Do You Drive A Stick or Automatic Camaro?

[zackex]

[QUOTE=Norm Peterson;6418669]Beg to differ a bit on this point, as separating out the fun from the utility can make the commute feel worse than it already is. Knowing that your commuter car works a little differently than at least 98% of those around you, while not quite "priceless" like the credit card commercial line goes, does provide a measure of satisfaction.

No I agree with you on both points. I really don't have a problem with a manual in traffic it just takes a little pre planning as you drive, and yes Boston is nuts to drive in.

[DRitchie]

I would have preferred the manual, but I live in Atlanta and I have had the experience of owning a manual transmission car and having to navigate this kind of traffic before....it was not pleasant.

I'm planning on moving back to my hometown in the North Carolina countryside, at which time my next Camaro will definitely be a stick!

[vermillion12ss]

mine is an automatic 2012 ss/rs. I like either cars. but I think it depends on what you wanna use it for. if I was a track junky I would've bought a manual for the fun factor of driving the car myself but I only go a few times a year for the fun of it and that doesn't mean you can't have fun in the automatic. It's still fun to drive and you can still have fun and play around in it. 10 years ago I would've never bought an automatic but now days I just like to get in and go and I can still enjoy the looks of the car and it still has plenty of power for me for when I feel frisky. but it does suck that they have 26 less ponies then the manual but I still love my car either way.

[redleader]

Auto V6 ...
Coz I got poorly knees and ankles.

[BEEotcch]

Duh. Stick lol

[LIyellowSS]

I know the NYers on the site know the Belt Pkwy, for you non NYers the Belt Pkwy sucks!! Theres traffic 24 hours a day! and I need to drive on it to get to work. So I too got an automatic.
The stop and go on the Belt is not fun at all and knowing I would be taking the camaro sometimes is why I got the automatic.
Everyone has their own preference, when you get older practicality has a say in your choice.

[Rockhead]

LS3

[Aubrey64]

Auto

[SSRS1LE]

1LE - only available in manual.

[Ravage]

Originally Posted by Comrando

Does that transmission let you whack the throttle and pop the clutch in second when the motor reaches 6000 RPM?

What do you mean?

DSG basically is a manual transmission with the automatic clutch instead of a torque convertor.

So when driving manual, especially when racing you really need to manage the engine RPM and clutch release on changing gears. Basically you don't want the engine RPM to differ from what the clutch is expecting. So if you go from 1st into 2nd, you never want to drop the clutch at 6000 rpm, maybe around 2000 or so.

With the DSG boxes, they also do engine control and will blip or cut out the throttle to match the expected RPMs. It does this faster an better than a person can manually do it so you are almost always going to have a smoother faster drive in a DSG vs a manual drive. They are however pretty much sequential boxes, since you can't manually control the gear box using a gear stick. So you can't say drop from 4th to 2nd, you have to go through to 3rd, but this is pretty common in race cars anyway these days. Most will also use this to help break the car with some engine breaking.

Its funny to see BMW M3 forums where people think if you have an automatic you are less of a driver, but really BMW have the manual for the people who just don't understand technology or know why it's really better.

This though isn't the same for the Camaro. It's got a regular torque convertor gear box, so yeah it's not as good as the manual box, but still it's not overly bad. Giving users control of the gears does help some what and I've heard the Camaro is still fun around a track with the auto. The V8 engine goes a long way for why it's good though, since there is so much torque the higher gears are really just for fuel savings and you can pretty much use only a few gears for a lot of track work or at least I've heard this. So it's not a huge performance degrade. However you can do a lot more with the manual, the engine is higher tuned, and you can easily put more power to the wheels. As for me, my Camaro is a daily driver, so while I'll probably get mine to a track once in a while, the auto is just far more useful for me to have.

[Norm Peterson]

Originally Posted by Ravage

DSG basically is a manual transmission with the automatic clutch instead of a torque convertor.

With the DSG boxes, they also do engine control and will blip or cut out the throttle to match the expected RPMs. It does this faster an better than a person can manually do it so you are almost always going to have a smoother faster drive in a DSG vs a manual drive.

And those two boldfaced items are exactly what turns the whole concept of a DSG box off for me. Try to understand this in terms of having some of the enjoyment taken away all of the time rather than as having a tiny bit of performance added under circumstances that rarely exist.

As soon as you automate the clutch and transmission in any manner that makes you look/sound better at shifting than you really are, you might as well just get a real automatic with the paddles.

Even if your DSG is in a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, or other exotic, you don't get a free pass to transmission acceptability from me for buying your way to sounding like you know what you're doing.

Yes, I understand that they'll make the car a little faster in a race. But in all other driving it's not enough different from a real automatic with paddles to be worth bragging about.

Its funny to see BMW M3 forums where people think if you have an automatic you are less of a driver,

Sorry, but it's kind of hard to accept the concept that you can just shove the lever to "D" and forget all about keeping the engine in its happy rpm band as being consistent with the total driving experience.

but really BMW have the manual for the people who just don't understand technology or know why it's really better.

Technology does not and cannot understand human interaction, so just because it exists does not automatically grant it "better" status than what it purports to replace. Better for hollow bragging rights, probably.


Chances are a 3.45:1 geared SS won't ever need more than 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at a road course track day once you've got it moving on the 'out lap', and probably not even 2nd if you swap to 3.91's. A 3.91:1 geared 1LE car would probably use 5th.


Norm

[freemanswe]

Here in Sweden the most common type is a stick. Traditionally a Automatic has been reserved for the more expensive cars. This is because on them its standard but with regular cars its a option for about 2000-3000$.

I choose a automatic SS because i dont se the fun with a stick spending 99,8% in or around town.

[invaderzim]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

And those two boldfaced items are exactly what turns the whole concept of a DSG box off for me. Try to understand this in terms of having some of the enjoyment taken away all of the time rather than as having a tiny bit of performance added under circumstances that rarely exist.

As soon as you automate the clutch and transmission in any manner that makes you look/sound better at shifting than you really are, you might as well just get a real automatic with the paddles.

Even if your DSG is in a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi, or other exotic, you don't get a free pass to transmission acceptability from me for buying your way to sounding like you know what you're doing.

Yes, I understand that they'll make the car a little faster in a race. But in all other driving it's not enough different from a real automatic with paddles to be worth bragging about.



Sorry, but it's kind of hard to accept the concept that you can just shove the lever to "D" and forget all about keeping the engine in its happy rpm band as being consistent with the total driving experience.



Technology does not and cannot understand human interaction, so just because it exists does not automatically grant it "better" status than what it purports to replace. Better for hollow bragging rights, probably.


Chances are a 3.45:1 geared SS won't ever need more than 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at a road course track day once you've got it moving on the 'out lap', and probably not even 2nd if you swap to 3.91's. A 3.91:1 geared 1LE car would probably use 5th.


Norm

Just wanted to make sure everyone understands these are all just his opinions. Nothing more. Just because you've grown tired of a clutch doesn't mean youre not good at it. Not everyone believes what you believe. When I was young everyone had stick. All of us. Auto was a luxury most of us couldn't afford. My opinion is that it's borderline retarded to willingly want to deal with the hassle of a clutch. People who can afford available auto trannies and go with stick are considered posers who just feel having stick proves something for them. Again, just my opinion. The ls3 vs l99 arguement is a valid one but don't assume having stick makes you a better driver. You want to feel "manly" with clutch and gears get a motorcycle. Even professional racecar drivers don't want to deal with a clutch. I LOVE my motorcycles don't get me wrong. But I'd never in a million years pay premium price for a vehicle that couldnt shift itself just for my own amusement. Been there. Done that. Never again. Too old to torture myself just to fool myself into thinking I'm cool and believing others think it as well.

[Ruffrider51]

Bought it used it had an automatic