I am about to buy an RX8 but was leaning towards the automatic. Anyone have any opinions that may sway me towards a manual transmission?
Thanks for the replies.

 

umm 40 horses and a true sports car feel??? plus most of the mods will only be useful on the manual.. your paying the same price for a slower car makes no sense

 

im all the way for manual, like hitmann said you'll gain 40 horses and 1500rpm to redline

but it all depends on who you are, sometimes manual just isn't practical

 

Well, I'm sure I'm about to 'fly against the wind' here.. but as we own both the MT and the AT (My wife wanted an AT) I can honestly say that after driving the AT for about 250 miles today... my own opinions about the MT and AT have changed somewhat. Yes, it is less powerful (though not that much less powerful in real, day to day driving about town..) but, it's still a heck of a lot of fun to drive... and it's not that much less fun than the MT!

I actually enjoyed the benefits of the AT today a great deal. Playing with the paddles was much better than letting the AT do all the work for sure.. but in heavy Phoenix traffic during morning rush hour, it was a lot easier to drive in full Auto.. and yet still have fun!!

I know a lot of the diehard MT supporters will tell you 'this and that' about the extra benefits of MT and for the most part they are telling the truth.. but it's not as bad as you may think.. or they may lead you to believe... far from it.. The AT is still one hell of a car and still one hell of a drive for the buck!

The only way to decide for sure however, is to try both out yourself.. and look at how you drive.. and what your own needs are.. and then make the decision.

 

I would have to vote for Manual transmission all the way. My advice to the buyer: try them both, and see which suits YOU better.. everyone has an opinion, but this car is for you.. not everyone.

Just make sure you try them both, otherwise youve made a hasty decision...

 

I have an AT and it works fine for me. I usually drive in heavy traffic living in an area plagued with it. Anyhow - to each their own - I did not buy the car to go drag racing or to take it top speeds - but that's just me.

 

Nice write up, you definitely put the automatic in a different and respectable way. The only thing that really bothers me about the automatic is horsepower is less but at the same time I can understand the Automatic being a lot of fun. Today's Automatic shift so well and seem to learn the driver so well that it is not always neccessary to get a manual to enjoy the car.

With that said, I have the Manual and highly recommend it, I really love how long the gears are and how high the redline is. It really lets you rev out the gears and it also lets you stay in a gear longer when casual driving.

 

I totally agree and not just because I am waiting for my AT to arrive. It really is personal choice and your reason for buying such a sporty, cool vehicle. If you are looking for the horsepower and the full sports car experience, go for the MT.

If it is a toss up... you need to drive both and decide.
Good luck with your decision.

 

I vote for the MT. I'll have one until my left leg or other physical issue prevents it. I just feel more connected to the car. Makes driving more enjoyable for me even in the entertaining traffic in the Va/DC/Baltimore area.
This is your car. try both
Get what you like!
It's a great car either MT or AT.... It's an 8 enough said.

 

I've actually done tests with both. Yes, the MT has a higher redline, and yet, shorter gears. The AT has a shorter redline, but longer gears. The end result? The time it takes to go to redline is pretty similar, and yes, this was on the same patch of road. The only difference in the end is the 40 hp hit that you take. Of course, if you don't mind that, the rest of the car, namely the ride, the suspension, the interior, is all the same. Try it and see how you like it.

I've driven both, my AT and a friend's MT. Yes, the MT is supposedly easier to mod, but only relatively speaking. If you look at the general picture, the 8 in general is pretty hard to mod; even after a year, we haven't seen any reliable mods that produce 20+ hp other than ECU tuning, and that can be done on both the AT and the MT. The intakes are iffy, the exhausts are somewhat iffy, and they cost too much for the hp increase, IMO.

The reason I bought MY AT? Simple...I live in San Jose, I go to school in Berkeley. Sometimes, the commute is during the day, sometimes the commute is at 2 am in the morning. At that ungodly time where I'm driving, I REALLY don't want to be shifting gears; I just KNOW I'm going to grind something and screw up and end up paying for a new transmission. So, in my mind, the 40 hp hit was very reasonable.

Some ppl will say that the AT has more torque. I don't think that should be a factor in choosing one or the other either. Just think about what you're going to be using the car for. Anytime someone goes, "AT??? Pathetic" I just smile, and say, "I can still go much faster than you can in the corners and kick your @$$"

Furthermore, if you want to go fast, think about it this way. The key to going fast in a rotary engine has never been about power; rather, it's always been about the agility of the car. When I was looking for the car, I knew that I wanted a very nimble car, as that's how I drive. A beginner goes fast on the straights, an expert goes fast on the corners. In that respect, combined with the conditions for my driving, I made the handling of my future car top priority, and the power second. The AT RX-8 just made sense.

Hopefully this helps.

 

Being a AT owner , I think Mag66 view is right own. I am enjoying my AT for its comfort and power . I to can say that its not THAT slow if you paddle If i am first at light i use the shifts.You just need the space in front of you to be clear, because the car just keeps going.

 

I don't have an 8 yet. I hope to pick mine up this weekend. It is a Velocity Red 6MT. I wanted the manual transmission because I have always thought that a hot car should have a manual transmission and the thought of losing 40 hp was almost unbearable. I will be driving it every day, weather permitting, and I usually have a little bit of stop and go traffic in the course of my 8 mile commute each way. But I also live in the mountains, and I can't wait to drive some of the roads around here with the MT. That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

 

In defense of the AT, the HP loss is not going to show itself until you get into the higher revs. The power bands are essentially identical at the low end. The AT was $1500 less when I purchased mine; I've heard some people reporting amazing prices on the AT. Just unbelievable.

Still, if I had it to do over again, I'd definitely go with the MT, just because I'm curious as to what all the fuss is about. Putting down a bit of rubber once in a while would be fun.

 

megareds, trust me, you're not missing too much. I think that when you get a car that's as good as the 8, whether you get an AT or the MT, the bottleneck on how fast you can go is no longer the car, it's the driver. In that respect, yes, sometimes the car can help you along, pushing you to be faster, but you're still not unlocking its full potential. I know my track times have not gotten within a couple of seconds of each other, so i know that I can still get better with this car.

 

You didn't mention if you already knew how to drive manual or not...

If you don't, and this were to be your first manual car, and you plan on keeping this car for a few years...I'd make it a high priority to find a way to actually drive a manual car for a few days to a week, just to see if you actually like driving a manual car. Let me tell you my own long sad story.

Just two weeks ago, I went into my dealer with the intention of either getting a Mazda3 or an RX-8. I was pretty much up on the fence as to whether I'd get an auto or manual for either car. I primarily wanted the RX-8, but this dealership just couldn't seem to keep them in stock, and sitting right in front of me was a beautiful Winning Blue Mazda3 with MT. I decided what the heck, it's a lot cheaper if anything and it sure looked good, might as well go with that. Up to that point, I had gotten just one hour of MT experience...enough to test drive a MT car. I figured I'd pick up the rest of the skills along the way.

So I drove it for about a week. I managed to even get pretty good at driving it smoothly. And by the end of the week, I found myself just utterly disappointed with MT. I just couldn't see what was so "fun" about it. If anything, I found myself getting quite stressed out everytime I drove the car. My street attention went from being 90% focused to probably about 60% focused...I just found my mind being occupied by that "zen" state of listening to the engine/watching the tach, shifting, rev matching, clutch/accelerator smoothness, etc.

I also discovered that MT probably wasn't for me from a physical standpoint either. Everytime I finished driving, my right hip would hurt like crazy from having to tense up my leg to adjust the accelerator to keep the ride smooth.

In the end, I ended up taking the car back to the dealer and using it as a trade in towards an automatic RX-8, as it just wasn't working out for me. I'm now just simply waiting for one damn expensive RX-8 to arrive. Sure I can now drive manual...but I'm pretty sure I'm never buying another one for the rest of my life, now that I know what it's like.

With that said, I don't think I'll be giving up what the RX-8 is primarily about by getting the AT version...which is handling. I personally get my giggles from being able to zip around the city and take sharp turns and corners at 20-30+ MPH without feeling like I'm going to flip the car. I'm not into the whole 0-60 thing myself, especially not when it's well known the RX-8 isn't the best for drag racing regardless of whether it's AT or MT. So to me, even by getting the AT, I'm still getting what the RX-8 is best at...it's insane handling. And of course its looks.

 

Nice post Vertigo-1. I knew I would get tired of shifting if I get a manual so I got the auto. I am pretty lazy.

 

Getting tired of shifting is another key point. I certainly found that happening to me as I drove around in that 3. I'd come up to a stop sign and just start wishing I didn't have to do the whole cruise to the stop in neutral, hold clutch in, launch the car again, risk stalling...

I think part of what made MT stressful for me too was the fact that the ride was never linear. Every single shift would be different, sometimes I'd get it right, sometimes I'd screw up. I knew that even if I could get really really good at MT, I could still screw up. And with every screw up, I'd get more and more irritated and annoyed. Just not something I want to live with in the long run.

I do think it's still an interesting experience. Come to think of it, if I could afford it, I'd be great to have a daily AT car, and have a fun MT car for nightime/weekends.

 

Just my 2cents worth, but I would always go for a manual.

My wife's car is an Audi Allroad and we got it with the triptronic since it was a demo and a great deal. I'm still regretting that descision. I should have paid more and gotten the 6 speed. I hate the loss of car control that

I drive my 8 MT to work everyday in traffic and shifting doesn't bother me. Eventualy it becomes second nature and you don't really need to think about it unless your stopped on a steep hill.

But then again, this is a very personal choise. Test both cars and see what you like.

Either way the 8 is great car.

 

I have never had a MT before on a car. I have an Yamaha R6 and obviously have to shift. With that said I wasn't sure if I wanted to be shifting all the time and have to teach someone else how to drive it.
It's a tough decision but I figure in the end I'll still have an RX8.
Thanks.