Buy her a car....

 

OMG, what a revelation!!! Just kidding...

Seriously, she has her own van but since we have 2 young ones and she needs the ability to drive my car in case she has to, the only option would be to have a 3rd car and in NJ, car insurance would just cost too much.

 

You should have told her that you dont know how to drive an autotragic and are unwilling to learn how...

 

Funny! "Autotragic"

AT's just bore me to tears...

 

I think this is why AT's are more popular, quite friendly to a larger audience. Thankfully, my wife had an MT car so standard was no issue. Although I did forget to tell her about pushing the stick down for reverse, she had quite the time getting out of her parking spot (she wound up pushing it back out), lol.

 

You're one of the lucky ones...

 

Me too...

 

Well, all I know is when my kids get their own cars because they need their own, I'm getting myself a MT....

 

If it were a popularity contest me and my beloved 6mt would of course lose but IDGAS. Thank god that Nissan almighty left us the option because some of us prefer to .

 

My G was the 5 speed auto. After dailying it for ~40k miles, the auto was nice, but I think I would have had more fun in a 6MT. I found myself using the manual shift mode quite a bit. However, the biggest reason for getting the 6MT would be for the performance gain. The later 6MT models had more power than the 5AT, and this is only compounded by the drivetrain loss of a AT.

With the advent of the 7AT and the 2nd gen G, the power difference is nixed, the 7AT is faster than a 6MT due to gearing, and the 7AT gets better MPG to boot.

VDC and DRM have both improved with each update to the car.

Now, to get a bit extreme, I've experienced a TT 5AT sedan, with a valvebody upgrade. I can say 100% that this sedan is faster than a 6MT sedan with equal mods. There is no re-spooling of the turbo between shifts, and the AT shifts faster than a MT could ever be shifted. Plus, the AT keeps accelerating between shifts, while a MT does not.

My other cars will continue to be a MT, but I personally would not consider the MT on a G anymore.


My priority is performance. (Plus, a AT will be much easier to sell down the road, should I decide to sell the G)

 

I can't disagree with anything you have said here. Your priority was performance. Mine is pleasure. I don't care how fast or how quick or how smooth or "how close to a manual" an AT is, it will never be as much fun to drive as a MT for me. In an MT car, I feel more connected with the machine, more a part of the driving experience. I do not find that to be the case with an AT.

As someone else said here, "it is purely personal choice". I agree with that.

 

I have a feeling, that even with the 7AT, I'll end up wishing I had a 6MT in the end

I guess it just shows how uncompromising (compromising?) I am... I won't do anything to my car that doesn't either 1. make it more reliable, 2. make it faster, 3. enhance safety. I pay almost no attention to looks; I did after all, have a serengeti sand G

I'd love to have a freeway monster G

 

Yeah, one of those cars that when you stomp it in 4th, you just burn rubber for the next mile.

 

FYI, BMW is not that different. When I purchased my '06 330i in '05 (I traded it for the G35x a year later - long story), they only had one MT on the lot at one of the biggest BMW dealers in the country. I called around and every dealer in the DC metro area had no more than 2 MT's max, with one typically being a 325i. In the US, far more people buy AT's, even in sports sedans like the G and the BMW 3 series. I think another factor that plays into this is that the AT's have gotten so damn good. I drove MT's for 16 years prior to switching to the G35x - obviously with AT gearbox, and one of the factors that made me make the change other than DC traffic, is that I felt like the G's AT could practically read my mind. It shifts relatively quickly, and seemed to shift at exactly the right time - especially in DS mode. Now that I have the paddle shifters installed, it's even better. I hear that the 3 series' AT gearbox is as good or possibly better.

Cheers
T1328

 

I want my next car to be a AWD 6mt Bimmer as Nissan doesn't make one. I live in northern Joysey and commute 120miles a day and frankly this G35S 6MT doesn't satisfy my pleasure needs. The fact that I had to spend more to get out of the summer tires that got me in trouble in the last snowstorm and I'm fighting with Nissan with a lemon law suit doesn't help. Btw the tire shop couldn't get the staggered tires to match up with the right size rims the 1st time they installed my A/S tires, had to do everything a 2nd time and now there's scratches on the rims. Mind you I've always driven MTs including Acura 3.2 tl and Maxima SE. Oh by the way they can't even get useless armrest on this car right. I guess you get what you pay for.