Crashed FRS and AT vs MT

[LLYNCES]

Last month I was involved in a car accident, my red FRS was a write off. Some girl in an SUV ran a stop sign and I ended up smashing into them at 60km/hr full frontal collision. My airbags went off and the only thing I really remember is a bunch of crap flying in my face and their vehicle rolling over top of mine and on to its side. They were luckily okay, but I was amazed at how well this car held up.


I walked away with whiplash, a concussion, and damaged ribs. My insurance paid for the car, and I was able to pick up another one. Instead of the red AT FRS I had, I got an Ultramarine MT frs that had 10,500km on it, cold air intake, custom interior, rear trunk strut bar, engine dress up bolts and burnt tip dual exhaust and an aftermarket strut bar.

My new car sounds amazing compared to my last one. Funny thing is, I hate blue with passion, but this car looks great in this color. Here's a picture of my wrecked car in comparison to my new one. I just need to add some fog lights to compliment the HID's and a spoiler.



I made a forum post a few months back talking about the AT, I spent a good year with it. Having driven this MT, I can say with confidence the MT is a bit faster because of the fact it's launchable. I didn't realize the difference until now, but the car feels much more aggressive and quicker off the line in the MT. I ran a 0-60 and got in the mid to high 6's compared to my AT with everything off (Traction, stability) where it was early 8's in the auto. I'm sure if the AT was launchable it would run similar times. On the other hand, the AT felt much more relaxing to drive, and sounded a lot better on the downshifts, and got slightly better fuel mileage.

I know I said in my first thread I wouldn't get an MT, but the deal was too good to pass up, and I'm glad I got the MT this time around, it really is good in this car, people were not lying.

Anybody else end up writing off their FRS? How did your car hold up? What do you guys think about the transmission differences?

[SuperDave]

i think if you were in sport mode in the AT, you'd have similar times to the mt, cause the AT had 3 different maps. either way, the MT is just geared more aggressively than the AT that's the only real difference.

[HunterGreene]

Glad you were alright and that the car safety systems did their job.

Welcome to the MT club!

[LLYNCES]

The times I did run in my AT FRS I was in sports mode. The MT is geared slightly more aggressively which contributes to the increased speed, it also has more HP to the wheels due to the AT's torque converter and you cant launch the AT.

That being said, I think in terms of track times you will be more consistent in the AT, and unless you are really good at shifting, you will get better track times in the AT. I'm not knocking it at all, I really enjoyed my time in the AT, it just feels slower off the line, which I didn't realize until I actually drove the MT. In the MT you can rev it up to 3000-4000 RPM and let it go to launch it, the AT doesn't have this feature, and the shifting/clutch work really pushes you back into your seat more which adds to the thrill of driving it. The entire car just feels more aggressive in the MT for whatever reason.

Either way I'm just sharing my experience with both. I think they are both great to be honest. I think the AT is also a bit heavier, which probably has a bit of an impact. One thing I did notice is, that the AT drove much better in the snow. This year I'm having a hell of a time and I got full studs on my tires in the MT, last year in the my AT I had no studs and it drove a lot better in the snow - but it could be the fact I'm still pretty novice mode at driving MT.

I don't know, I drove the AT for an entire year - it just feels slower of the line, more slower then I thought it would, I'm not getting my ass beat off the line every time anymore at stop lights like I used to. I did notice in the MT that unless traction and stability are off, you are going nowhere fast. I don't want to knock the AT because I enjoyed it, I'm sure with the proper mods it would be just as fun. This isn't a drag car either way.

I am really surprised at how well this car held up in the collision though. The windshield didn't shatter or anything, the SUV literally rolled right over me. This car is definitely safer than it looks.

[HunterGreene]

Originally Posted by LLYNCES

Either way I'm just sharing my experience with both. I think they are both great to be honest. I think the AT is also a bit heavier, which probably has a bit of an impact. One thing I did notice is, that the AT drove much better in the snow. This year I'm having a hell of a time and I got full studs on my tires in the MT, last year in the my AT I had no studs and it drove a lot better in the snow - but it could be the fact I'm still pretty novice mode at driving MT.

I am assuming you used "snow" mode on the AT during winter, which is similar to starting in second gear, which is what I would recommend if you are having trouble getting going on snowy roads.

I also heard this somewhere on here, but you actually have a little more grip and its easier to get going if there is a little it of slip in the tires when you first start going. Just know when to compensate in steering and you will be fine.

[LLYNCES]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

I am assuming you used "snow" mode on the AT during winter, which is similar to starting in second gear, which is what I would recommend if you are having trouble getting going on snowy roads.

I also heard this somewhere on here, but you actually have a little more grip and its easier to get going if there is a little it of slip in the tires when you first start going. Just know when to compensate in steering and you will be fine.

Yeah I did use snow mode, there were a few times where I'd have to throw off traction and stability just to get going - it's the same in the MT though.

The AT is also a bit heavier which probably helps, and geared slightly taller which reduces speed off the line, which is good for snow. Another thing I noticed is that in the MT fifth gear actually provides decent acceleration, in the AT fifth and sixth gear feel like overdrive and almost useless for any sort of speed.

[daiheadjai]

I wonder if the low height of this car is one of the reasons for your happy outcome... like maybe it shunted the SUV upwards, instead of taking all the force and transferring it backwards...

Glad it turned out OK though...
Do you rev-match your downshifts? If you do, it should sound just as good as the A/T (especially with an intake, yours should "bark")

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by LLYNCES

On the other hand, the AT felt much more relaxing to drive, and sounded a lot better on the downshifts, and got slightly better fuel mileage.

When you start rev-matching and heel-toeing downshifts in your MT, it will sound great

Glad you walked away from the wreck btw. Looks like it was pretty nasty.

[Kuri]

Yay MT frannnn

[Tareim]

Originally Posted by HunterGreene

I am assuming you used "snow" mode on the AT during winter, which is similar to starting in second gear, which is what I would recommend if you are having trouble getting going on snowy roads.

I wouldn't say its similar to starting in second, I would say it's exactly like starting in second as the snow mode avoids 1st gear as per the user manual

[Jaden]

Maybe I was just lucky but even before I tuned my car, I was in the mid 6's for 0-60 with an automatic.

Jaden

[FR-STY 86]

I would just like to holla @LLYNCES for his excellent choice when choosing a new car.

[LLYNCES]

Originally Posted by daiheadjai

I wonder if the low height of this car is one of the reasons for your happy outcome... like maybe it shunted the SUV upwards, instead of taking all the force and transferring it backwards...

Glad it turned out OK though...
Do you rev-match your downshifts? If you do, it should sound just as good as the A/T (especially with an intake, yours should "bark")

I'm still pretty novice with a MT, I do have to work on my down shifts for sure, the car does sound great compared to stock though. The SUV did get shaunted upwards because the car sits so low, it rolled over onto its side. I checked this cars safety ratings and they are quite high, much higher than expected considering the weight of this car and how low it sits. Yeah man, it could have been quite a bit worse.

Not only that but after the impact I lost control, and slammed into a cement wall. I never had much confidence in the safety of this car until after the accident. It holds up extremely well.

[ashtray]

FWIW, the MT 5th gear is 1:1. The AT 4th gear is 1:1. That makes 5th and 6th gear overdrive gears in the auto, vs only 6th gear in the MT. This gearing allows for better fuel economy in the AT.

The MT is faster bc it not only doesn't have as much loss in the powertrain as the AT, but the more aggressive gearing effectively puts more torque to the tires.