I started with a 97 C5 auto and after a year and getting into the road course thing....I sold it and got my current car. I'll personally never buy a vette with auto again...but as one can see there are people on here that like auto's too....so it is totally up to the individual and how they drive!

 

I am having the same dilemma. The wife refuses to learn how to drive a stick and I plan to do a fair amount of drag and road racing/auto X with my vette. I know the auto is faster/more consistant in the 1/4, but I am more concerned about how it will handle on the road course. I really think she is going to have to learn or be content riding shotgun.

 

I started with a 97 Auto Vette about 3 years ago....once I got into the road course thing....I switched to my current car, because I wanted to tell the car what gear to be in, not the other way around. The Auto was good (in hindsight) to learn with.....but if you are like me, you would want the 6 speed within 3 or 4 times on the track. For what it is worth!

 

The stick is so much faster and so much more fun to drive.

 

this is true...^

 

ok my 2 cents.

I KNOW we are talking about corvettes but i've owned 4 chevys, 3 being camaros.
Had a 1995 camaro z28 6 speed that I LOVED! but had a lot of troubles with the transmission/clutch/torque arm, transmission mounts etc.

had a 1998 camaro ls1 auto. I never had ONE problem with that car what so ever.

now a 2001 corvette 6 speed with hurst shifter. WILL NEVER GO BACK TO AN AUTO performance car, BUT I might change my mind if it starts giving me problems like me 95 z28 did.

You can't beat the fun that you have with a stick in the car, PLUS you get a lot more "pull" from the lower gears alone. OH not to mention that if you put anything like I have on mine, kooks long tube headers, and corsa pace car exhaust on it, you'd probably get annoyed by the sound at highway speed if it wern't humming around 1700 rpms at highway speeds

that drove me nutts in my auto ls1 camaro, had magnaflow exhuast, where i'd have to wear earplugs for highway rides over an hour long...

 

I can't comment on the vette, but just in general a stick is much more engaging. Of the 7 cars I've owned, 3 have been stick. Getting back into an auto is just boring to me. I found myself pushing in my left foot on the dead pedal becaue I was in the habit of shifting. You can't get much more worse for traffic than DC and I put up with it. It may be a hassle at first, but once you get a nice weekend went open roads, you'll definitely be glad you went with a manual. I've also had lots of transmission trouble with my automatics. With a manual, worse than can happen is burning out the clutch, but if you can drive well, that won't happen. Auto = taking the fun out of the car and driver experience. One caveat... if you get a solid tiptronic, that can come close to the fun of a stick, but you still won't have a clutch.

 

well being that im just now turning 20 and dad bought me a auto 2000 i love it lol. do the 3:15 axels make that big of a difference

 

Aw man you're lucky haha I wish I had my dad getting me a vette at 20

 

KT NOAH, autos are for putting on makeup and talking on the phone @ the same time.....sticks are for "playing"