This is a pretty cool article that starts out talking about the auto max vs. the 5spd max, and then goes on to sing the praises of the manual transmission. (It makes me really anxious to pick up the 96 I30 5spd I bought that is waiting for me in Arizona!)

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/dri...2/article.html

 

Good article.

Gotta love the 5 speed

DW

 

98 mph trap speed for the M/T and only 15.1 ET in the quarter mile, something amiss?

 

But, we do know that if we had to choose between the Nissan Maxima manual and automatic, we'd stick with the stick. Unless, of course, we had to drive it in the city and talk on the phone. Then, AND ONLY THEN, would we consider an automatic.

I think this is a stupid comment because I damn sure didn't buy an auto for that reason.

 

funny , the fastest max's I have heard of are all auto's. hmmmmmm

 

Is it really right for people who MOST LIKELY drive manuals on their own time to write an article about their opinions of automatics?

I'm not going to go off on how much I love/hate manuals, becuase I dont drive a manual!

And yeah, I didnt buy an auto because I want to talk on the phone or eat or something. I pull over for that EVEN THOUGH I'M AUTO.

Whats up with people hating what they have? If you didnt get the car yourself, be lucky you got the car at all. If you bought an auto, why didnt you consider the 5spd BEFORE dropping the cash? Stop *****ing.

I love my Automatic. Don, SteveChicagoSC and Shadow make me love my Auto more and more, everyday.

 

 

Interesting article..... I have had 3 Max SE's to date and the first 2 were 5spd- an '87 and then a '93. My current car is Automagic. The reason for this is simple.....the wife can't drive stick....


Gonna have to teach her how to drive stick before I buy my M5.. or then she will be relagated to driving just the Max! She does love the power of our 2K SE though!

 

please list off all of the NA automatic maximas that are faster than my 14.2 or even in the 14s ????

my point is that if the people who have fast autotrajics had done the same things to a 5 or 6 speed then they would be even faster

 

A few things were weird about the article.

--GXE outhandles SE in skidpad and slalom??
--GXE tires identically sized to SE?
--6.7 0-60? and .82g skidpad?
--clutch was worn out when they received the SE? Obviously Nissan didn't really care if they gave them a new or mint car or not.

Did they say what year these cars are? I'd guess 2k1 because I didn't hear 6-spd.

The Max isn't the best car to copare on because the auto is really dated. Perhaps a tiptronic or autoshift vs. manual would be more meaningful, and maybe if the cars came from the mfg. reltatively new. If you wanted to isolate the trannies why would there be differing trim levels?

 

I think it's interesting the TPS was bad on the 5spd. It seems like that has been a topic that's come up a few times recently.

"A side note about the tests: While trying to maintain rpm consistency before releasing the clutch for the zero-to-60 runs, the engine in the SE would sometimes inexplicably drop rpms. We were concerned and called Nissan after our testing. They confirmed, once the car had been returned, that there was a faulty throttle position sensor. We found our best times were achieved by dropping the clutch at 2,800 rpm and didn't find that the throttle position sensor affected the runs other than to make them a little more difficult to start."
-hype

 

no i wouldnt think so...if u did all the mods to dons car as to say urs..he would take u at the track since his car would shift faster then urs hence thats why all top drag cars are automatic..but yes 5 speeds are always faster until that certain point in hp where a 5 speed driver just cant shift fast enough.

 

correction..i meant if u did all the mods he has done to his, sorry about that.

 

the car was 2k

 

someone has already said it, YOU can't shift as fast as an automatic.

if you read what i wrote it was the fastest maxima's I have heard of were all auto's

I did not say they were NA or not on NOS

BUT the fastest 5 spd I have seen was sx7r. But again I do NOT know his 1/4 mile times.

If you beat a TT supra, Good enough for me.

SO my BAD, I missed sx7r as the fastest 5-spd I have heard of. and the run between him and don would be a great race to watch.. wonder if don king is busy???

And do the same things as people with autotrajics and prove me wrong with your slipping 5-spd. It's your choice on your mods.

 

Manually shift a stock 2K Automatic and be surprised.

Give me the keys god dammit, I'll show you HTF to drive a Maxima Automatic.

Bunch of stick jockeys, bet they didn't know about the A/T Slip issue.

I'll guarantee a stock 2K Auto will break 0-60 7.0 no problem if driven manual style.

As for the 5spd vs auto, who is better crap...Who gives a rat's *****. Facts are out there. Open your eyes.
Don't assume a 5spd will always or most likely be faster than an Auto.
Proven enough 5spds wrong the hard way.

 

Seems like you do

 

I have beaten some 5 speeds. The only problem with the autos is all the damn slipping it does when you rev it too high.

 

Sick of "manual" drivers who say the following:

Manual vs Auto = Auto Loss or Manual Win.

Before boost, I raced a 5spd 2K. Manually shifting, and I beat him to 90mph, before a traffic light turned red. He powershifted chirped 1-2, 2-3, before he even caught me.
Honest to god: I had a POP Charger, stock Y-Pipe(Gutted), No Pre-cats, Test Pipe, 2.5" Mid Pipe, Factory Muffler.
2K 5spd had "Hybrid" Intake, Full Catback, UDP, STS, and runs 14.8 all day.

There is a trick to driving a 2K. Manual or Auto. It's all about the driver. That's what I'm saying.
I can care less who has what. Make do with what you have; have no regrets on the choice your chose or were "forced to" choose.

The article I read was such BS, and not for nothing, I think they need to get on this forum, and learn to manually shift, and understand a few things I've discovered about 5th gens in general.

-Like I said, Honestly I don't give a Rat's *****.

 

 

Maybe I should try this approach


But then again I am kinda thick headed

 

Craig would you like to make a small wager on it and would any STOCK 2K Auto volunteer their car. I got the video Camera and an Apexi RSM that says I can.

What j00 got ?

Bags...

 

Wow, I didn't know that I would incite such a firestorm of fury from automagic drivers!

I had a 96 Auto SE, at the same time I had 94 Integra GSR 4 door (5 spd of course) and because of the increased torque and horsepower and the ease of launch, the Maxima was consistently faster. Easier to drive fast, no doubt about it!

I currently have a 99 SE, and recently drove a 96 se 5spd, and a 99 SE-L (crimson red) 5spd, and it was quite convincing. The 5spd won my heart.

I just purchased a 96 Infiniti i30 5spd, and will be picking it up next weekend....guess which car my wife will drive? Yup, the automagic.

Line em up, stock for stock or mod for mod, with an equally experienced driver, and ALMOST without exception the 5spd will be faster, if not in a straight line, then in the twisties FOR CERTAIN!

Nine second dragsters may be automatic, but you don't see F1, WRC, or TransAm series cars running with an automatic, though you do see them running with relocated shifters.

I guess my point is this, I will not be radically modding either of my cars. But I will drive the 5 spd because it is more engaging, more fun, and faster!

 

Like I said, its not 5spd vs Autos...Its about stupid tests conducted by an already biased mind about Auto vs Manual.(Edmunds Article.)

I love driving no doubt about it, but when some people say ignorant things about automatics, believe me, they don't know jack about what they are talking about unless they've truly "DRIVEN" both cars.

Love the control of 5spd, but even if automatic is not 100% ideal to some tastes, it appeals to others. It appeals to me since I'm not the only driver of the car, but guess what ? I can still do the same things a 5spd can, cause any car can get to 100mph, the question boils down to driver and cars capability and how well you can extract its capability. Don't mistake the consistency of automatic's "consistently" slower times vs a manual, cause some auto drivers can rip up 5spds, and I'm not the only one.
Given equal drivers, yes the 5spd may win, once you throw mods in there its a whole new ball game.

I brought up a point of getting a stock Auto 5th gen to 60 from a stand still in under 7.0 seconds, what's so hard about that ? If Edmunds report says 7.3, letting the auto do its thing, and thats shifting @ 6100 w/ a slipping tranny ? What do you think the outcome will be manually shifting to 6600rpm redline and getting the perfect 1-2(shifts faster than any manual shifter), which happens @ 44mph and 2nd will easily get to 60 ?
If Craig Mack or anyone is willing to wager any amount to see if a STOCK 2K 5th gen can do 0-60 in under 7.0 seconds, I welcome an email anytime.

 

Not yet.... but I have'nt figured out all the SCCA stuff yet..









j/k

 

I thought I saw some Dragsters that were auto

 

7.3seconds 0-60 in the Automatic Maxima

Just think what manually shifting can do...

take off .2-.4 seconds

Pesky 6,100rpm upshifts

 

Oh please, the WRC and F1 cars have SEQUENTIAL (not relocated...that would mean its a manual transmission that was put on the dash) shifters, they are closer to automatics than to manuals.

With an auto, you manually shift by pushing the stick forward. With the sequential to shift you push the stick back...get my point?

But sequential shifters are SUPER fast, it takes MILLISECONDS for the gears to change in the subaru wrc cars. Unlike the manual shifting in autos. OR EVEN THE SUPER-FAST HUMAN SHIFTING OF MANUALS.

Ofcourse if the kind of transmissions that are in the WRC cars were avaiable in the aftermarket, I would get one in no time.

Prodrive is supposed to release the sequential shifter for the WRX sometime in the future, THAT will be a blast.

 

My 2c...

A manual gearbox is a double-edged sword... I cn change gears during a drag race faster than any auto I've ever driven. Imagine sitting in a stationary car with the stick in 1st and the clutch in. Now pull the stick into 2nd as quick as you possibly can - it takes milliseconds, yeah? That's just how quick it can be done. You inly need to press the clutch 1/3 of the way in to release it enough to complete a shift. When you've been driving performance stick for 10 years those gearchanges can happen so quick that it's like that quick-draw guy who can draw-shoot-replace his gun faster than most people can see.

I don't even take my foot off the gas - the engine does not even have time to gain revs because the shift happens so quick.

BUT at the same time as being able to bang shifts quicker than you can blink, there is the risk of flubbing a shift. It happens a lot. I lose races to otherwise unworthy advesaries simply buy doing something like letting the clutch out before the new gear is in which locks me out of gear and leaves me revving the car's **** off while the freakin' Neon pulls on me... I cna usually repeat the shift but it requires a double-clutch sometimes because the synchros are only half caught up.

Auto vs manual is not always gauranteed stick wins... But a *good* stick driver can outpace all but the most extremely hi-pressurized shift kits (which are a bish to drive if you're not feeling like slamming those shifts all the time.)

Plus the driveline losses fom powering the hydraulic system will always kick your own butt - only partiall made up for by the convertor's tq multiplication at low revs and error-free operation.


I love the way the article implies Autos as being the option they would only choose if they were desperate to talk on the phone instead of actually driving safely...

 

But I did like this comment....

"It felt muddy at the bottom end of the torque band and never really had the responsiveness we liked so much in the manual."

I have to second that notation on the muddy response in the lower RPMs. I see that everyday...

Just my .02 cents, so don't flame me...

 

I would like to see someone get a STOCK automatic Maxima into the 14's!! 2k2's excluded of course

 

Victim64-
You and I have had this debate before. And I will say your 1/4 times are nice, but what I said was "the fastest maxima's seems to be auto's".

While your 14 is faster than my 15, it's not faster than don's auto.

But you did say stock, so I will say this, not everyone can drive a 5-spd like you.


Scruit- ever ride in an auto with the VB mod? You made several good points. I was just curious if you have compared a VB modded car or not. You drive like a buddy of mine who's mustang does 9 in the 1/4. He taught me to shift my last 5-spd.

Mozy- GOOD POINT DOG


Luke-

 

I wish Medicsonic was around so he could tell you auto haters about the time he pulled from Quansung during a highway run.

Modded GLE auto vs Modded 2K 5 Speed

Either way, the article was a stupid one and a waste of time to read. I thought they were going to test the drivability between the 2 and instead it was a freakin race.

 

Final ****ingly, someone understands YTF I MAKE A BIG DEAL OUT OF THIS ****EN BS ARTICLE.

THANK YOU DEEZO.

I beat Quansung in the 1/4 mi
15.04 vs 15.44 ?

-I share your point of view 100%.

 

There are certain points where Autos are in a better powerband than 5spds. I've lost to an Auto before, but his VB mod definitely helped. There isn't anything wrong with an Automatic, but on an enthusiast board there's usually a negative slant towards Autos.
-hype

 

Yes, The Lemmings, on every Auto Enthusiasts Forum.

 

I don't think a stock 4th gen or 5the gen could make it into the 14's without some tweaking.

 

Do a Sneaky Pete...Cheat w/ N2O.

 

You can manually shift all you want, but the automatics biggest downfall is it's 0-50mph. In every acceleration test between the manual and auto Max there seems to be about a .4-.6 second difference from 0-60 and about a .5-.7 difference in the 1/4 mile. As we can see, the lower end acceleration is what's lacking. The gearing of the automatic just isn't up to the task of harnessing all the useable power of the high winding VQ. 1st gear on the auto is way too tall for hard acceleration off the line especially when talking about the 00-01 VQ. Sure, the auto and shift quicker, but you're only talking about maybe .1 seconds difference if the manual driver can shift.

I've never been beat by an auto with the same mods as myself (y-pipe, udp, b-pipe, intake). BSwithTF (one of the quicker autos on the org) has a modded GXE auto with the similiar mods (he also has a ECU and muffler plus the VB) as myself and he runs within .4 seconds of me on average, but I'm usually always 3-4mph faster. That's pretty significant if you ask me.

BTW, just because us 5/6 speed owners are chirping the tires doesn't mean we're "powershifting". All it takes to chirp the tires on the 1-2 shift is a run up to 5500+ rpms and shift relatively quick. Powershifting is when you don't let off the gas. Powershifting the 1-2 is futile because it will result in way too much tire spin.


Dave

 

They say they want to keep everything the same yet they ran a gxe auto vs a 5 speed se...come on now... other than the trannys there are to many diffs.