We already know about performance and gas mileage advantages of a manual transmission.

What about maintenance cost? Most cars I've owned are manual, and the only maintenance cost I know of is the replacement of the clutch at around 100Kmiles. The clutch on my Maxima costs $450 to replace, labor included. The clutch on my Corolla costed $300, 8 years ago.

How often do you have to change the fluid of an automatic? How much does it cost, each time?

How long does an automatic normally last? How much does it cost to replace or repair?

 

it's not a maxima, but my friend just paid $3,000 to fix the transmission on his automatic. OUCH!!

 

I would think that automatics are more maintenance if they break down. For instance, people are doing the complete five speed swap for about 1200. I believe a typical auto tranny rebuild and labor is easily over 1500

 

The automatic, if properly maintained, is more likely to last the life of the car. Nissan's automatics really hold up if not abused. The 5 speeds are more of a crap shoot on cost, because if you get one that develops the bearing problem, you're looking at replacement.

 

I disagree,

The 3rd gen Maxima has a weak auto tranny, too many people see them go before 130k miles..
Mine went at 86k when I had it and was about to go again at 106k. Then I sold the car because I couldn't justify paying another 1,300$ on a rebuilt.

The manual transmission doesn't fail as much, at least from what people and mechanics tell me.. although the clutch is a 300-400$ job. I think the manual is probably more reliable and therefore requires a bit more $ spent on its maintenance. Auto is usually more expensive in the 1st place, and more expensive to fix accordingly.

 

I too disagree. He also said 5-spds are a crap shoot. I really doubt that. Yes, they leaked through the o-ring reverse seal, but that's a what, $0.33 part which would be replaced under warranty anyway.

 

I disagree also, even though I'm a victim of a failed auto 4th gen tranny with 36k on it and after swapping a 5spd with around 80k on it only to have the bearings fail 2k miles later i still say the 5spd is way better choice. The 5spd is easy to rebuild (did it myself a few times) and there are far less things to go wrong. Its much cheaper to fix also.

 

Okay, I guess I'm outnumbered here. I didn't think the auto's had that many problems IF they were taken care. I would expect them to nightmares if they're neglected.

I wasn't thinking about the reverse switch, that's just a nuisance. I was thinking along the lines of the bearing failures that happen on the 5 speeds. It seems there is a fairly high rate of these. I personally experienced this on the 5 speed Altima I had. I hope it doesn't crop up on my Maxima, it's at the mileage that it could be an issue.

To me, if you were looking at this issue solely from a cost standpoint(not performance), the minimal cost of the necessary fluid changes on the auto vs. replacing the clutch and maybe dropping a grand or so on the bearings is an easy decision. I'm assuming that most people wouldn't attemot to repair the 5 speed themselves.

 

what do you expect from this thread? My manual is better if I have manual, and my auto is better if you have an auto. Nobody is going to say there car has to be maintained more because they think its the best. my auto tranny in my 93 max lasted well over 160k and was neglected and beating on. It would be well over 200k now if I would have changed the spark plugs and did regular high mileage checks but I didn't. Manual tranny's are more upkeep but I bet everyone disagrees and I bet the all drive manuals too and have there stories about I heard this and that about an auto on X's car. Blah

 

Yeah, there is a little of that. If you owned a fleet or the lease on a fleet, would you equip with auto or manual? Of course it would be auto. You can't possibly test every person who would drive a fleet car to make sure they can drive a manual properly. Plus, it's known that alot of immature adults like to abuse vehicles that they aren't making payments on.

I still don't buy the argument "I'm an auto enthusiast but I prefer autoshift" etc. On a BMW 745Li? Sure, 6-spd auto is nice because your older and lazy. Any other car it should be manual if you like driving. Not driving a stick would be like setting your Nikon D1X or EOS IV HS to autofocus. My grandpa says in our house we focus our own lenses. Just don't tell him that my Nikon is gathering dust while I use my Sony megapixel with memory stick for my photos!

 

im supporting you. 170,000 on my original and beaten auto tranny. how many 5 speeds lasted that long?? or even close??

 

170k on my auto 3rd gen and no tranny probs ever. And I do keep good maintainance on it.

But I would still prefer a manual.

 

This is a tough question to answer just because of the variability of such things as failure in beaten/not beaten auto trannies, things like the bearing failure found apparently across a few different nissan models, etc, etc. I don't think that's going to get answered on this forum. You'd have to have someone that really knew in-depth the auto and manual transmission and have them do a comparison as far as common failures go.

I'd say besides the variability, the only difference would be that ATF needs to be replaced "more often" than MT gear oil, but this is very minimal.

Although in the case of an AT failure for whatever reason, the price is definitely higher than a MT. My friend just got his 92 Legend AT rebuilt - $3000.



In an altima, eh? I'd like to know an actual percentage rate of failure in the 4th gen MTs pertaining to this problem. And in the altima, was it due to improper shimming? All in all, I'm willing to bet it's a very small percentage. Does this ever crop up in other car mfgrs? I've never heard of a spotty prob like this until I read up about it here.

btw, iwannabmw, I'll prolly be ordering the MT gear oil soon here. Waiting for first-of-the-month stuff to pass then I should be set. Thanks

 

I have to agree with this statement. Between myself, my brothers and my parents, over the last 10 years we've owned upwards of 15 cars. I can only think of one Auto transmission which failed and two 5 speeds which failed. The auto was a 80's Buick and the 5 speeds were both my cars, Honda's. The Auto failed at around 50K miles. Typical of GM back in 1981. The Honda's all had over 130,000 miles on them when bearings let go.

Would I say Auto's are better maintenance wise then 5 speeds? No way. Would I say 5 speeds are better maintenance wise then Auto's? No way.

A buddy of mine had a Mazda MPV. He did all the routine maintenance himself. The only thing ever done to the Auto Tranny was fluid changes. The car had about 400,000 miles on it when it met it's maker. (which was the car in front of him, OUCH) It also had the original Automatic Transmission and Engine. I couldn't believe that an automatic tranny could last that long. But it did.

An old landlord of mine collected old fords. His daily beater was a 60 something Falcon. I believe it was a 3 speed on the colum. That tranny had about 300,000 miles on it. Sure it was loud, but it didn't leak and shifted just fine.

Which one is better maintenance wise, the Automatic or the Manual? My guess is there probably one in the same.

 

This thread is not about bragging nor it is about being defensive. I simply wanted to know the operating cost associated with each type of transmission. I'm sure most, if not all, of us have experience with both types, and thus I was looking for their real life experiences. I, too had owned automatics, but not long enough to form relevant opinions. Thanks to all for your inputs.

 

Well if it costs that much for an auto rebuild.....then 5spd swap here I come when my auto goes.

 

The Altima was a 95 bought new. Around 70K the driveshaft seal started leaking. It was replaced and was fine for a few months, then it started leaking again. It was replaced under warranty again and started to leak shortyly thereafter. The car then had 84K on it and the dealer started saying it was the bearings and wanted $1500 to fix it. I drove the car across town to a different dealer and traded the car on my Maxima I don't know if the failure was caused by improper shims or what, the failure mode seems identical to what memebers have posted here.

All car mfgrs. have their quirks. Subaru's and Volkswagen's are notorious for weak second gear synchros. The DSM cars are notorious for 5 speed problems as well. Chrysler's 4 speed electronically controlled auto in the early 90's (I forget the model #) was a complete disaster. Ford's 4 speed auto in the Taurus/Sable in the early 90's was a recall disaster as well. I don't think Nissan is any worse than other manufacturers, but from this site, it's pretty clear what the main failure modes are from these particular transmssions. I still think that in the Maxima, the odds are better that you will have less problems with a well maintained auto tranny than the 5 speed, but that doesn't mean I would buy the auto over the 5 speed at all.

 

That's what I told my wife when she asked why I'm doing the conversion. I can't afford not to! Only thing is the auto tranny is operating perfectly, but why wait for trouble to come?

 

Actually, Im either gonna wait for a hint of trouble, and MAYBE sell mine for a little newer one 5spd or just drop it in, depends on how many miles i have on mine before then, but im guessing by 110,000 ill need one, thats 20000 away and prolly around 1 year of driving.