Is a stick shift maximaa hassle to drive after a long time? and do you have to take any precautions when driving on ice or wet surface?

 

any manual is going to get annoying if you drive in a lot of bumper-to-bumper type traffic, but i don't, and i love mine. i've never had any problems in the rain, either, but i always drive pretty carefully because i don't trust all the other dumbass drivers around here.

 

i love my manual, but sometimes i wish i had an auto. overall i would never change but their is sometimes whne i would die to have an auto. atlanta trffic!

 

soon to be an owner of one....ask me in a year

 

the manual is not at all a inconvenience for me. only thing i dont like is that my left leg gets a workout while my rightfoot gets lazy. thats ok though.

as for precautions while driving in the snow or ice; the manual is 10 times safer than the auto IMO. i was driving home day before thanksgiving through an ice storm and started drifting accros the road a couple times (i dont have good tires) and i just pressed the clutch and gently steered back on course. if you think about it the one thing you dont want to use to control a spin or drift is the brake, the brake puts you further out of control. the clutch is a much better control device. taking power away from the wheels alows all of the traction to be used for steering rather than using it to brake or transfer power. basically the clutch gives you more choices in a tight situation.

 

I prefer a manual in ice and snow. You have better control over the torque sent to the drive wheels, and you can instantly disconnect the engine drag by pushing in the clutch.

That said, IMO for driving in slippery conditions the tires are far more important than whether the car is m/t or a/t. If you've ever driven a 5th gen SE with the stock Potenzas in the rain you will appreciate this.

 

I prefer a manual period. I drove in and out of DC in rush hour for 3 years and I didn't care. It does get tiring sometimes, but for the times you're not in traffic, its so worth it. And yeah, it does seem safer in wet, snow, ice, whatever... but that's when tires come in... like ^^ he said... if ya have crappy tires, it doesn't matter whether its AT or MT...

 

That's good news, because my car is stick and I think it's freakin fun as shiiiiit to drive but my moms says that its not safe on snow so i dont know wat shes smooookin.,

 

Saaaame thiiiing you aaaare....

Just kidding...

Just get good tires for winter and you'll be fine... oh yeah, and drive sensibly of course...

 

haha yea dude i cant afford smack though..

 

Yeah sorry... bad joke... I meant no hostility.... do ya have em stock Potenzas? Just drive really carefully then...

 

yea I have stock wheels for now then im gettin rims n sum kinda of tires come with them i dont know which though

 

What's an automatic? .......just kidding, i like my 6-speed.


p

 

lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i prefer a manual. my car before was a auto and it was okay. gets boring after a while. now its a manual, i enjoy driving it all the time unless i dont want to put more miles on the car.

 

Having an MT car is not a "hassle". 1,000 times more fun to drive than a boring auto. I will never own an auto ever again.

 

There is not one day that my car doesn't bring a huge smile to my face & the 6-speed has A LOT to do with it!

 

i wish i had a 6 speed

 

6 speed or not your Max is awesome!!!

 

i got mine in the middle of july, and i hadnt even driven an automatic hardly at all since, last weekend i took my moms infiniti out just because i felt like it. the automatic just didnt match up to my 5 speed, i honestly dont think ill ever go back to auto unless i moved up to like downtown boston and dealt with alot of traffic daily

 

Stick is worth every penny.

 

yeah but the nissan gearbox isnt all that great either. but i still glad i have a stickshift.

 

Until you get older and stiffer Grasshopper.

 

I just hope a new and improved Vioxx will be back on the market by then...

 

Been driving my own cars since 1976; all have been manuals.
Are they fun in bumper-to-bumper traffic? No -but the are every other bit of time.....

 

Stick is definitely 10 times better than an auto...even if you're in traffic. I feel like I have more control over my car.

No more auto's for me...

 

Don't know why I picked this post but....

I don't really see this huge problem with Potenzas. I'm not going to say they're the best tires around but when we bought the Maxima in July, that's what was on the car. They seem to be wearing pretty good and I've never had a problem with them in rain (flooding/hydroplaning rain). I just don't see the major problem that everyone has. And I kind of doubt everyone who's had a problem with those tires is a crappy driver. They work for me... and I'll leave them on till they either prove me wrong or wear out

 

i'm getting a manual cause i think the automatic is annoying!!!! specially in traffic, thats when you notice the loss in power the most, stupid torque converters

 

Stick gets annoying in slow traffic when you're shifting frequently and experience "rubber-banding" (reciprocal jerking back and forth from the motor/drivetrain), but I'll see how it is once I have ES motor mounts in there.

Otherwise, I wouldn't trade it for an automatic any day.

 

if it's not a stick then you are just riding. now rip that stick out of overdrive and slam 3 gear... thats driving. be a man don't ride in a maxima drive one

 

I am from upstate NY and Potenaza's are NOT FOR SNOW. Not "southern snow" where you get like 2 inches the whole year. I am talking black ice, snow, and regular ice on a daily basis. They are a PERFORMANCE SUMMER tire.

Nuff' said

 

yeah, wish i had a stick...

 

Kieran's deductible will be tested as he/she's proven wrong... To each his/her own I guess.

 

Not even man.... I don't think that they're all that good on dry roads either... I've taken turns on nice sunny days to "test em out" and it was scary, you'd be surprised at how much they squealed on hard turns... wet traction is pathetic... wheels were spinning the 2nd day I got the car on wet roads while starting from a stop... hydroplaning at 50 mph... etc etc... y'all have heard it all before...

Snow? I'm not even gonna go there...

But then again maybe I just didn't know how to handle the car.... so I guess with these Falken ZEIXs my handling skills just got a heckuva lot beter...

 

Hehe... drive that manual in traffic for a while and the auto will be the ONLY way to go. Your manual will get quite annoying in traffic. It is the ONLY time I hate my manual (SE-R) and love my auto (Maxima). Trust me, it's the other way around

 

just get a manual

 

after years of driving a stick in atlanta it was no longer fun for me.

the only reason i didn't shift to an auto sooner was because of the performance gap you usually see between an auto and a stick. the 3.5L has virtually erased the advantage and took care of that problem though.

 

At your age, I wouldn't even question it. Use the gears while your left leg can handle it! Any motor is sweeter with a stick, especially if you drive fast in twisties!

 

Auto all the way in NY.

Dumb drivers, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad long traffic, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad accidents (thus providing you with more drivers and more time for dumb drivers to screw u).

i live in Queens NYC, home of no parking spots ever + a lot of traffic.

this is not even mentioning Manhattan, god those yellow cabbies, Hindu/pakistanis can't drive, period!

 

I was a little hesitant at first to get a stick, because i had only driven one car that was stick in my life, and that was my friend's 1991 honda accord...but when i drove my 6 speed the first time, i fell in love, and i am EXTREMELY glad i got it. It was definitely worth it!