The dreaded Automatic Transmission Feel

[kavanagh]

Just wanted to drop my 2 cents in the bucket:

I think it's funny that @chiefshayan wanted to go to an MT instead of AT after riding motorcycles. My wife and I chose the AT after driving both transmissions, because the AT more closely matches riding a motorcycle to us - up, up, up, down, down. no clutch, except to keep it from stalling at a stop. I completely understand why you first thought that way since you fell in love with the clutch action on the bike, but after a while of riding, you'll start to just speed shift it up and down, using the throttle to reduce pressure on the tranny for your shift instead of the clutch.

But to be fair, we wanted the MT when we went to the dealer, and only drove the AT because the salesman had pulled one up for us while we were on our MT test drive, and it was sitting there running. Soooooooo glad he did that!

For us, it was two things that sold us on the AT: speed and accuracy of shift (yes, we can both heel-toe a manual around a track), and in manual mode, the AT will hold your gear till redline without upshifting unexpectedly on you. You can bounce off the rev limiter to your heart's content, or until you throw a rod...

We thrashed both models around for an hour and a half - and drove away in an auto - to both our surprise.

[chiefshayan]

I agree! I had an Audi automatic and it was junk. It had a mind of its own, shifting up and down when it didn't feel comfortable at a certain RPM. The frs/brz auto feels much more poised and able.

As for the shifting, my bikes use reverse shifting and my track bike has a clutch-less shifter. But my other is mostly stock and you're right it's more intuitive going to an auto with the up shifts. Nice to see your wife on a bike though! That's awesome

Do you think you'll be doing any performance upgrades to the car or the auto tranny in the future?

[kavanagh]

Originally Posted by chiefshayan

Do you think you'll be doing any performance upgrades to the car or the auto tranny in the future?

Thanks! And yeah, we picked her up December 6th and already have 2100 miles, a drop-in filter, and air tube from the MAF to the throttle body with a sound generator delete. Exhaust will be next as money permits, working our way from the cans toward the engine. We have an idea we want fabricated, so it's not gonna be cheap.
OFT
Suspension/tires/rims next, then aero stuff or lightened/under drive pulleys.

We're into nimble more than outright power, so I doubt we'll dig into the tranny any further than maybe a final drive reduction and whatever voodoo we can accomplish with an OFT after we get that. The only thing I think an OFT *might* buy us is the ability to skip gears downshifting when you're really dropping anchor on the track.

Almost forgot... I MUST move the right hand wiper stalk on the steering column. It's way too close to the up shift paddle and I always tap it. Pet peeve.



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