Have any of you been punished with an 3.5L - 4speed automatic (not tiptronic) transmission? If yes - have you been driving a 5 speed manual one - is there a BIG DIFERENCE ?

I was - because they sold only autos' here in United Arab Emirates

I dream now often at a clutch ...... here 90% of the people drive auto :cry:

Yeah im punished with an auto too, the difference between the manuals and auto's is great, ive taken a ride in a few and theres a huge difference!!

i want a conversion bad :cry:

btw - welcome to the forums!!

I feel sorry for you. I have the 5 speed tiptronic 2002 VRX INVECS II...goes very very well. During my servicing I was given a full 4 speed auto exec.....what a nasty drive.. 8)

Welcome to the forum :D

any manual car for this matter, compared to its auto sibling will have significant performance advantages. apart from being able to rev more, you don't lose the power through the torque converter. and also, not to mention quicker and more control over gear changes for the manual.

there's a big 2nd gear ratio difference between a 4spd auto & 5spd. The only good thing for mine is the 2nd gear ratio which gives me a really large zone of acceleration to play with, without stressing the engine (leaving the Chevrolet Luminas SS behind till100km/h) :)

And that INVECS is just driving me mad ! ...... for city driving is perfect .... but when you want to start the slalom on the highway - it sucks... changing to 4th exactly when I want to overtake. I'm keeping in in 3rd in the city all the time - don't need more thatn 120km/h

it might not be manual, but the car still has style ;)

Welcome to the Forums,Nice Sienna Red VR-X man,Same colour and Transmission as mine,thow not a VR-X :(
If you want to gain some more power you should look into putting on a Pod Air Filter,Cause they hammer fairly well once on,coupled with a good Cold Air induction :) :)

here in UAE there's no difference if I put a CAI + pod :). The temperatures outside are the same as in the engine bay. I'll change the stock panel air filter with another K&N panel one I guess. I looked close at the end of the stock air intake ....... that plastic vacuum looking thing..... when you close the hood there's no cold air to suck from...... maybe it's enough for 2000-3000 rot/min but when the engine's going to higher revs I think it's difficult for it to suck freely. I've tried some runs with the hood open but noticed no big difference (there's no danger in opening the hood by itself as it is securely locked with that hook).

"The only good thing for mine is the 2nd gear ratio which gives me a really large zone of acceleration to play with, without stressing the engine (leaving the Chevrolet Luminas SS behind till100km/:lol: Arun, They aren’t ‘Chevrolets” only other Aussie product call here “Holden” Commodore Lumina or “CommoHore” ;)

"The only good thing for mine is the 2nd gear ratio which gives me a really large zone of acceleration to play with, without stressing the engine (leaving the Chevrolet Luminas SS behind till100km/:lol: Arun, They aren’t ‘Chevrolets” only other Aussie product call here “Holden” Commodore Lumina or “CommoHore” ;)

if you consider the engine The Car, then the commodore is in essence a chevy. it is afterall the chevy all-alloy engines holden transplants from chevrolet. i was in singapore about a week ago and they had the commodore luminar re-badged as the chevy luminar. if that's not funny, how abt re-badging a cheap daewoo (or was it hyundai) also as a chevy and selling it for 10 grand more. makes you wonder how stupid or ineffective the bosses at GM are to think that their customers are on the same IQ plateau as them.

Auto bashing again AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

These are the Lumina SS's .... cost around 27.000 USD. Most of the locals are buying them like crazy.

Magnas did not catch ..... better for me :)

I feel sorry for you. I have the 5 speed tiptronic 2002 VRX INVECS II...goes very very well. During my servicing I was given a full 4 speed auto exec.....what a nasty drive.. 8)

Welcome to the forum :D

I really noticed the difference, when I went from 4sp auto TH to 5 sp SAuto tiptronic in my VR-X. I wondered why the car changed gears so often! :D just kidding. But the 5 ratios is much much better than the 4. More flexibility..

:)

Do you think the INVECS II downshift points might be altered? I noticed that the default settings are:

4th gear to 3rd at 60km/h
3rd gear to 2nd at 40km/h

It would be better if I could raise each with 5-10 km/h

difference between auto and manual....about 3/4 sec over the 1/4 mile. I have a manual sports and have no hassle with a auto ralliart. of course the manual ralliart gets the extra kw's and a LSD so can't bet them yet

difference between auto and manual....about 3/4 sec over the 1/4 mile. I have a manual sports and have no hassle with a auto ralliart. of course the manual ralliart gets the extra kw's and a LSD so can't bet them yet

Long time no see, Nice to see you back :cool:

hey guys thought you might be interested to know my brothers vrx auto went to willowbank last weds his best was 15.3@145kph (stock) I was a little shocked. my manual sports is definatly quicker by about .5 sec at a guess but only been dragin once, when i just brought the car got 15.2@150kph(stock) had more practise now so cant wait to get to willowbank 14's here I come! :D