pedal will respond.

 

While I am sure they are all excellent drivers, nobody can shift as fast as the better automatics. Most cars are set up so they shift slowly as to not jerk the car during shifts, but take a car such as the m3 with it's SMG, it'll change gears in less than 1/10th of a second.

to quote motor trend:

"And then there's A6 (one of the car's shift modes), which amounts to full-commando upshifts that occur in 0.08 sec."

I doubt any human could shift gears in less than 1/3 of a second.

 

Why is everyone ignoring the better gear ratios in OUR 5-speeds?

 

mzmtg is right. Why are we all talking about Cameros, and M3's? I mean, we drive Maximas and they don't perform like M3's or Cameros.

Anyway, yes, Jime, you are running those times...............with a 150 wet shot of nitrous. That is just not the same as saying just that "auto is better than stick." That is like saying, "auto on roids is better on stick with anerexia."

 

Our upshift can be very fast if DR'ed or VB'ed. I don't know about .08 but certainly less that .15 for first. Each successive gear takes longer.

 

Ehhhh, you're right of course when it comes to a dedicated drag race car putting out tons of power, however since there are just about zero of those maximas in existence, there's no point in switching to automatic. I'll keep my 5 spd and be able to enjoy driving it on the street, the road course, the autoX course, and still pull 1.8 60' times when I need to on a stock tranny and clutch, spinning the slicks some. Automatic is simply not fun in my opinion, and the old stick and clutch may not be perfect for the 1/4 mile, but it gets the job done well enough.

 

I thought we were talking about auto vs stick in general? Anyways, I'm going to mention the F bod again, cause that's what I'm in the market for right now, so it's what I have some more knowledge of, although still a newbie. The stock ls1s make about 300 hp at the wheels, about 3300 lbs, and for them, it looks like the autos usually place higher times in the 1/4 m. Is that the power limit at which autos become superior to stick for 1/4 m racing? What determines this? I'm thinking tires, gearing, weight of the car... Is longer gearing better with higher torque/power cars with broader powerbands?

 

I believe Ferrari and maybe BMW have auto shifting trannies that use manual type transmissions. They also have all the right # of foward gears ie.. 4-5 forward gears. Instead of using your foot to actuate the clutch, they use electronics/hydraulics to operate the clutch mechanism. Shifts are measured in a fractions of a second

 

people who say Maxima auto's are better than 5-spd either 1) can't drive a 5-spd or 2) drive 8 or 9 second cars, which USUALLY (not always) are a little faster with an auto, but for entirely different reasons.

There are many people on the org who drive autotragics. I may be generalizing a little too much here, and I realize that, but regardless many of these people don't feel what us 5-spd guys feel. I guarantee that half or more of those who drive autos would be simply amazed at what the Maxima is really capable of when it's a 5-spd and how much fun and how very different it feels to drive a 5-spd Maxima, provided they all learned how to drive one. Just my $.02

I guess some feel the urge to write a thread about auto's being faster, better, etc. because of some kind of complex... are they jealous? sad? or mad about not knowing how to drive a 5-spd, because they never had a chance to, or perhaps because nobody ever taught them how to?

 

If anyone cares to notice, the original poster was referring to BRACKET RACING. Where consistency is just as (if not more) important than how fast you go.

I fully agree, autos yield much more consistent times.

If Nissan offered a 5 sp auto tranny, I bet it would nearly match or beat most of the 5-sp manual times because it's relatively easier to launch.

I know how to drive a manual very well. But I don't really know how to drag race a manual very well. Especially with my ACT/Fidanza setup.

 

While the clutchers are jerking back and forth in stop and go rush hour and freeway traffic, stressed and wearing out their left knees, I'll be relaxing along with my auto.