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2005 S Chilli R53 Manual or Sport Auto?

2K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Rrotz 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone, I'm new to the forums and it's time to get a new used car and I've always wanted a MC. I can't decide on the manual or sport automatic transmission.

I'm American first of all, but living in Australia. No traffic here, alot of twisty coast roads and some fabulous drives. I've always had manual's except for an 2005 Infiniti G35 which was a sports auto but I hated the tranny.

What's the consensus on the 6 spd manual or auto? Is the gear ratio going to have me shifting thru gears constantly? Is the sports auto smooth in Drive and also responsive and smooth in steptronic? Is manual necessary to experience the full fun of the MC? Hope to hear many opinions and feedback.
 
#2 ·
Part of the fun of a manual is shifting up and down the box, especially on fast windy roads like you say you have there, but if youre going to be travelling on wide straight motorways most of the time you may as well have an auto as you wont be changing gear much.

Autos are ok on large executive cars where the box doesnt sap the power, but on small cars they are for the elderly who have leg and hip problems, thats how I look at it anyway.
 
#4 ·
We went through the same thought pattern a few weeks ago and took a 2006 Cooper Park lane for a spin with the CVT Auto. Hated the way it changed, it flared and carried on weird.

A few weeks later spotted a 2006 Cooper S park lane, and found out that the Cooper S in the 2006 had the real 6 speed auto instead of the computer preprogrammed CVT.

The drive was astoundingly different. One thing I did notice though was the changes in normal automatic mode were quite odd, sometimes revving very high with very little throttle. I tried leaving it in full auto mode and manually changing when I believed it should and now it seems to be working great.

The wife is driving it in full auto mode, but I am driving it in manual using the paddle shift and an loving it! :big_grin:
 
#5 ·
The wife has a cooper s convertible with auto. It's great for where we live, traffic and more traffic. On the open road it's turns into a different beast with the different options to choose from. It has paddle shift, sequential auto, moving the stick back and forth, full auto and sport auto that holds the gears a bit longer to use the revs. Downside is, fuel consumption, only about 28 mpg average and a strange behaviour when going downhill. It wants to change down to use engine braking and ends up revving it's nuts off, which I find unpleasant.
 
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