Gen4MDX

Drove both today, I preferred the 6 MT, the wife preferred the 5AT. When I sport shifted the 5AT power was adequate, when I put it in regular automatic, I seemed to get some lag between 1st & 2nd.

I really liked the 6spd, it seemed more powerful and slightly more fun to drive, but there are trade-off's with a manual versus an auto. I would like to hear from owners of both, exspecially those who have an '06. Thanks

GIBSON6594

here we go again

girllover

It all depends what you buy for? work to home then 5 AT espeacially when you are in traffic . if for fun then get 6 MT

psteng19

Wait, you thought the SS was adequate?

Ellas9

I've got no problems driving and enjoying the 5AT. Sure manuals are usually more fun to drive...but that's in any car (from a Geo Metro to a 540i). I like the SS; I feel it gives me very good control and I think the shifting is quite precise for what basically is an auto tranny.

chuson

I pretty sure the 06 TSX will response better than the 05 TSX in every aspect, which more horsepower on tap. Being an owner of 05 5AT TSX, I found that the power is quite adequate in the city, in both auto and SS mode. SS Mode is a little bit peekier in 1st gear, usually start in 2nd under normal driving. However, the only concern about the 5AT is the downshift, which cause mainly by the torque convertor I suppose. 2nd gear top out @ around 120KM/H and 3rd gear top out @ 180KM/H when redline. However, if you would like to downshift from, let say 4th or 5th gear on the hwy, with the speed of 140+ to 160KM/h range, it will NOT let you downshift to 3rd. So there's a LONG wait for power before it hits the Vtec, 4th gear is very long, so as others on the 5AT. One should expect that when they pick the 5AT, with no downshift rev match technology like Infinity. However, if it's a family car, I would pick 5AT for convienence.

Zephrem

I'm an owner of an 06 MT. To me, there is no comparison. It is way more fun to drive, in any situation -- work, family, fun -- you name it. Driving it home from work, even in traffic, gets a great big grin. You can call on the VTEC power of the car at any time. The 6 spd gearbox is fantastic -- one of the best I've ever driven. I will say that the 6th gear is a true overdrive, and there are many times I keep it in 5th for the immediate responsiveness of the engine.

We test drove the AT, because our dealer allowed only one TSX to be test driven. We almost didn't purchase the car... it was that big of a difference to us. [When we started shaking our heads -- my wife will also only own a MT -- they immediately took us over to a MT and let us drive it in a large parking lot. It was enough to convince us it was the car for us.]

I only see two advantages to the AT: (1) if you drive in alot (and I mean miles and miles every day) of stop and go traffic, the AT is easier on your leg and the transmission mechanicals; and (2) the gas mileage is nominally better.

aznt1217

lag was throttle by wire working there, that and the fact that the car was deciding what you wanted from your foot input. Unless you were flooring it and you meant the lag was in the shift... but it's an automatic if that's the case SS it.

RTSX-ASpec

YES, i find the SS more than adequate for me

jlukja

wife > 6MT

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Just get the 6MT. You'll miss it in the long run and want a car with a manual in the end so might as well not put yourself through the hassle.

MN-TSX

I think the question is who is going to be driving the car everyday?
I'd still go with the 6MT either way. All my cars are MT, and my wife says she likes shifting manually as well.
I don't care if it is rush hour or open roads, I love the feeling of involvment that a MT adds.
However, gotta keep the wife happy!

excited

I have a 06 5AT and love it. I could have chosen the 6MT which was very sweet, but the 5AT suited my driving habits better. When I want to have fun I put it into SS. I find it has more than enough power to get me in trouble.

I have said it before. You can't go wrong choosing either.



Excited

hawaiiantsx

just my opinion...i have the 6mt....and my friend has the 5at.....we both have CAI,headers,and exhaust....only thing different is i have a high flow cat.I would say mine has alot more power then the 5AT if thats what you're lookin for.The 6MT is definetely alot more fun to drive....the traffic does suck...but...its worth the hassle in my opinion...good luck with your decision

acn684

6mt, i have a 5at and i wish i can control gears when i drive now but i still love my 5 at

West6MT

6MT > 5AT,......end of story.

julyccc

I have the 6M


the best decision I have ever made.


Please get a 6M

OldManTSX

Who's the car for? If the car is meant to be driven by you, then it's a simple decision and it should be made by you. If the car will be driven by the wife, then I think it's her decision that should prevail.

If both of you will drive it equally, then the next question is can your wife drive stick and comfortable doing it? If so, then she just need to be convinced more why driving a manual transmission is better and that my friend, you will have to do carefully. Remember, "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"

Good luck!

Gen4MDX

Thanks for all replies.....still undecided 5AT versus 6MT. My gut feeling is to go 6MT. The car will be driven mainly by my wife, about 2 miles each way to work, very little traffic there. However - We plan to take quite a few road trips to places like San Fran, maybe even So Cal (very unfamiliar with, but will have Navi) and was wondering if having the 6MT in those area's with a lot of traffic be a hassel?

My wife & I are in our mid 40's, are we crazy for considering a 6MT at this age?, She has knee pain once in a while, wondering if clutching could pose a problem for her.

However, we were considering a new Civic Si before deciding on the TSX, and the Si, you were always shifting (more than the TSX).

Our salesman has a manual TL and says he wished he would have bought a 5AT, (of course, if I was getting a TL V6, I would get the AT.) he also told us that on the TSX, it is a deduct of $1000.00 on trade in for the 6MT, I looked this up on NADA.com and it seemed to be more in the $600.00 range. Aslo looked at the inventory on the lot and what was coming in, I would say the 6MT IS a very rare breed, out of about 60 TSX's either incoming or on the lot, there were only 3 6MT's.

I know, I know, I can't worry about trade in value and what the dealer says, "most people WANT the 5AT". I need to make this decison for my wife and myself. It just seems like a great combo - silkey smooth 6MT and a high revving Honda I4. Why am I making this harder than it has to be?

Please keep the comments & suggestions coming. Thanks

sauceman

If you wonder about getting the 6MT and get the 5AT, you'll almost definitely regret not getting the 6MT if you buy the 5AT.

At least 2 members traded in their ATs for an MT on this board so far.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Now where is ??

Montag

First, I agree with everything that Zephrem wrote in his post except I never drove a 5AT so I can't speak about the differences between the two.

I will add:

If you enjoy shifting gears then you will LOVE the 6MT. It's just such a great gearbox. It is by far my favorite thing about the car. But if you often find yourself in driving conditions where you think shifting is a hassle, then 5AT is probably the best choice. Of course, you must take the wife's needs into consideration. If she can tolerate it - the knee thing is a concern - and if you are leaning toward 6MT, then I say 6MT. It just adds so much to the daily driving experience. Yes, I admit to being a fervent MT guy. It just makes every trip fun, even routine ones. And by the way, I am mid-40s too.

BusyShifter

I have a 2004 TSX. I am in my late 20s, and I don't think you are crazy to considering the 6MT. It's really very fun, especially if there is no traffic in your wife's daily commute. Like Montag said, I think the manual transmission is one of the best feature in TSX. TSX is not a car for racing, but the manual transmission adds so much more fun factor in driving it.

calgary2800

If I was to get a AT car its has to be a big 3.5 Liter. I'm thinking Maxima.

But yeah get the 6 speed for a 4 cyl. Makes good sense.

goddsmack

I live in Sacramento and every once and a while, I do drive to SF during the weekdays right in the middle of rush hour (4:30-6:00pm) to school with the worst traffic at the toll booths at the bay bridge and the I-80 and I-880 split. From my perspective, the amount of 1st gear, 2nd gear, 1st gear, 1st gear, 1st gear, 2nd gear...etc, that I go through in traffic for only a few days out of a month, doesn't warrant me to have an automatic. It's bareable, but if i lived in SF I'm not so sure I would have purchased a manual because of traffic and i probably then also would have look for a different type of automatic car (probably with a V6) because TO ME, the TSX auto is rather slow. However living in Sacramento, traffic is not as bad as SF and yes it is extremely fun to drive the 6MT and thus I'm happy with my decision to buy one. At the time it was hard to locate a 6MT with Navi and they had to dealer trade with a dealer near the SF airport.

Your second comment is also important to consider. Especially when you are holding the clutch in on a hill or are in traffic, the consistant depressing and pressing of the clutch may elevate the pain since you are applying pressure on it.

I won't give you a recommendation just my experiences with it and the ultimate decision really lies upon yourself and your wife. Remember you need to be happy with whatever decision you make since you are somewhat making an investment when purchasing a car.

CarbonGray Earl

All I have to say, is knee pain sucks. Im paying for the 38 inch vert I had in college . The clutch on my integra was the lightest I have ever driven, but going between 1-2, having to hold that clutch in off my left leg (my jumping knee) made traffic unbearable sometimes.

If it makes your wife uncomfortable, and this is a vehicle you both want to enjoy, I'd begrudgingly say 5AT. I'd much prefer the 6MT, but traffic and fatigue are too much of an issue for me personally.

AlterZgo

Get the 6 speed. I bought a 5AT because of 2 reasons: 1 - though my wife may need to drive my car and 2 - getting a little old and have sprained my ankle, etc. which made it difficult to drive stick in the past.

What I now realize is I HATE the 5AT in the TSX. It makes an already torqueless car feel like a complete slug. Furthermore, the biggest problem I have is, when you are going at a very low speed and your foot is off the accelerator, when you then hit the accelerator, the car will lag for about 1 second before the transmission engages. This is VERY dangerous as I have found myself pulling out into traffic w/ cars coming but no acceleration due to this lag.

Because of these reasons, I plan on buying another car at the end of the year. It'll either be a 6MT TL or G35/37.

As for traffic in Los Angeles, it's pretty congested, but I have never had any problems commuting with various manual transmission cars in Los Angeles for close to 20 yrs. In some ways, I prefer driving manual in stop and go traffic over auto.

It's obvious you want the manual. As long as you have at least 1 automatic in the household for emergencies like sore/sprained knee/ankle which may prevent you from driving the MT for a short time, I say go manual.

Let's assume you lose $1K in trade-in. Personally, I think $1K is cheap to pay for the driving pleasure of a 6MT over a 5AT.

calgary2800

So you have ruled out the Accord V6 Mt?

CarbonGray Earl

Its pretty obvious isn't it?

calgary2800

The G35 and TL are pretty different in approaches to how the power comes on. I test drove both in MT and the G35 has great low end torque and the TL is pretty much like My Accord V6, you got to stomp on it.

I didnt find the G35 to be smooth at all. The shifter vibrates and the noise from the exhaust is too loud. Its gets old when its that loud.

paranode

Well I'll put it this way, I want the car in a certain color and a manual transmission. I can get the car in the color tomorrow if I want to, but instead I'm going to wait months to get the 6MT. The dealer and my wife were both trying to talk me into the auto but I would not have any of it!

jam9011

I HAVE A MT AND IT FUN TO DRIVE AND YOU GET BETTER GAS MILES FOR YOU BUCK BUT IF YOU WANT TO BE IN PEACE WITH YOUR WIFE GET THE AT MY FRIEND.

julyccc

yeah you definitely don't want to sleep on the couch.

paranode

Teach the woman to drive stick. It really isn't all that hard.

jlukja

LOL, If dom lived in LA this is what he would say. ^^

I drive the 5AT and I don't think it feels like a slug. However, I drove a 91 Integra 5MT for 13 years which wasn't that powerful to begin with ( I guess I've forgotten my old IROC-Z 5MT ). Not having to clutch constantly in bumper-to-bumper traffic is one reason I chose the AT. I have noticed the same lag though.

CarbonGray Earl

I keep it SS most of the time to deal with the lag, but its pretty annoying and can be scary. Going back to an auto from a manual, there is a slight learning curve when it comes to anticipating the transmission logic. Even SS lags on up shifts when at high rpms.

Zoopa

Go with the six-speed. To put it in the simplest, most straight forward terms, and probably most offending terms to our fellow AT owners (sorry), every single magazine review of the car has been for the six speed. Meaning that when Acura lends a car to the press pool for review, they want the press to experience the car the way the engineers and designers built the car. And that means without an automatic. The auto is simply offered for this market because so many people feel comfortable. Go read the Car & Drivers "10 Best" review, if the TSX had an auto it would not be on the list. Period.

Some will say, "but you can shift it if you want to with the auto". Yeah, but that novelty will soon wear off, and the DSG trannys from VW/Audi are way better. A much better option would be to go get a new A3/A4 or GTI with the DSG if you want an auto. The shift feature in the TSX auto is merely a gimmick.

The 6-speed in the TSX has a housing made of magnesium, borrowed from Formula-1, and it may be the only production car on the planet with it. The Auto is heavier, and the spings on the front shocks are stiffer to handle the extra 100-pounds so the car tends to ride a little stiffer.

Zoopa

From an emotional point of view, the 6-speed will provide you with years of exhiliration that the auto cannot even come close too. I bought an auto sedan six years ago and it has been a big lesson for me interms of buyers remorse. The car literally sucks the enthusiasm for driving right out of me. But this a subjective feeling. When I drove my brothers manual Prelude, I was so overwhelmed by feeling "young again" (I'm only 32!) that I rushed over to Acura and put a deposit down on the manual. My 6-spd w/navi is promised at the end of the month. My wife and I were looking at alternative cars, but they were all manuals too!

The '06 has more convenience features too! Bluetooth will make it so easy to use the phone. The decision was made with my wife, who will be the main driver (lucky her) and she drives 18-miles each way to work.

Seriously, dont compare the manual TSX to the auto, compare the DSG VW/Audi to the manual TSX. The reliability of the VW/Audi wont be as high as a Honda product, but the DSG is a much better aternative than an auto TSX.

dom

I've owned both and couldn't disagree more. You are exhaggerating to say the least.

Zoopa

I was expecting a lot of disgust expressed to me by auto owners, and I did try to say "sorry" to them up front. Can I ask which version you driving now?

The TSX has received rave reviews in the press for the manual version. I feel that when you drive the auto, you are not driving the car that was reviewed, you are driving a different version of the car. If Acura had lent out only automatic cars to the press, what kind of reviews would the car have gotten? Certainly not 10-Best for three years in a row, or great reviews from R&T, Motor Trend, and top awards from Automobile magazine.

Other car companys have spent a lot of money on "manumatics". The next TSX may offer one too. They are so good in fact, that it is not entirley impossible that manual trannys may soon be a thing of the past. Case in point BMW's M5, and probably the new M3 when released, and the already mentioned stellar VW/Audi DSG.