Ordering Automatic or Manual ??

 

Uh... This one is a no brainer to most people. :D

 

Well I'm in the 6.9% minority for practical reasons.

It's gonna be a city driver and my parents are incapable of manual driving... and its hard for me to complain since it's a damn nice car for a 17 year old.

 

Since I'm most likely going to get the Auto - do you think your parents can buy me one?

:D

 

LOL i'll be sure to ask. I really ought to have worded that differently since it won't technically be "my car." If it was it wouldn't be the auto, for one thing.

 

An automatic RX-8 is blasphemy, so I ordered the manual.

Rob

 

I'm pretty much in the same situation as laferle (I'm even 17 too!), so I'll be one of the three people who will buy the Automatic RX-8.

 

Age is not an excuse for an automatic. I learned on a manual (and I'm only 21 so it wasn't back in the stone age or anything). Once you learn to drive a manual you'll never go back to an auto unless you need to tow something or drive in traffic every morning and evening.

ESPECIALLY for a sports car. Rippin through those gears will feel great; So much more control over the car.

-Plus, you get 40 extra horsepower as an incentive??

No brainer is right!
-I'm sad that they even make an auto, but I guess it'll help sales to the manually challenged.

I'll take the 6 speed please.

 

My thoughts exactly. :D

Not to besmerch (sp?) anyone getting an auto... but isn't the fun in gettina a sports car supposed to be the manual shifting?!?

If you get the auto it's still and 8. Have fun with it. I think the 8 should not have come in an auto period. But that's just me.

 

Precisely.... This will be a daily driver, and manuals are no fun in traffic. It will never see a track, and rarely see a twisty road that's not infested with cops. And insofar as one's age; it has everything to do with it! Since I'm not the one forking over the $30K for it I need to make some concessions, and, quite simply, my parents are unable and willing to learn to drive a manual.

 

Um, I do drive in traffic every morning and every evening - but, I'm still getting a manual. It's much more enjoyable (even in traffic). AND - my wife hates driving a stick, so I'll be the only one driving this car (BONUS)!

 

I second that! "My wife can't drive stick":D :D
She pissed that I am not getting the auto!

 

My wife didn't want me to buy the car, so we divorced!!!! (Obviously this was just one final example of how the _____ was suffocating me.) She moved out Saturday!!!!!! What did it matter to her? She had only driven my car two or three times in the entire 8 years we were together.

 

I like the idea of the paddle shifter ... and I tend to enjoy eatting a late night snack of fast food while driving

Side note: Puppy1, sorry to hear about your situation ... If I had to make the same choice between a Navigator or an RX-8, I'd be doing the same thing

 

i'm probably one of the few psychotics that love to drive stick in traffic. i just like shifting...it is so fun. maybe it's because i've been driving an auto 85 civic my whole life.

how dare you eat in your rx8 :D

 

I thought it was kinda funny reading about all you guys whose wives can't drive a stick- my HUSBAND couldn't drive one! I learned on one, and then drove one all through high school, and for a while, there were a lot of fun cars I could drive that he couldn't. Of course, that excuse doesn't work any more- because the dummy went out and bought his last car with a manual, had a friend test drive it and then drive him home in it, and then dragged me out to teach him how to drive it. So now we'll be fighting over the RX-8.

 

If my wife called me "the dummy" I would slap her with a divorce so fast it would make her head spin. :D

 

:p

I didn't call him anything I don't already call him to his face

 

the 40 extra hp is a huge incentive...
but i think that everyone should learn how to drive manual, especially cuz it's not half as hard as people make it out to be. It's actually quite simple, it'll take less than a week for most people to learn it, just getting the car moving at first is the only problem. i learned from my brother how to drive manual from my brother and the next day i was already driving on the streets with relative ease. you just have to concentrate and try to learn it, and i'm sure it will make driving a lot more fun too. I was 17 when i learned how to drive manual and my brother was 21 when he learned it, so age shouldn't really matter... he picked it up quick too, so i think it's just a matter of concentration for that first few days.

 

Has to be a manual for any sports car to enable rev play.

However, I can understand city folk stuck in constant traffic opting for auto. If you can put up with pedal ache it does have value being manual.

rael.

 

Elara, you should never have let your husband buy that stick. You could've had the RX-8 all to yourself!

I think it's cool that you enjoy driving manuals. That does open up the possibilities (like, say, an RX-8 6SPD M/T).

My wife KNOWS how to drive a stick, she just doesn't like to. No argument here!

 

Elara:

Some women I know drive a manual, or at least have driven mostly manual transmission cars. I'm glad you chose one also!

I think not wanting to buy the M.T. version just because a person doesn't want to learn to drive a stick is kind of a poor excuse. I could see how some would want the auto. even if they can drive a stick, if they tend to get stuck in traffic all the time.

With that said, I'll be stuck in such situations with the 6-speed at times, and I'll like it, dammit!

 

I only have one car and its a manual and I drive through LA traffic in the morning and night. I don't see any problems. Besides it helps improve my shifting.

And I save at least 4 more miles to the gallon.

 

I also drive in hard core traffic everyday with a manual. I don't even notice because the shifting is so subconscious.

Get a headset for your cell phone and you're set.

 

My wife prefers a manual, as do I - we haven't owned an auto at all except for a brief stint with an SVX that we got from her dad (and which was only made in auto too).

In really hard core bumper to bumper traffic, an auto is nice, but I prefer a stick for moderately heavily congested 5-30mph traffic. It makes things more entertaining, and if you're anticipating, you can barely touch your brakes and modulate most of your speed via the gas pedal and engine braking.