Hey Acura buddys. I need your advice... I am in the process of ordering my 05 TL in a couple of weeks and I am undecided on what type of drivetrain I want. I test drove the automatic many times and the manual once. And you can definately feel the difference in the manual. For ex: I was looking at the 06 325i and you can actually feel the difference between their sportshift and acura's. It seems like you don't get the true effect from the sportshift mode. I am definately against BMW because everything is basically an option. SUCKS! Anyways if you guys were me and live in the Chicago area and deal with traffic every now and then, which transmission would you get? I will decided depending upon how many votes I get! Thanks everyone.....

 

dont know whats up with the help/help again, but go for the stick!!!

 

Go with an automatic. Torque steer is a really bad with the 6MT. It will be a bear to drive around in the winter snow without spining wheels all over the place.

 

6MT, but in Houston I will never see any frozen precip...

 

It still amazes me when people complain about the torque steer in this car. I had more in my 04 Max auto than with my 6spd TL! A BEAR? Do a few curls or something, good lord. I have a 6spd TL and two other cars, both auto. Here is the honest scoop: if you have even a few traffic jams on a regular basis, get the auto. I rarely take my TL to DC for this reason. The stick just isn't fun hammering forward and stopping 50 ft at a time. If you live in a mostly open area, the stick will be much more fun and a pleasure to own.

 

6mt

 

I live near DC and my afternoon commute of 24 miles sometimes ends up over 2 hours, needless to say I drive an auto. Get what fits your situation

 

JackSprat has the right idea, but I have driven both and the difference is very apparent. 6MT is just so much fun to drive, its not quite the same on the 5AT. But if you have a lot of stop and go on a daily basis, it can get annoying. All in all, I got 6MT and I love it.

 

Part of the reason we got the stick was the various complaints about the auto trans cars.
The transmission failures, and the vibration issues with auto trans cars.

You also get MUCH faster accleration, less noise, more fun, and a much
smoother idle with the manual trans cars.
The smoother idle is from the stress being off the motor mounts.

We only test drove one auto trans car, a brand new one that still had
the plastic all over everything, and it might not have had a chance for
the transmission ecu to adapt, but the motor was much louder, it seemed
to downshift a lot and early, running the revs up into the noise zone, where the
manual trans you could use the ample power below 3500 rpm to acclerate
briskly without any motor noise.
Sure, you get a lot more power above 4500 rpm, but during regular
driving, you dont need to go up there, above 2500 the engine pulls
strongly, and makes enough power to out acclerate most cars flowing
with traffic.

As far as my wife and I were concerned, the auto TL had no real advantages
over many main streem cars like the lacross, the accord, etc, the stick
makes the car.

Make sure you take long test drives, and get out on the interstate..

Brett

 

I say go with the 6MT

 

Rosstalian? Just what are those poll questions/choices supposed to mean?

Do you need them changed?

 

Coming from an 04 Max Auto as well and with you 110%! I really hated that car, eventhough I got compliments nearly everyday. whenever I would get a compliment I would think to myself "I bet you wouldn't say that if you drove it!" 2004 Maxima = boat with torque steer.

 

my old 2000 tl auto = boring..
my 2005 tl 6MT =

just my opinion!

O

 

Get the 6MT. I drive in DC traffic every day and I don't know why some people think it would be such a problem. Both of my cars are manual shift (in fact, I've never owned an automatic). I did test-drive both the 5AT and the 6MT and concluded that, once you get used to the clutch, the 6MT is far more fun. In fairness, I never seriously considered the 5AT and test-drove it only because Radley normally doesn't give test-drives in the 6MT unless you specifically insist.

 

Where in DC? You like the beltway around Springfield? It took me 30 minutes to go 2 miles this weekend at the mixing bowl. I hated it and so did my TL. Either you don't travel there much or you are a masochist.

 

people do complain about torque steer too much.

FWD=torque steer. it's the problem when u have 2 wheels moving the car forward and steering for you. imagine driving a 400 whp turboed prelude. want to know the torque steer i got? everytime i launched and it wanted to go left and right. i know enough to not let it go anywhere :P hold it hard and shift fast.

 

6mt = more WHP and Brembos
Manual it is.

 

Definitely stick!

 

I think lots of people do like 6mt, because its the minority choice overall sometimes. I'm not saying that it is NOT the actual preference of many, but when it comes down to it, those that tend to post on this forum tend to be those that are enthusiasts. Enthusiasts naturally gravitate towards the 6mt.

 

6speed MT for sure.

 

Auto... You'll have the best of both worlds because you'll still have the SS

 

I have driven the SS and it is not only sloppy but doesn't perform any better than the regular auto.

Do not make the assumption that shifting and the joy of driving don't include a real clutch.

 

depends on your needs and tastes. Drive both as much as you can, and see what works best. I much perfer manual cars. However, I live in the SF bay area, I have messed up knnes and bad hip, so I got an auto. Manual would have been fun, but for a daily driver sedan, the auto TL works well.

 

NOT the same as the stick. I had the tiptronic in my auto Maxima, and I stopped using it after a while.

 

Ha ha, I got compliments too; I actually liked the car (it's no TL though) but my wife really hated it....she said fighting against it's torque steer was like "wrestling an alligator." Luckily for me, it was at least a very safe car and the insurance company bought it back the hard way!

 

I go straight up Van Dorn to Seminary and I get on I-395 there, over the 14th Street Bridge to the 12th Street exit.

 

What's the weather like today? Since this thread is going nowhere, I thought I would help...

 

the 6MT/5AT debate will rage forever. I love 6MT's so I bought one. But I think in this guys case, considering weather in Chicago and torque steer issues inherent in FWD cars, an AT would be his best choice.

 

if you live in a city like LA, get the auto!

 

Good question for a poll "Auto or Stick?" but how do you get any meaningfull results with "Help" and "Help Again"?

 

Definitely get the "Help". Only go with "Help Again" if that doesn't work.

I deal with stop-and-go traffic in the Chicago area every day. I'd been driving stick in this area for 18 years, but traffic has been steadily increasing and it just wasn't any fun anymore, so one of the reasons I bought the TL was specifically to get an automatic.

I do very occasionally miss rowing my own, but it's far more often that I'm sitting in traffic and grateful that I don't have to bother with shifting.

Mike

 

What the hell happened??!! What hit you? a tank?? I assume thats a total.

At least the rims are sill intact

 

I have one of each. Mine's an '04 manual and my wife's (which is jointly owned) is an '05 automatic.

The auto is nice for an auto.. if that is your pleasure. But the manual is in a different league. Certainly, buy what you want, but a manual is in consideration, most definitely give it a try.

 

Heh heh, ya think? YES it was totalled...less than six months old so the Gekko coughed up full replacement value. But when they buy it, you don't get to keep the rims! LOL I had pretty bad whiplash but walked away. Luckily the cute girl in the back in this photo wasn't with me at the time. I was just waiting to turn left and a full size chevy pickup hit me at about 45mph. He must have been hitting the crack pipe, who knows?

 

Stick

 

6spd!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I love the 6 speed but I lived someplace where I was in stop and go traffic a lot I think I'd get an automatic.

 

the TL has got to have one of the smoothest manual transmission. sometimes it feels like i'm driving an auto, its that smooth. get the 6speed.

 

if you are a true stick guy, you will deal with the traffic issue. I live in northern New Jersey and I'm in it everyday. Shifting is not a concious effort for me. The 6M should be better in the snow because of the limited slip diff but I haven't had the chance to test this out as of yet.

 

I couldn't agree more. If you find yourself starting to find excuses or reason not to get a manual transmission, then you are really not a commited manual tranny driver. This is not to say you are beneath us manual tranny people by any means. It's just to say that if you question this decision, then perhaps you are not a fully dedicated manual transmission person.. that's all. No shame, no flame.

Personally for me, I won't even consider the purchase of a car as my personal driving machine, without a manual transmission. And I live in an area that has some of the heaviest traffic in the nation.. I'm on the border of Northern Virginia.

The TL is such a sweet machine with the manual, that any questions or concerns you had about the manual will soon disappear as the smile on your face and the satisfaction in your gut appears.

But, to each his own. When all is said and done, consider this. A manual transmission costs far less to maintain than an automatic.