So my 1980 Chevy El Camino is a muscel car? Sweet. It has a 267CI V8 with a 3spd auto & 3.73R&P out back. I would not call it a muscel car. One of the owners before me changed the R&P from 2.73 to 3.73. The damn car is in 3rd gear @20mph now. Thats why the thing is wating for a new engine that little V8 is just pushed way to hard on the freeway with that 3.73. So my main point, not all cars with 3spd autos could be muscel cars. Also my first car was a 1979 Chevy Camaro with a 4spd auto & 350CI engine. Now that had a good amount of power, maybe a little to much for a kid who was 16 when I had it. That thing was a blast in the snow, doing donuts & fish tailing all over the place. It was a good thing I had that when the gas prices around here where in the $1.00 a gallon range. Thats enough of my rambling.

 

You're right too. . . but heavily tuned, ultra expensive, high performance autos perform very well too. . . but I agree with you, and I tend to lean towards manual anyway, especially if you're not limited to just drag racing.

 

equally matched? ever hear of power shifting? regular shifting in traffic is much different than shifting when the heat is on. i CAN shift faster than an auto tC, period.

read above. since there is no direct connection from the tranny and torque convertor, there is much more power loss like SpdLmtNA said. computers CAN shift faster (of course) but the ONLY "auto" that shifts faster than a human where it counts is the BMW SMGII and the like where they use an actual manual transmission and therefore do lose as much power compared to an auto slushbox. floor an auto matic and see how long iit takes for it to shift from it's current gear to the next. unless it's race tuned, it's economy tuned.

again, i'm not hatin on auto drivers in any way. my posts are NOT "autos suck, manuals rock" posts. but ANYONE who says an auto is "equally matched" to the same car in manual form is smoking the WRONG crack.

 

Based on my experience, seems that if you have a big 6 or V-8, it doesn’t seem to make as much difference between auto & stick. However, if you have a small relatively low-powered 4, it makes a world of difference. Autos are waaaaay slower.

2JZ – noticed that your previous car was an IS300. Wondered how you adjusted to a Scion? The Scon xB, tC and Honda Element were cars I considered; ended up getting a 04 Sportcross a few weeks ago.

 

Getting back to the original thread topic - double tapping gas on most ECT autos will try to downshift 2 gears (if the speed allows and the tranny thinks it's safe).

P.S. I thought we were through auto vs. manual debate - if you like to drive - get a 5-speed, if you like to steer - get an auto ;)

 

When you REALLY learn to drive, you can handle either equally well.

It's this elitist attitude of a stick driver that will never let it die...

I bet I pass as many stick drivers every day as i do autos...

If all drivers were equal, it would all come down to the cars, but drivers aren't the same...so you can't assume all the cars will perform to the same scale.

 

i have an auto and my friend always tried to get me to drive going from L-2-3-D...mostly staying in 2 and 3. My questions is..is this bad for the car at all? i assume it wastes more gas and etc but what about damaging the car?

 

yeah... it's not a good idea to do that. An automatic transmission is designed to shift itself, not for you to do the shifting for it.

 

auto = most top fuel drag cars have, i know a tc isnt top fuel and all but also autos = better for boosted motor ex. being turbo lag is less in an auto than manual ,,,, i ran a 15.6 in my AUTO tC @ 87.71 mhp - track slip to prove it, bone stock, but i didnt let off and nail it again thats just to act like u r shifting, but i did power brake it at 2800 and used the l, 2, 3, and well didnt need it but d once i had passed the line. now if u buy ( one avail ) a better stall converter then u can dropp around 4200 and with the right tires run low 15 high 14 on stock motor

 

also the l,2,3,d are ok to use but now all the time dont abuse it, good racing idea , bad to use as a all the time shift, the auto with shift a a good rpm if u r just cruising around and down shift if it needs to - like up long hills or jumping out into traffic - now if u r messing around a preparing to race from a roll then down shift to d or l depending on speed and hold the gear until u need to shift.... but just driving let it stay in D i agree thats what it is designed to do

 

With the auto in the xB, I find it doesn't help much for upshifting. The controller will almost always hold it in gear past the point where I would've shifted, in spirited driving.. I find it much more useful when downshifting or in capping it at a certain speed during certain traffic conditions.

 

exactly

 

Exactly - Drive the car, don't let the car drive you.....

 

sit in traffic running errands all day and tell me how ur clutch leg feels after 4 hrs of traffic every day - thats why i bought the auto

 

so you shift it into those lower gears thinking they're higher?

yeah D !!! 2!!! 3!! L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm banging the revlimiter NAWSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSss

 

yeah im one for shifting the auto but not letting off and nailing it again, waste gas, time, and fluid

 

Exactly!
Driving stick on the 10 freeway in rush-hour traffic? Hell No!

 

thats true, ,driving stick in stop and go is a _____. but once you get moving (to me at least) there's nothing more satisfying than working a manual through its gears. or coming out of a turn, downshifting, leadfooting the gas and feeling ur head get pinned back. that was alot of fun to do in my '84 volvo and i can't wait to try it in the tC. when the damn thing gets here

 

It feels fine. I do it everyday here in the 'burgh. I live in Oakland, and if any of you have been there, you know it it traffic hell from 7am to 7pm.

 

I think this is all what the previous owner of my Cavalier was testing which led to my blown trans at 42k miles