Manual Or Auto?

[dre]

I havent seen any gt on the road yet, If I bought a gt it would be white. Post up pics when you get it.

[Henz]

Ive seen a white GT 335, looked great, except for the wheels, had to really look to see that it was a 335 when it was moving, then when it slowed down those wheels

[dre]

Must admit those wheels didn't do anything for me either. I still wonder if I should have purchased the gt but with the money I saved buying an f6 im happy

[Bomber]

Sorry, I meant the GT or the F6 (my mistake)..

Anyway.. with all the replies to go manual; I'm really keen on going manual. I mean, for the 6T, there was no question to go the Auto; boost between gear changes, and just a better drivetrain. I always said to myself if I go for a V8, I'd get a manual.

BUT, and a big BUT at that; half of you recommending the manual; have you actually driven an FG in Manual? The clutch is hard to push, the gears need to be "locked" into place (it's like pushing something wit a tight rubber-band around it; it fights back).

And for those that say choosing an auto is a "lay back do whatever the car wants"; I completely disagree. Firstly, you have sequential shift, which means you can change gears as much as a manual can. My FG XR6T is an Automatic, and having the amount of KW at the rear wheels on it, I simply cannot drive it in Drive or Performance Mode when giving it a foot-flat acceleration. The traction comes on and it keeps knocking the gear changes all over the place. With Sequential Shift, I can keep in first, then change when I want to when launching it, and it won't flick all over the place.

So, am I lazy for buying an Auto? Are others lazy for having an Auto? No, they're not.. In fact, having anything with boost and an auto is a smart thing.

I'm leaning more towards the manual after reading replies and hearing the car again today (a dealer in town has a manual demonstrator that always goes past my work during lunch hour), and it does sound nice. I don't know how the automatic would sound, but I'd assume it wouldn't have that "whaaaa stop".. put put put "whaaa" sound (of gear changing)..

Anyway.. still as confused as the start of the thread.. :(

Anyone driven the FG and find the gears in the manual a bit hard to manage?

The V8 will sound better with the manual but it's a tough choice. The fact is, the manual box is a known dog. Hope it doesn't have all of it's known problems. When you also consider they've beefed up and further refined the ZF, it makes it hard. Seemless smooth shifter against, well, nuff said. Good luck mate, car should be great.

[Roof]

White and manual - good choice mate

[01txr]

Lucky bastard GT, white & manual.

Yes not keen on wheels either but atleast they are not the gts wheels.

Put them away and get some nice big fat rubber on it.

[cranny]

The V8 will sound better with the manual but it's a tough choice. The fact is, the manual box is a known dog. Hope it doesn't have all of it's known problems. When you also consider they've beefed up and further refined the ZF, it makes it hard. Seemless smooth shifter against, well, nuff said. Good luck mate, car should be great.

what do u mean when u say known dog for the manual I was under the impression the Manual was actually stronger I am in a similar situation and want to know all issues with manual.

[01txr]

T56 handles more power.

If you want serious power and auto you go either power glide or C4.

The T56 hasn't any more problems than any other manual gearbox, the usual problems are the clutch not handling the power.

Just fit a clutch that will.

Other than that the input shaft is a problem area if you want to use it on a circuit, apparently the Late model camira shaft is a stronger shaft and being used.

Look up Brian Lords Nizpro monster and many other extreme powered Turbo falcons and you will find either a T56 or Glide or C4 in them.

Mine you all these cars run beefed up versions of the gearbox of choice.

Bomber maybe you are referring to the t5 box as yes it's a known dog as you call it.

The T56 is to me the best manual I have driven in my life and I have own many different manual cars, I have owned auto cars as well and did like the big stall v8 cortina I built but even still I missed having a manual.

The T56 feels very positive in it's gates with nice feel that you can feel it slotting into gear, yes it is stiffer than a ricer box but I like it that way, my daughters r33 shift just feels so plastic and sloppy in comparisment.

My TX5 turbo and TX3 were not to bad bit better than the skyline but still soft on the gates prone to breaking 2nd cog. My VW beetles where pretty good though after I had fitted shortened quick shifts never broke one and gave them so much torture especially the baja's going off road doing mad stuff like jumps and bush bashing.

My Falcons with Toploader boxs where very slow and easy to miss gears.

My 6cyl cortina's with borgwarner 4speeds where reasonably smooth but suffered front bearings (fixed by fitting the toploader front bearing) they where also bad for ripping the lever out of box and smashing 2nd cog.

As I have said, had lots of manual cars and there was a few others not in that list and the T56 is best by far.

The T5 that was originally in my BA was not bad but started to strain once I fitted my exhaust with tune and few other mods.

T5 Internals are a lot smaller and weaker then T56.

My T56 is a BF version so I would dare say the new FG box should even be a better box again.

God dam thinking about it, man I have owned a lot of vehicles.

Think this T is the longest I have kept a car, probably be my last to unless someone wants to buy me a new GT or I get a better paying job.

[jimmixr]

I started reading ypor post with interest... great interest I must say.

Then you start comparing the manual in the FG with the likes of the toploader and single rail borgwarner?!?!

You clearly havent driven alot of "good" manual gearboxes

Start talking BMW M3 or M5 !

Any S series Audi.. merc etc..and then and only then can you draw a comparison on just how good or bad the box in the FG is.

I can tell you now.. from experiece... they are crap.. in such company. Slow and baulky. Sorry, but that's just fact.

Manual or auto? It just comes down to preference.. simple!

I can never undestand it when members get on here and ask for other peoples opinion?!?!

Go out and drive one.. drive two... then drive it again... youll get to know what flips your lid

Edited 17/01/11 09:29 PM by RHR
No need to quote above post. USE FAST REPLY

[cranny]

isnt that the purpose of the entire forum to get peoples individual views on certain topics so when I do go out and drive one we can swap notes on what I thought was good bad etc

some people miss certain little things on test drives compared to someone who has owned the car for 12 months. I myself need a car for at least a week to pick up all its faults and trust me I will find them. I have driven the likes of mercs c63 e55s ects snd also M3s (my Boss has one) and trust me these cars have there faults too. remembering the price diff over 100k. and from memory the Corvette run a t6060 and so does the Aston Martin & the GT 500 mustang they cant be that bad.

sorry I have uncontrollable rants

Cheers