Hey guys, I'm looking into purchasing my first Camaro and I decided on a 2000-2002 v6. Is the stock automatic transmission on these cars smooth enough to bring out some decent performance, or should I get a standard?

I've been driving my family car which is a VW Passat but I can drive stick too. It might be a little annoying with a standard transmission because I live in the city, but if I'm going to spend money on upgrades in the future I might want to go for the manual, right?

What are your experiences with the stock automatic trannies on these models?

 

My opinion would defiately be a manual. I've never driven a v-6, but I have a 93z28 6 speed and it impressed me way more than the autos i drove.

 

In a city environment I could see a stick being a pain in the rear, but from my experience manuals are a lot more fun to drive, get better gas mileage (depending on how you drive), and are more durable/cheaper to repair.

 

1+ fur922... Could not have said it better.

This is a sports car. The automatic will get the tires ripping right off too. But the art of the, 'sport' is foot and hand control that automatic takes over for you.

They said the BMW bike clutch burns out. I set my clutch up to where the throw is on the ragged edge of slip. I tap the lever and shift was the trick.

After 13K hard miles, where it was fun to loft in gear and it just carried the front wheel. Did I wear that plate down? Beats me? I never adjusted the lever again.

It stayed stuck with the zero play I had in it. The lever never moved or needed an adjustment. I had to conclude if I am over abusing the bike and the clutch is the middleman between engine and rear wheel, I had to conclude there were terrible BMW riders that bad mouthed the product and not their driving skills.

Therefore, I will bet you mile for mile and hammer that clutch harder than the next guy is dust free in the bell housing was it?

Bet me is that clutch is no different than the car design. They sure look the same is a smaller plate of said copied rivet design, etc.

 

As a general rule if you don't mind driving a stick day to day then you will have more fun with the stick during play time.

A standard will put more HP to the tires. Automatic need to use a small amount of power to engage the clutchs also the automatic has a larger rotating assemble so that also burns up some HP. Add in the fact you lose a bit in the torque converter also. Standard really does a better job.

Before anyone argue, remember an Automatic needs a cooling system. A standard does not. Heat is never free. The heat from an automatic is also lost HP.

 

Thanks, that's the kind of explanation I needed. lol
I'm going for the standard, which makes my search even harder D:

 

I have an auto V6. At times it can be quite boring.

As gorn said, you'll be much happier with a manual down the road.

 

I can agree and disagree with arguements on both sides of the issue. I was driving a 6 speed Tiburon for a while before I got my automatic z28. and yeah while I miss being able to play around in it and the thrill of shifting gears while racing is awesome. During day to day driving though IMO is worlds better. Don't gotta worry about shifting at the right time, or stalling out EVER, you just throw it in drive and go...plus if you want to play around in 1st and 2nd there's the option on the auto to do so.

In the end it's your choice, but if you ask me...auto is the way to go at the end of the day.

 

Although I really want a standard, I think I'm going to have to go with automatic. Manual V6's are so freaking hard to find where I live; I found one but the owner stopped responding after I asked for the VIN number. lol

I'll test drive one and see how it shifts for myself.

 

Thats probably the best thing you can do.