Auto Or Manual?

[jasevr4]

Hi everyone,

Just out of curiosity, I thought I'd just have a quick poll..

Is your Stagea an Auto or a Manual?

Feel free to comment on whether or not you prefer either

As you may have seen in the past I'm thinking about getting a Stagea, but last time I was thinking along the lines of a manual, that I would build up to look tough and go fast. Realistically, it's not the type of car you'd build up to race - slightly on the chubby side!

So I'm thinking about getting an auto Stagea for daily driving and as a tow car - the missus can drive that one, and then possibly a 180sx for racing and weekends.

Just not sure how "fun" a stock auto Stagea will be. It will just be wheels, lowered, exhaust and air filter, possibly kit and tint.

Cheers!

[Ska]

I drove a auto for five years, and have decided NEVER to buy one again.

One of the bonuses of buying mine was that it had the very expensive auto to manual conversion done, and the gearbox was rebuilt with nismo heavy set gears, so I'll never have to worry about breaking it

I hate auto's with a passion.

[sy300]

My last car was a manual 300ZX, so I miss the manual g/box.

I find that a manual is easier to drive through tight, hilly roads. Especially when going downhill. I miss being able to keep it in a gear and use the accelerator to shift the weight of the car around through the corner.

Maybe I just need to get used to driving an auto, the Stagea is my first one. I still think it would be better with a manual though.

[timmmay]

the stagea will be my first auto too...my partner will be driving it mostly though coz i'm gettin a bike to use during the week for transit to work etc

i'm kinda sick of manual for now..i'm sure i'll miss it pretty quickly though

[jasevr4]

Yeah - up until now I have only had manuals. I don't really want an auto, but realistically, it's probably not a bad way to go. I can have this car for chucking bikes in the back and going on holidays.. Who wants to deal with a heavy clutch on a holiday?

What are Stageas like just for keeping simple? (as mentioned, lowered springs, exhaust and a pod filter or something). Are they pretty nice to drive stock? Would I be better off holding out for a S2?

[Ska]

Dunno, never driven a stocker or been a passenger in one, was spoilt by buying mine all modded up

[EGA41T]

i hate driving auto's and i find that tiptronics arent much better, i get bored and just dont feel like i have enough control over the car.

...just my 2cents

[Terminal]

Mine's auto, and i didn't mind the change when i first got the car 18 months ago. now i'm fed up with it and i want more response from my car, so in about 6 weeks my manual conversion will happen, as soon as my parts get here.

[CruiseLiner]

go the manuals

drove the auto (rb25) for 2 weeks and wasnt too bad i must admit (series 1 as well) and was good to launch off lights quickly, but abit gutless after that and i like to engine brake into corners and on the road in general so its abit of a pain. (though id just been driving a vs 6 banger commo auto for the past couple of years so that made it feel abit better than it actually was.

chucked the manual in and i worked out ive done 900km since the manual and rb26 went in january 05 so thats not much drivin at all but in the 900km it was an absolute ball to drive and i love slamming the next gear and throws ya back in the seat unlike the autos do. (and i wonder y i break axles in half :confused: )

manual is a must for any spirited driving unless u got sooo much power that the manual wont hold up and then i'd consider an auto with a transbrake, big stall convertor and manual valve body.

a manual gearbox is the difference between someone buying your stagea and not buying it when its up for sale as people will get the manual even if its a shit colour or has dirty seats of something as they are rare as hell. plus u can ask abit more for the car in price

each to their own i guess

[GoldZilla]

Just like Cyrus (aka Ska), I bought mine already converted to manual. The fact that it was already done was the main reason why I snapped it up. I'm just lucky that I love the colour, and that it is in really good condition.

The clutch is a six-puck (ceramic, I think) and is pretty heavy and bites HARD. The box is R32 GT-R. Apart from that and the 3" exhaust, everything is stock!

I've driven manuals all my life, and I'm not ready to give them up yet. My oldies have two autos (an '04 Camry Sportivo and an '00 Audi A4 1.8T), and my old car (a '94 Corolla manual) is now my sister's, and although she waited ages to get her licence, she hates driving auto's too.

[AlexCim]

You will find these results are not a true representation of the auto/manual ratio from the factory.

I think the true figure would be around 80:20 or maybe even 90:10 auto:manual

[CruiseLiner]

You will find these results are not a true representation of the auto/manual ratio from the factory.

I think the true figure would be around 80:20 or maybe even 90:10 auto:manual

well atleast 3 of the people who voted manual are converted autos anyway

[AlexCim]

Well, considering we are an export country of stageas (we import them) i am sure most people would want manuals, therefore import manuals, therefore skew the true representation of ratios

[Terminal]

That's true to a point, but remember all series 1's are auto, and when i bought mine, only series 1 were available.

[CruiseLiner]

That's true to a point, but remember all series 1's are auto, and when i bought mine, only series 1 were available.

very true, myself had the same situation, no series 2's on offer at all, so auto it was, and when SK bought his it was only series 1's as well.

so alot of the initial owners (trendsetters ) didnt have the option.

[AlexCim]

even when I was buying mid last year there were not many on offer. S2's were just picking up, these days S2's seem to be the go....noone wants the S1's

S2's look a lot newers, but I still love my baby heaps

[jasevr4]

Yeah I'm still trying to figure out whether or not I should save the money and get an S1, or wait a bit longer and get an S2. S2's have more power and better fuel economy from what I can tell, not to mention newer so it makes me think I should wait..........

[Ska]

Go the series 2, I hope everyone buys series 2, meaning that series 1 will be the rarer of the two.

Sorry but I actually perfer the look of the series 1 over the series two, each to thier own though.

I was under the impression that there are Series 1 RS Four S's out there......?

[timmmay]

^^ I thought so too...I swear there was one at Motovation when I went there last...maybe it was a conversion? That table of Stagea models doesn't list the series 1 as having a factory manual...but who knows, they may be wrong!

[Sydneykid]

I voted for auto, why;

1. I use mine for towing the race car, the auto is much better for towing

2. Mine gets driven a lot in the city, peak hour traffic and the auto is much better for that

3. I drag off most manuals because I can get boost holding it against the torque converter

4. In the rain with the auto and 4wd, nothing is faster

5. I have 2 manual Skylines that I can drive (race car + R33GTST) if I feel in the mood

6. The auto S1 was much cheaper than a 260RS 2 years ago when I bought it. S2 manuals were almost as much.

For what I use it for, a manual Stagea just wouldn't do the job any where near as well. Horses for courses as they say.

cheers

Edited March 2, 2006 by Sydneykid