Automatic or Manual - Which is faster?

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Hi folks,

Just wanted your opinion on whether an automatic is faster than a manual transmission w.r.t 0-60, 0-100, 1/4 mile etc.

Are automatics with over 2.0 litre engines are faster than their manual counterparts especially if they have 5 speed gearbox and a sports option that lets them hold the engine rpm longer?

The only disadvantage of the automatic transmissions is their FE.


Or does it all depend on the car, the segment it is aimed at, etc etc.


Thanks

[nitrous]

Conventionally, manuals are faster.
The newer DSG gearboxes in the VWs and the twin clutch technologies are faster than manual. about 0.6 seconds to change gears.

I would anyday prefer manual with paddle shifters.

[akshay1234]

well it depends from car to car. it cars like say a civic the manual would be faster but in a car with a dsg like nitrous pointed out the auto would be quicker as in the case of the bmw m3.

[abhinav.gupta88]

The laura automatic (DSG) is faster than the manual one by 0.3 Seconds ( a 0-100 Speed)

[VJ_MAVRICK]

I somehow like Manual shifts as compared to the automatic transmission and in my personal opinion i feel in Manual transmission there is better control (My experience and opinion and others might differ) having driven both the variants.

[theMAG]

It depends on the application/car. An F1 car's gear shifts happen much faster than a passenger car's auto gear shifts, for instance.

[rahuldeodhar]

Hey,

For most cars in India - its manual all the way - But automatics are catching up - Its not a question of speed - the machine can do it faster than us - but changing gears is question of judgment and computer processors CPUs in newer automobiles are getting better and better inputs- it wont be long when automatics will take over.

The key question is however - which transmission would you prefer - and for my (semi -city) kind of driving - I would prefer manual any day. I have no problem changing gears upteen times! but then thats me!

RD

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Originally Posted by theMAG

It depends on the application/car. An F1 car's gear shifts happen much faster than a passenger car's auto gear shifts, for instance.

Well, thats what i think too. Infact the F1 autos only prompted me to start this thread!

Originally Posted by abhinav.gupta88

The laura automatic (DSG) is faster than the manual one by 0.3 Seconds ( a 0-100 Speed)

Originally Posted by nitrous

Conventionally, manuals are faster.
The newer DSG gearboxes in the VWs and the twin clutch technologies are faster than manual. about 0.6 seconds to change gears.

I would anyday prefer manual with paddle shifters.

I would prefer manual for the track and autos for my daily drive

Originally Posted by akshay1234

well it depends from car to car. it cars like say a civic the manual would be faster but in a car with a dsg like nitrous pointed out the auto would be quicker as in the case of the bmw m3.

[supremeBaleno]

I believe a manual would be faster vis-a-vis an auto, everything else remaining the same.

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Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I believe a manual would be faster vis-a-vis an auto, everything else remaining the same.

No SB, there are some autos that are faster than their manual counterparts. Thats why i started this thread. Also auto shifting is more consistent than manual shifts and thats why F1 uses auto shifts too.

I too believed like you did that manuals are faster until one day when i ..

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I believe a manual would be faster vis-a-vis an auto, everything else remaining the same.

That is theoretically I have found that in an AT, the time taken to change gears is eliminated. Also, driver response time may be more in a manual (evaluaating the situation and then changing gears). Perhaps a 0-100 kmph time would be lower in a manual, but say a quick acceleration from 20/30 kmph would be faster in an AT. My own opinion only.

[aaggoswami]

Generally Manual cars are faster.

However the new generation DSG ( also available in Laura ) and dual clutch gearboxes prove to be faster than manual.

In any case, manual is the best transmissio to have as we have far more control on the vehicle.

[Sankar]

If we are talking about Automated Manual Transmission and Manual Transmission then the former would be much faster. Cars without viscous coupling and not CVT would fall under this category.

If it's between Automatic Transmission (with Torque Converter) and Manual Transmission then the latter generally would be much faster. Cars with viscous coupling (Torque Converter) would fall under this category.

So where would CVTs fit?

I voted for Manual Transmissions.

[snaronikar]

Manual gears tends to give that sudden thrust when you shift to lower gear while you need sudden acceleration whereas auto does give the thrust but less compared to manual tranmission. I would prefer manual in highways and AT inside city.

[sudev]

My $0.02 worth...
Having kept both manual and AT Esteem for over 1.5lac kms each and brought within days of each other...Manual was faster on pickups but surprisingly AT ended up with higher top speed. Go figure.
Manual Esteem gives almost same top speed on 4th and 5th. I think it is power and gearing that has the last say instead of engine redlining.
Could be different for other cars.