Automatic Transmission

wstar

To confirm what's above, all 7AT 370Zs rev-match and have paddle shifters. It's not a manual, and it's not an SMG, but it is a very fine automatic, and mostly does what you tell it do when you click the paddles.

The main complaints against it are related to shift lag when using the paddles. There's a delay between clicking and the ECU reacting and starting to shift, and there's the actual shift time itself. Most people are ballparking it around 500ms shift time, I don't know if anyone's timed it. The delay is more noticeable because you're not doing anything during the shift, whereas during the shifting "delay" on a manual you're actively working controls and stuff so you don't notice it as bad. A good manual driver should be able to shift faster than the 7AT, but not by that much.

Most likely the slight advantage the 7AT gets in the reported 1/4 and 0-60 tests is due to the gearing differences between the 7AT and 6MT (7AT has a crappier rear-end ratio, but a much lower first gear than the 6MT, which results in an overall gearing advantage for the 7AT for 1st gear acceleration), as well as the natural ability of any auto's torque converter to multiply torque.

Another point to consider: if you're thinking of doing any kind of forced induction or very serious NA power upgrades (like, requiring engine surgery), the 7AT will probably become unreliable at a lower horsepower than the 6MT, and be more expensive to upgrade to handle the power to boot. Seems to be fine with a full set of NA bolt-ons though.

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7AT Track Car!
Journal thread / Car setup details