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Looking at purchasing a Skyline after many years behind the wheel of a commo, so not 100% up to scratch with scene that well. Looking at R33 GTS-T, my question is are the auto boxes any good in terms of handling power? and is the driving experience lost in an auto powered turbo car? (have heard numerous stories over the years that auto boxes are just plain crap behind turbos)

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I got an Auto box in my line and it beats STOCK manual lines off the mark, but for trackwork (drifting ect..) it aint that great, it depends what you want really, I only got the auto cause I wanted a 4 door and to find them in a Manual is pretty hard for the price I was after But I am happy with the auto, Plus it is easy to convert them to a "quick shift".

Cheers

Chris

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auto's alright in turbo..

but manual is better if you like to drive it..

Ask yourself how often do you drive, do you drive in traffic etc.. No matter how nice it might be to have manual, if you drive in peak hour stop-start every day, it gives u the shits.

Autos are ok until you start getting to the good power stage (180-200rwkw).. then they can start to crap out with constant thrashing, unless upgraded.

Try to stay away from the "if its auto maybe one day i will convert it" .. as there is a lot of competition for the manual parts these days. Not so quick and easy.

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ok i'm going to get in here before all the manual guys jump in and say "do a manual conversion"

DON'T DO A MANUAL CONVERSION!

seriously... the auto ain't a bad thing. Its still a skyline, still makes good power, still drives well.

some people will post up that "auto's are a piece of crap" and the like (oh yes, i've seen it before), but really go and take it for a drive and you will see otherwise...

this auto vs. manual argument is just as bad as the jap vs. local debate, and makes us skyliners look as one-minded as commodore drivers

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oh, and as for aftermarket parts...

it will cost less to strengthen and upgrade the auto box than it would to upgrade a manual box

do a search on "MV automatics", they are a shop in adelaide that makes shift kits and the like for the akyline auto and many on these forums have dealt with them before wtih great results...

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At the moment i have about 140rwkw (estimated), and the auto has no troubles getting a good thrashing from 0-xx km/hr, with very smooth changes and nearly non noticeable changes at the lower revs... and not too bad at the higher ones either (7000rpm changes). It seems better than any "average" family car I have been in recently, bar the newest ones.

$1-2k will get you an autobox beefed up that should be capable of 300+rwkw and 9 second passes (and its been done in VL's), which will barely get you a decent manual box.

All that said i'm still converting mine to manual.. lol

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drive an auto and you will see that if you put your foot down that it still accelerates very hard. Great for driving around the city in stop start traffic. The auto's are actually underestimated. Even though the manual is superior as you can get more out of it (compared to a stock auto) the auto is good compromise.

Heat kills auto's so the maximum limit is around 200rwkw. Once you go above this or even if you thrash your car around at this power level for a while, there will be too much heat build up. Spend $500 and get yourself a shift kit and bigger oil cooler from mv automatics and you can handle well beyond 200rwkw.

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*sniff* An here I was like a fool thinking i was the only one driving around in a "granny" auto :mellow:

I've been asked a lot of questions like "why buy an auto skyline for?"

They soon change their tune when they've taken a ride in it.

That said, my next car will have to be a manual, after learning to drive in a manual, autos don't seem as satisfying when you're driving. I have a habit of pushing my left foot down onto the foot rest and keeping my hand on the shift lever :lol:

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*sniff* An here I was like a fool thinking i was the only one driving around in a "granny" auto  :D

I've been asked a lot of questions like "why buy an auto skyline for?"

They soon change their tune when they've taken a ride in it.

That said, my next car will have to be a manual, after learning to drive in a manual, autos don't seem as satisfying when you're driving. I have a habit of pushing my left foot down onto the foot rest and keeping my hand on the shift lever :lol:

lol at the first 2 paragraphs, coz thats exactly what happened to me, after i'd taken everyone who at first critisesed it for a ride, they mentioned nothing more about it :(

i also was lazy though..... and got my auto licence lol, and i always wated a skyline, so hence the purchasing of an auto variant, i still dont have a problem with it at all though, i personally dont think the transmission has a 90% factor of the cars overall performance :P

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ok i'm going to get in here before all the manual guys jump in and say "do a manual conversion"

DON'T DO A MANUAL CONVERSION!

seriously... the auto ain't a bad thing. Its still a skyline, still makes good power, still drives well.

some people will post up that "auto's are a piece of crap" and the like (oh yes, i've seen it before), but really go and take it for a drive and you will see otherwise...

this auto vs. manual argument is just as bad as the jap vs. local debate, and makes us skyliners look as one-minded as commodore drivers

i also fully agree with that by the way, sorry to whore the thread abit, but there all valid points, dont listen to the simple one liner comments some may post ( like waz said ), coz i would put money down half that say that havnt driven the auto variant before and jst assume its a pos. anyways thats enough from me :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

what is a turbocharged's cars biggest problem? turbo lag

you cure that by manuallly selecting the best possible gear to flow the mount, aka rev it a bit and flow some exhaust gas to spin the turbo, driving slow and wanna boot it quickly? drop to 2nd and bang its on, on the fwy and wanna smoke a another car at 100km/h drop to 3rd gear and your away.

with an auto you loose some of this "fun" and "workaround" as you have to let the autobox decide whats best for you based on engine load and throttle, sure you can move the stock yourself but there is also a noticable delay in gearchanges too

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what is a turbocharged's cars biggest problem? turbo lag

you cure that by manuallly selecting the best possible gear to flow the mount, aka rev it a bit and flow some exhaust gas to spin the turbo, driving slow and wanna boot it quickly? drop to 2nd and bang its on, on the fwy and wanna smoke a another car at 100km/h drop to 3rd gear and your away.

with an auto you loose some of this "fun" and "workaround" as you have to let the autobox decide whats best for you based on engine load and throttle, sure you can move the stock yourself but there is also a noticable delay in gearchanges too

With 1,2, power button, overdrive button, and a few functions to play with the shift points, you do actually have a bit of control over the gearing.

I'd even say that my auto powered RB20 has similar lag to a manual. Overdrive off, power button on, 1 into 2, 2 into drive, you're accelerating pretty quickly. Rev the crap into it, it holds that gear and drops only a tiny bit more revs in a manual (and a shift kit would be useful there).

I think you maybe need a ride in a fastish auto with somebody who knows how to use it a bit ;) You might be surprised. Where it is not so good is cornering, but again, the 1, 2 selection can play a part there.

But for the track, or in the mountains, a manual is definitely less frustrating in being able to get the control you are after.

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I'd even say that my auto powered RB20 has similar lag to a manual. Overdrive off, power button on, 1 into 2, 2 into drive, you're accelerating pretty quickly. Rev the crap into it, it holds that gear and drops only a tiny bit more revs in a manual (and a shift kit would be useful there).

i also got an auto...

but I don't find much need to shift gears from 1/2/D manually. when its in power mode and your flooring it the car revs out till 7-8K neway .... if you shifts yourself doesnt that jus tleave room for error?

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With 1,2, power button, overdrive button, and a few functions to play with the shift points, you do actually have a bit of control over the gearing. 

I'd even say that my auto powered RB20 has similar lag to a manual. Overdrive off, power button on, 1 into 2, 2 into drive, you're accelerating pretty quickly. Rev the crap into it, it holds that gear and drops only a tiny bit more revs in a manual (and a shift kit would be useful there).

I think you maybe need a ride in a fastish auto with somebody who knows how to use it a bit :D You might be surprised. Where it is not so good is cornering, but again, the 1, 2 selection can play a part there.

werd.

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