Quote:
Originally Posted by Suberman
I don't think this can be correct. For example Edmunds gets the same acceleration disparity with traction control on or off and using a roll out or not. This confirms that the main reason for the difference is due to gearing. Certainly the differences in overall gear ratios correlate reasonably closely to acceleration differences.
http://www.edmunds.com/subaru/brz/2013/road-test2.html
Almost everybody reports the same delta between manual and automatic.
As for launch, well precision in achieving the exactly correct degree of wheelspin (around 15% should be perfect) is important but not that important.
The delta seems to be about half a second no matter what you try. |
I find their 0-60 time for manual to be a bit of an outlier compared to other publications. I also only saw them compare with and without a rollout, not with and without traction control (with the exception of their tests where the car is already rolling a good speed. How traction control made a difference in acceleration at those speeds is beyond me...) Edmunds lists a 0-60 time of 6.5 for the manual FR-S, but somehow the manual BRZ as 7.3. Sounds to me like they had a driver who didn't know how to launch when they tested the BRZ.
http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/t...rack-test.html
Aside from that, most of their numbers seem to fall in line with other publications. Car and Driver for instance....
5-60 mph
MT: 8.1
AT: 8.2 (+.1 seconds)
0-60 mph
MT: 6.4
AT: 8.1 (+1.7 seconds)
1/4 Mile
MT: 14.9 @ 95
AT: 16.3@ 90 (+1.4 seconds)
These sorts of numbers are what make me suspect that launch is the most important factor in low speed acceleration. When these cars start from a roll they are quite similar. In some cases the auto edges out, in some it's the manual. My guess is these are due to where the shifts happen to fall. At some point (beyond 90mph perhaps) I imagine it would be impossible for the auto to have an edge with the longer gearing however.
At any rate numbers from different tests are nice, but I'll agree they're hardly conclusive. I'd like to see side by side tests of the two cars, which I am surprised no one has done. Ultimately at street speeds I doubt you'll see much difference, save for launching of course. Granted my last car was an Si which I had for 5 years and I never truly launched it, so it doesn't bother me too much.