My 6MT vs Auto driving impression. Opinions please
 

I've been driving my 6MT for 14 months now and the bolt-ons I have are netting me around 310whp, untuned. Recently, I got a chance to drive around in a new bone stock '12 Auto for a day and I found it unusually torque-y driving around local. It felt like it had a bigger low-end punch than my car. I don't get it. My only guess is the mods I have pushed the power more up top.

Gearing

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Both of you are right. Gearing and mods redistributed how you feel initial torque. I like the way my AT feels in manual mode better than the manual Z though. As far as torque. Rough shifting in 2nd and 3rd gives the illusion of a torquier car. Some complain who want their Z to feel like a Honda Civic. I'm NOT one of them. I like the torquey jerkey feeling in 2nd and 3rd when decelerating or accelerating. The manual shifts a little smoother in those gears losing some of that throw you back torquey feel

The tq converter can do that, my experience driving an auto 370Z was that just like every other auto, it sucks. It cannot understand what the human mind is thinking when you barely tip into it, but do so fast. Do this in a manual, and all is well. Do this in an auto and you get: nooothhiinnngREVGOclunkcruiseupshift.

I hate autos of all sorts.

The ECU needs training with the auto. It needs time to understand your inputs. Once you hit 5k miles, the ecu knows your inputs. You are talking from test drives and very little experience on new autos. The Z auto works more like DCT than a traditional auto once broken in.

But anyway... to each his own.

Lay down the truth. You don't know how to drive MT. :p

Disclaimer: I am just kidding.

:icon18:

That was awesome!:bowrofl:

I like to think that as long as I have two good legs I will be choosing a MT over a auto when the option is there!

ok, i heard this come up a few times. where can i read about this ecu "learning", because i havent seen any documentation on the subject. i dont question the validity, i just would like to learn the details of this technology, an how it applies to my car. any idea?

The Ecu is technically NOT a learning computer. But, it does get accustomed to our human impulses. if we keep pushing the car the sensors will try to keep up with our inputs. Its not like the ecu is trying to identify each individual and reprogramming the driving style for each person. But as you drive the car, the ecu will get coached along your daily driving response.
Try this. Drive aggressive for about a week and notice you will begin to feel improvements in throttle response of your car. But then drive like a granny for a couple weeks. After a couple of weeks go back to driving aggressive. The response time is slow. When I say learn. I don't mean learning. Its just the ecu on these cars seem to need coaching into faster responses.

I believe the AT has slightly more torque versus the manual right?

Both cars are brake rated at 332hp/270tq. Manuals dyno higher in hp while automatics have faster straight line times. Track times are driver dependent.

good enough. thanks unknown

:tup: welcome

Wow this thread has been civil all in all, and informative.

Me personally. I love manuals, so I have nothing bad to say about them. That being said. I think nissan did an Outsanding Job with the 7at. It is the perfect evolution of the 5at that was in the 350z/G35, its super-responsive and feels equal to both 135 and EVO DCT's yet its merely a slushbox. There are no performance drawbacks except when you get the occasional exhaust drone related to slushboxes.
There's a little less going on due to lack of your use of left leg. Its harder to sustain long burnouts, and you can't skip gears. But DRM blips the throttle so you have heel and toe capability from an automatic. A huge technological advantage on an auto.
SRM is derived technology from the DRM that started in the original Z33 350z automatic. So for all those manual drivers who loooove there SRM feature. Thank auto technology for that evolution in manual transmissions.

i just spotted this thread and figured i'd throw in my 2 cents.

i got about 10k miles on my 7AT and i love it. i test drove both 6MT and 7AT before buying and the manual just felt rough to me and my goal is to have a GT-R soon anyways so getting some practice on the paddles seemed better to me (and not having $100k at the moment) lol

but performance wise i agree with people saying the AT feels like it has more torque. also the ECU learning is a real thing. i drive mine in manual mode 98% of the time and after awhile it feels like the car knows my driving style now on upshifts and downshifts. the only thing on the negative side with mine is if i'm not paying attention and let the revs drop too low from 4th to 3rd and downshift it will go straight to 2nd since it is already in the process of dropping it into 3rd for me for lettin the revs die too much. but thats a driver error not the tranny or ECU.

i recently raced my one friend in a 09' genesis with full racing intake and exhaust so we are about dead even HP and TQ wise. his being a 6MT mine being a 7AT he talked a lot of smack on it.....until i smoked him lol

don't get me wrong i love both manuals and autos but when you look at every major high performance car now and recent past they all have paddles and dual clutch gear boxes. a manual tranny has to be a custom order anymore. this is where i don't get where the strictly manual guys bash the auto guys.

cant we all just get along? lol :tup:

It's great to hear 7AT Z owners are happy with the auto transmission. I bought a 7AT G37 back in 2009 and what I experienced with the transmission was not satisfied.

During the first couple of thousand miles, there was a rough 4-3 downshift that happened around 30-20mph. It was fixed with a software flash about a year later. But it also introduced a new problem: downshift hesitation. It's best to describe with an example: if you go around 50mph and brake to around 35mph, then start to speed to again, there comes a huge hesitation for like 1 second, then the car starts picking up and accelerates like a rocket :)

On the top of that (1) the trans seemed to be confused in traffic, not know what gear to pick, (2) Transmission flare (upshift from 3-4, the rpm jumps up like 500). So Nissan came up with another flash (2nd) a year later, things got a little better but still not as great as the 5AT. The 2nd flash also caused the acceleration to be linear (more smooth and less sporty).

It's not just me. The problems have been documented well on myG37 forum. There is a huge thread that's still going. But from what I've heard, Nissan has finally worked all the bugs out with 2012 year model. I hope it's true.

By the way, that's how I wind up here with a 6MT 370Z :driving:

In all fairness, there is ONLY one person here that is making BIG negative statements off of a test drive. Obviously he went in hating autos from jump, so he has a jaded view, plus as an auto owner, we can do things in our cars you can't dream of doing on a test drive. So again, he won't know. Even if he drives it for a day? He can't feel the real auto characteristics. Like mentioned before. It takes time for throttle response to be in sync with the auto. Like a week or 2 or a couple hundred miles of driving. Once the car is broken in well. After 5k miles things really flow well together...
Most OG's here don't hate. And we do get along. Auto bashing, we hope ended in 2010? Don't take imports comment as bashing. Its more like serious misinformation and lack of any experience with VQ mounted jatco automatic transmissions.:tup:

nice write up. that 500 rpm jump on 3-4 i have had that happen a few times in 3-4 jumps and once or twice in a 4-5 jump. but when i'm hard on the gas and red line shifting it's a dream. those little jumps dont bother me since they are during low rev driving. the Z is just telling you to smash the gas and drive it like it needs to be driven lol

i was just being funny with the getting along comment lol everyone on here gets along pretty well in my experiences. when i test drove both cars i had to do it at diff dealerships since the auto test drive i pissed the sales rep off since i was a bit "rough" with it lol luckily with the stick the dude just trhew me the keys and my friend and i took it for a 15 min test drive without the sales rep lol bad choice on his part. i ran that Z through the gauntlet to see if the manual was more me than the auto.

i'll stand by my auto all day :driving:

brake hp and tq are at the flywheel, before the tranny and minus attachments to the engine itself. An automatic's torque converter can act as a torque multiplier but always has some efficiency loss. Article:

Torque converter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I use to be a manual or nothing guy, especially in the 4x4 world in which I lived. Since getting older & understanding a lot of advantages of an auto, I have appreciated an auto a lot more at times.

When shopping for my Z I looked to get an auto, because albeit few, there would be times that my wife would need to drive the car :shakes head:. Anyway I went shopping for the auto with some disappointment thoughts in mind. After a long spirited test drive in the 7AT Z & running throught the gears manually & seeing how it holds a gear, I was thinking to myself this could actually be really nice. I never got to drive a manual Z, but I have had no disappointed feelings while driving my 7AT. I'm loving it :ughdance:

YMMV

I guess that kind of goes in line with what I said about manuals DYNO higher but autos are faster off the line... :tup:

Get a tune. have the throttle responsiveness remapped.

One thing I don't like with auto's is that you can't clutch kick, for obvious reasons, when you want the back to step out for drifting. The ebrake is kinda sh1tty.

I swear by manuals because that is my preferred method for controlling the car, but I understand many of the reasons for driving an automatic and fault no one for their preferences. :tup:



hai ak

It's nice to see everyone being civil. I've ever understood people taking trash about the type of drive chain. Everything has pro's and con's.

Love my 7AT, but after learning how to drive manual I definitely want one for my next car. The one exception being the GT-R of course :p

There's actually a diy on here for e brake calibration.

Love my 7AT. I'm a manual fanboy as well but the 7AT really (and continues to) impressed me. It does have a brain fart every now and then in traffic but mostly flawless so far. I wouldn't change it for anything, especially with my 40 mile (each way) commute to work and back home in rough traffic.

I feel u on the commuting part. Mine is about 25 miles. In the morning drive when I'm barely awake it's def nice to have the option of just putting it in drive and go lol

I love the 7AT. I have based my life on getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night and when I'm driving early in the morning I have no patience for anything. Plus I can barely keep my eyes open in the morning cause I'm so tired so if I had the 6MT I would probably putting in the wrong gears lol. I do a good 40-50 miles a day. :tup:

Wish they made a 7MT NISMO!:rofl2:
Seriously, I test drove a 7AT and the Nismo.... The automatic has some true advantages for a DD and as mentioned kicks butt in the low end, even grabs rubber on the 1-2 shift. But I knew I was only going to driving my Z on the weekends..... and the Nismo is just Hot... and the 6MT just makes if fun to drive.... but if they made a NISMO with an auto tranny I would definitely consider it if I ever decided to trade mine in.

+1 :iagree:. I believe they make the 7AT in Japan only with the Touring plus Nav packages. I love the Nismo but interior and 6MT wasn't doing it for me. I believe if the offered the touring/Nav and/or the 7AT the Nismo would even be a better seller in the states IMO.

I have the 7 AT with 4.08 gears.
the car is really quick.

When I do hit the drag strip I have spun tire on launch, 2nd and on occasion 3rd pending on track temp with my 7at. I have beaten a 6mt straight up stock vs stock.

both have their pros and cons nice to see this didn't turn into a heated debate..
imo box gear boxes don't take a back seat to any car in it's price range....

i would like to hear from anyone who has owned or driven a auto camaro or mustang.... how do they stack up to the 370 AT. do they come with or without paddles 6 or 7 speed etc.....................

I have driven the camaro SS and mustang auto. The 12 and below on the mustangs don't shift but gear ratios are perfect and when you slam on the gas, that **** goes. But no option to row your own makes it boring in some cases. Handling is superior to a camaro and it feels lighter in the corners so maneuverabilty is superior to the camaro... BUT
The camaro let's you row your own. Torque feels better in a camaro and its just overall a more fun car to drive. I think if it was 300lbs lighter it would be superior to a stang but GM fked up on weight. You really feel the heft. And even though the width makes the car look great. The camaro is to wide to feel completely confident in 90 degree turns, so the stang definately eats it there. In my opinion though, the Z kills them both in handling but lack of torque takes something away. But neither car inspire the same confidence turn for turn as a Z. If the mustang auto came in BOSS guise? I think the Z would just lose to an auto stang in every aspect of performance.
So the Z fills a gap that the other two cannot or vice versa depending on your drive style and what you want in a car. Overall, all are extremely great cars.
Transmissions score on the auto...
1st place goes to the Z
2nd place to the camaro and is very close to the Z. But the camaro shifts slower than the Z
3rd is the mustang only because there is no option to row your own.
Even on the 13 stang I couldn't give it higher. Not because I have driven it. But because shifts are done via button on the shifter. And the mustang won't redline in manual mode. :( that automatically would take away from the experience. But I think 2014 will bring something different in the mustang auto. They evolve faster than any other company thus far in the past 4 years.

Next Gen gets the DCT and flappy paddles.