Standard vs Automatic

[MyCamaro5]

so many mixed comments!

[Mayhem]

Well bud, I was in the same boat as you very recently, so I'll share my experience.

When I ordered my Camaro back in May.. I had never driven a standard.

I ordered Manual after much debate and asking tons of questions just like you are...
Something in my gut was just leaning towards standard even though I had no idea how to drive it.. It just felt more "appropriate" for the Camaro for me personally, for reasons I can't really explain. Even though I had driven auto for 10 years.

I had my hesitations, because I've heard the complaints about traffic in the city (and I personally do a lot of city driving). I also kinda wanted the remote start. Paddle shifter being new tech was "interesting".

I just couldn't picture myself feeling as content if I had an Auto....

Not trying to say it's not as good.

I just knew I'd be more content with a Manual transmission Camaro.

I didn't have any friends willing to teach me on their Manuals, (No way! You'll ruin my clutch/tranny" Even the ones with beaters... so good luck on that G35 !! hehe...

I had to pay for lessons.. I took 3 one hour and a half lessons... They supplied the car (a 2004'ish toyota corolla.) it had obviously been beat up on by beginners so the clutch was loose and more "forgiving" More room for error and recovering before stalling than on the new camaro.

After the end of my third lesson, I was not stalling much anywhere and I felt a lot more confident... I will admit the first day had me thinking "oh shit.... I suck at this... I should have ordered an automatic !! Maybe I screwed up !!!"
I really started second guessing my decision after the horror of the first lesson. But I hung in there... Determined to drive manual...

Unfortunately I had a couple month wait for the camaro.... I was expecting 8 weeks, it was twice that. So I took my lessons expecting the 8 week deadline....I had like 2.5-3 months of not driving standard after only 3 1.5 hour lessons....

I was rusty when I got my Camaro, I drove it around the block once first to get settled in to it.. I stalled a couple times. And then I was off, half hour drive.. And I got home fine.

When I got home as you can imagine I wanted to drive.

It was kind of like re-learning to drive standard though... I knew everything that had to be done... but the camaro felt NOTHING like the car I had learned on...I stalled a lot.

I got stuck on a steep hill for 15 minutes when I decided to go practice on hills first..

Hills right away was a bad idea... My neighborhood was a good place. I had this one flat straight dead end street all to myself with no traffic. I just went back n forth, stopping n starting.

My 2nd night out, was when I noticed I really started to "feel" the car better, and it really restored my confidence.

Three things I did that helped me out a lot....

#1.. I REFUSED to e-break on hills. I just wanted to do it myself and not feel like I was cheating... I would suggest, not to use it if you don't have to.. Find a hill with nothing behind you that isn't busy and just keep ur foot on the break until you hafta switch to gas... If you stall just get back on the break, you really won't roll back much. That helped me TONS.

#2. Some people will think its dumb. but it really really helped me.. I found some really good youtube tutorial video's showing shifting and a zoom picture in picture of his foot work.. You see everything thats going on with pretty good explanations and some good tips...Being able to rewind and watch things over n over was useful. I would recommend checking something like that out and if you want me to get the link just toss me a PM and I'll hook it up.

#3 Contrary to some people saying they learn to clutch/shift by sound of the engine I really found it helpful to me... Especially when starting from a dead stop.... Not listening but just "feeling" it... My musics often too loud to rely on sound.

These things start to make much more sense when you really do feel it...

Anyway, keep in mind I am NEW to driving Manual....
I have only put 200km on the Camaro which I have only had since saturday afternoon.
I have really only driven for 3 nights... as I have had limited time. So 200km camaro and 4.5 hours on a corolla is my experience.

Forums made it harder for me to choose because of all the mixed opinions.

On the bright side, it would seem that, everyone who chose "what felt best to them" was equally passionate and satisfied with their choices in the end... be it Manual or Auto..

Good luck with your decision!!!

[Speedfreak]

As the old saying goes. You drive a manual transmission car. You ride in an auto

[glambert1]

Originally Posted by CamaroFemme

Yeah, I'm a girl and I can't drive manual. What of it?

But seriously, I'd go with automatic anyway. The car is going to shift faster and more accurately than you are, and there's the tapshift. (Hm..exactly how does the tapshift work, btw?)

the tap shift is very easy just slide it into "M" mode and from a start its in 1st gear just accellerate and tap the + side when it feels normal to do so if the car senses its not the correct time to shift ,say if the rpms are too low or high it wont shift and deny it but just keep shifting up and when you get to a stop the car automatically shifts back down to 1st gear for you it takes some practice sadly I dont use it much yet

[Metal Camaro]

Originally Posted by SlingShot

Also all fun and macho aside, auto shifts faster.....

If you were getting the SS i'd say go AUTO. Auto is awesome because you can sit back relax and go for the RIDE OR you can pop it into M mode and go for a DRIVE!! OR you can go for both and put it in Sport mode and have both without shifting.

AUTO you get the best of both worlds...it will come in handy. With the Auto you pay for having a shiftable automatic..why cut yourself off to just being able to shift?

I play with many shiftable autos like the SRT8 dodge charger and the Mazda 3...M mode is so much fun but at the same time you can put it in D when a ton of traffic comes up.

I also consider manual for abot 5 days then I thought to myself....why would I limit myself? wow 20+ horsepower lost...easily gained back plus more with mods.

One more time AUTO is the way...you get the best of both worlds plus you can hold your special woman while you drive or do other things...just keep it safe.

[WeeZee]

Auto's are cool but are not fun to drive unless you build a drag car
Manual's are a blast to drive even in stock form

Muscle cars need a Manual transmission, otherwise it's not one !!!

[VenomZ302]

My SS is the first manual car I've owned. Sure, I've stalled it a hand-full of times, but after a measly 500 miles or so, it became second nature to me.

I'm VERY glad I got the manual transmission. Personally, I feel it's made me a better driver since it makes it harder to go into "autopilot". The manual is just fun, too. I didn't drive an auto SS, but I thought the auto V6 was fine. In the end, the choice is yours. Maybe you can try both and then decide.

[eddie SS]

I was 1st thinking to myself that the SS should be bought as a manual, since that's what a true muscle car is.......... right??? Then I realized that was/ is old world thinking. I'm no youngster, but with todays technology an auto w/ tap shift is definitely a plus. There are quite a few exotic/ luxury sport cars that come w/ tap shift and it's been rated top notch. So I ultimately went w/ an auto b/c I wanted to enjoy the best of BOTH worlds. Just my honest opinion.

[Croatcamaro2010]

i would drive around and play with certain speeds, such as what speed at 40mph is high in what gear, and what gear is it really low, if im slowing down ill leave it in gear, and just wait until the rpm gets to a reasonable low rev, then just down shift... on dumptrucks and the big heavy duty trucks fully loaded, you would want to use the transmission to slow you down with using light breaking because the gearing is different and you want to get moving again quickly

[jayson71]

I have owned both the automatic and manual 2010 Camaro. Get the manual.

[Croatcamaro2010]

one thing you wont have to worry about is winter, whenever you park, pull the ebrake FIRST then shut the car off, take your foot off the break and shift into gear, this keeps the car from rolling should for whatever reason the ebrake fail, but in winter here, i had problems shifting from a cold start because the gear pins would stick because of the cold

[211269]

Originally Posted by Speedfreak

As the old saying goes. You drive a manual transmission car. You ride in an auto

If that were true, why does most every Ferrari, Lambo and race car employ some sort of paddle/tap shifter? Most true performance cars dont have clutches and stick shifts.

[kej2u]

I bought my v6 2010 Camaro last friday with only 1 month of stick experience dating back to 1992. I was scared but the deal on the car was too sweet and I really wanted to learn. I had to call a buddy to talk me through how to get this baby off the lot. I stalled 10 times on the Chevy lot. I told my friend over the cell phone that the dealership guys were laughing at me.

He simply said "Who the heck cares about what they think? You're driving off in a spanking new Camaro?"

He was right. And now, less than a week later, I feel very confident behind the wheel and love the feel of actually "driving" my car.

[MagsSS]

I would get automatic for LA traffic. You can always shift with the tap shift.