ryanc44

I've been undecided whether to get the 6spd man or the 5spd auto. I finally tried out a 6spd the other day, and while it was fun to go through the gears on my 15 minute test drive, I'm thinking the novelty will wear off when I sit in rush hour traffic for 30 minutes every morning and every night. So I'm starting to lean towards the auto. So here are my questions:

Can you switch from "drive" to sportshift and back on the fly? Say I'm going down the freeway in drive and I want to get into sportshift mode, drop down to 4th and pass somebody, then move it back into "drive" again- will it let me do this? Unfortunately when I test drove the auto this didn't come to mind to try out. I'm also wondering if there is some kind of limiter to keep you from downshifting if the computer "feels" your RPMs will be too high? I'm sure there is, but I wonder how conservative it might be...

Regards,
Ryan C.

larchmont

Yes.

I wouldn't have thought so, but.... we've had one or two threads on this, and clear consensus was absolutely yes, without doubt.

And I've done it, and I'm still here, as is the car.

majormojo

Yes, there is a limiter that prevents you from making a downshift that would over-rev the engine. I think, but am not certain, that the limit is the redline speed. It might be a bit lower than that.

It will also force a downshift if it detects your speed is close to stalling the engine in the current gear.

XPLORx4

ryanc-

Check out these threads for more useful info. (Ironically, this was easier than typing out a response!)

Sportshift Question

Can you shift from D to sportshift?

5AT/Sportshift Question

Automatic Transmissions

***5AT LOW-END POWER -- is it there or not?***

Sequential Sportshift

TSeniorX

By all means check out the threads listed by XPLORx4. I can tell you that in my own experience I find myself using SportShift almost all the time. I think it's great, and you can always drift back into full automatic mode when you don't want to bother with it in your heavy LA traffic.

ryanc44

Thanks for the interesting thread reads. I'm definitely leaning heavily to the auto now. Maybe one more test drive will put me over the top.

Regards,
Ryan C.

Y2K4 TSX

I was sooo torn between the 6-speed Manual and the 5-speed SportShift Auto.

I've never wanted to buy a car with auto (some of my past used cars had auto, but it was because I "had no choice"), but after driving the AT on the TSX, it was almost a no brainer.

The smoothness and quickness of the shifts, the fact that the "manual shifting" mode is pretty damn good, the fact that there isn't an additional charge for the AT, and the fact that the gas economy is actually BETTER for the AT made up my mind.

Do I ever regret not having the stick? Believe it or not - no!! The car is so much fun to drive and so responsive that even if the stick is more fun, I don't feel like I'm missing out with all the benefits of the AT.

Hope that helps your decision!

XPLORx4

Just wait until your break-in period is over. It's even more fun when you can really open 'er up and go!