GT manual vs auto

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GT manual vs auto

Postby bgclark77 » Mon May 30, 2016 8:30 am

Hi all, apologies if this is in the wrong topic. I'm on the search for a post facelift GT wagon & are curious on people's opinion of the auto's. I know this will be fairly subjective depending the driver.

I've owned an auto SS bogandore years ago & hated it due to it's inability to select the right gear whenever I planted the right foot. Now driving a manual wrx & love it, but have recently started commuting in traffic for an hour plus each way for work.

I guess the question is, are the Suby auto's any good with the manual shifting when I want to "drive" the car? From what I can tell, the SI drive settings have a part to play in this too??

The idea of the 6 speed manual does sound damn nice tho.

Thanks for any info.
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Re: GT manual vs auto

Postby bigBADbenny » Mon May 30, 2016 10:54 am

The shift action of the auto can be improved with a tune but box upgrades eg valve body ect reqd for 220 wkw over.
The 6mt is grouse tho & can be upgraded too with short shifter etc.
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Re: GT manual vs auto

Postby Legacylad » Mon May 30, 2016 8:32 pm

Factory tune with the auto is bloody terrible.
When I bought my post facelift GTB auto I was pretty dissapointed with how it drove. If you planted your foot the auto would down shift, rev really hard with no power going to the wheels, then up shift again leaving you about where you were in the first place acceleration wise.
Had my car tuned by Matt and have been super happy with it ever since. The auto behaves like I would have hoped when I bought the car and the paddle shift works well also.
An auto turbo car is always a compromise, but can still be very enjoyable with the right tune.
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Re: GT manual vs auto

Postby alexeiwoody » Mon May 30, 2016 9:20 pm

Ultimately this depends on what you're after from the car.

If you want the fun factor, or if you're looking to make some decent power from it (built engine, big turbo etc) - go the manual. There is no compromise in performance/power delivery and strength. The manual will always feel better just a little better, no matter what you do to the auto.

If you're after a quick daily driver, that will keep the stock engine, and might get the occasional hill run - the auto is a good choice too. The 5EAT is a great box, as far as autos go. A modified auto lib will still beat a similarly modded manual in a straight line, just won't feel as direct.

If direct feel is everything to you - choose the manual.

And as always....test drive the car to see for yourself.
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Re: GT manual vs auto

Postby fedaykin » Tue May 31, 2016 11:47 am

Sadly that directness is a little less in the 5th gens, with a bloody cable shifter!
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Re: GT manual vs auto

Postby Cougz » Mon Jun 06, 2016 11:31 am

I drive an 07 GTB auto.
It's not stock (has a VF52 trubo, TBE, tune), but seems like the transmission is pretty much the stock tune (which I hope to change in the future).

In "drive", the auto is okay for general driving around but can be a little sluggish to respond to your right foot... then outright ballistic as it will drop down 2 gears if you plant your foot. Great for half throttle cruising around the city.
However, in manual mode (using the paddles) it behaves pretty well and you'll want to put it in manual mode for any spirited driving. It downshifts quickly and smoothly. It'll hold the gear as long as you want unless you hit the limiter, in which case it will automatically up-shift. Great fun in the mountains but I still would prefer a manual in that situation. It won't up-shift if you are on boost at WOT, it'll wait until redline (I assume this is part of the tune and also to allow torque to taper off a little before it shifts to play nice with the transmission, but I'm not 100% sure).

I did drive a manual GT as well and the auto is definitely not as "direct" due to the torque converter, but still damn quick and "smoother" in general.
I'd recommend a test drive.
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Re: GT manual vs auto

Postby Manaz » Sun Jun 12, 2016 5:00 pm

bgclark77 - where are you based? If you're in Sydney, we can try to catch up at some stage if you'd like, and you could see how my car behaves.

I've got a similar car to Cougz - MY09 GT Spec.B with VF52, TBE and tune.

I did GPS-verified 0-100km/h in 5.2 seconds recently. The car is quick.

I also melted the paint right off the calipers at Eastern Creek on turn two (once I figured out the right line for turn one) - the auto's great for straight-line speed, but you just don't get the engine-braking from it that you get from a manual, and so you're a lot harder on brakes than you would be in a manual.

A good tune (I've got a tune by Matt, aka Kido_Tune) helps the auto a lot - as I understand it, Matt can't tune the TCU (transmission control unit) itself, but he can ensure that the ECU feeds the TCU good data - and that helps a lot. The 5EAT behaviour is very different after one of Matt's tunes - it's still not perfect, but it's a lot better.
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