Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum and civics, just recently started shopping around for an early 90's civic. I was wondering if you had info on the auto vs. the manual tranny. I'm not planning to do anything to it, just looking for a good, fuel efficient daily driver.
It seems like alot of people choose to switch the auto to a 5speed, is that because the auto sucks or just more power out of the 5 speed?

Any help is appreciated.

 

the 5 speed gets a slight better gas mileage. on a 5 speed you can control your shifting points. while on automatics it does the shifting for you.

 

Automatic transmissions do not handle power very well.

 

Automatics cost more to maintain and repair. You get better mileage with a manual because you're not feeding the engine gas as your shifting. Hence the reason you never see automatics in Europe. Well, I can't vouch for Europe, but I know Ireland had none.

 

I've heard that if you drive an automatic in India, people will think you are disabled. I've didn't see an automatic car in the 6-7 weeks i spent in India. The only advantage i see of an automatic is conviniance. I think that if there were no automatic cars, there would be less accidents since people wouldn't be talking on thier phones, drinking coffee, shaving, doing make-up, etc while driving.

 

Oh, I've never let my manual stop me from enjoying such things [sm=smiley2.gif]

 

me too exspecilly holding a girls hand after shifting into 5th on the freeway and enjoy the ride.

 

hmmm.... it's never stopped me.


As far as advantages to an auto go, it tends to be smoother for daily driving, but you don't make full use of the power. On the drag strip, when you pass the 10 second quarter, you want an auto for the consistency, the fact that they are capable of shifting faster than people, and you need two hands on the wheel.

For the real world when you wanna pick a gear coming out of a turn, 5 speed for the win.

 

auto with manual valve body FTW!!! but then again i dont beleive this option is available for a honda[&:]

 

I´m at an internet cafe right now on vacation in Spain. Absolutely no automatic transmissions here. I found it interesting that there are a lot of¨TDCI, TDI, TDMI, etc. cars here though (ie. normal cars that run on diesel). Not quite sure why other than diesel is a couple cents cheaper per liter.