Great Point!!

 

A4's are for old peeps, go M6!! Been there and done it, you got a lot of time to get old.

 

I have an MN6 and probably won't go back to automatic. In the vette I like the Manual because it comes stock with a 342 gear..this is a good gear to start with...with the automatic it comes with a poopy 273 gear,,and 315 gear is an option. There is nothing wrong with an automatic ...they are much easier to launch off the line...
however if you ever think of modding the gears,,you have to reprogram your computer/spedo, with a Manual this is not needed. so since I am talking out of both side of my mouth , I'll stop now

you should really test drive both if there is anyway you can...there is know other way of knowing what you will like.

 

I had a Z28 (w/ LS1 motor) with an auto and the auto took away most of the fun factor...... Being able to control your own gear selection is a big part of the sports car fun factor. If the computer is controlling the tranny you can't predict what is going to happen in corners and etc. My vette is a manual. I'd never buy another auto in a sports car again. It is way more fun to pick your own gears and there is just something satisfying about rowing through them, even when you're just putting around.

 

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that it is more the driver than the transmission type.

An excellent driver in an A4 could out drive an average driver in a NM6. The better driver will always prevail, in an auto or a stick.

I say get what you are most comfortable with, and learn to drive it at its limits and you will have fun!


AZC5

 

I started with an auto and did a manual conversion. I like the 6 speed much more except for when I get caught in the wonderful Atlanta traffic.

 

Excellent answer!

 

if you are dating and need your right hand to serve your girlfriend/s, get the A4. If you are married or in long time relationship where your right hand has no desire of doing anything nor wanted, get the MN6.

we all hate to admit but it is so darn true that our lives evolve around the females...

 

get the MN6. All the cars i've ever driven have been stick and would have it no other way. I have also driven alot in Philadelphia, driving stick becomes sub-concious when your in traffic.

Bananas you just need to learn how to shift using your elbow

 

I've lived in Southern California all my adult life, experienced lots of traffic, and have always driven stick-shift cars. These cars don't have heavy clutches, and you're young, don't sweat it. If you're complaining about clutch effort in a C5, you need to start taking the stairs more often.

 

If you drive hard, with a manual expect a new clutch about every 30,000 miles, and pray you never have serious transmission problems. My experience is that manual transmission work is approximately three times as much as comparable repairs on an auto.

The auto and the 2.73 rear end give you tremendous mileage on the highway and expressway (30 mpg on expressway is common).

In the late 60's the hot GM transmission at the drag strip for high torque engines was the heavy duty 3 speed (offered in the GTO). In a high torque engine the extra shift resulted in lost time and a higher ET, so lots of 4 speeds were scrapped for 3 speeds by the fast guys. You need a 6 speed in a 1600cc Toyota to keep the revs up in the narrow range where the engine makes what little power it can, not a 5700cc Corvette.

Now you could concievably tune a Vette engine so that it made good power only at a narrow, high rpm range as is commonly done in racing, and then a 6 speed would make good sense but then you have to run WFO everywhere, which simply ain't practical.

I occassionally like to shift gears, but unless you put at least a 4:11 or lower rear end in the car by the time you have wound the car out in 2nd you are already at speeds that will get you major prison time. Short shifting a Vette would be fun only to someone who has never driven a car with a floor shift much.

Then again some of GM's automatics have been major losers. I had a 2 speed powerglide in a '66 396SS Malibu that would't last 20,000 miles, and I had a '82 4 speed with a pencil thin OD shaft that broke easily under strain and then would trash all the gears (I replaced that one 4 times before a GM tech told me it was a design flaw that should have been recalled).

I like both; and if they still offered a Corvette with a carbureted engine without an electronic ignition that I could push start with a dead battery, I would buy a manual (all of the other sports cars and muscle cars I have owned were manuals).

 

 

It is a personal choice I perfer a 6spd with a Vette. Not a hard car to drive with the 6spd. I think there are more automatics than manuals in the C5 cars LT

 

Auto's great, too much shifting with a 6 speed.
I had a '63 for 32 years with a 4 speed. That wasn't too bad but 6 speed I'd leave to the racers.
I also get excellent gas mileage with it.

 

I've had two G.M. 6 speeds (z28 and 99 vette) too much shifting around town and noisey when in neutral with clutch pedal out,love my A4 with 3:15's barks 2nd gear at will,from 45 mph hit passing gear and hit 100mph in the blink of an eye.

 

I currently own a manual but I would have to say that you would have to drive both to get a good impression of both,It makes a difference if you are driving it as an everyday driver or not-an everyday driver in stop and go traffic,I would be a little aprehensive about buying a manual(IMO)-

 

:
You'd have to be abusing the clutch really bad to wear it out in 30,000 miles. And speaking generally about transmissions, automatics usually fail more often than manuals. How do you think Mr. Transmission stays in buisness. The M6 in 6th gear on the freeway turns around 1600 rpm at 80 mph. It gets over 30 mpg.

 

I have a 1999 6-speed but since you are looking for a used Vette which ever one you can get the best deal is what I'd look at. I love the 6-speed but I miss doing burn outs in the Auto and watching all that white smoke go by.

 

I always liked the 6 speed but due to a wrist injury and several ooerations last year i was forced to sell my 6 speed and by an auto it was that or let the car sit in the garage or even worse let my wife drive it.....so i traded and never looked back glad i did now i can still enjoy one of the finest sports cars made.

 

I just traded my '94 auto for a '02 6-spd. I recommend that you at least drive both.