General LSX Automobile Discussion - M6 vs. A4

i posted this here because its pretty general and not necessarily specific from one to the other. i know this pretty much comes down to personal preference but what are some logical choices that people have made to either have a manual or auto. A lot of people say auto's are faster but in which extent? I prefer manual because i feel like i have more control over the car and it seems funner to drive. in stop and go traffic, a manual is terrible and is a huge pain in the ass to drive. but for a car that might see a 100 mi. a month or less, a manual can be easy and fun and an auto can be very boring. i have seen more cars with less miles, better condition, and auto, in fact about 5:1, why is that? being in the market right now for a new car and having a preference for a manual, it is hard to find a clean, low mileage, and cared for car. i have skipped over so many taken care of auto's that i lost count compared to manuals. i am young still by many accounts, mid 20's, but have had 2 previous ls t/a's with manuals and am looking for my third and hopefully final, so low miles is essential since i am planning on keeping this car for a very long time and have something that me and my kid and have a common hobby. i never had a anybody growing up that cared about cars like we do here, so i want to provide that for my kid.

has anyone else ever had a preference for a manual but settled with an auto and been pleased with it? i am not so gung ho about going as fast as possible any more but i still enjoy being put back in my seat and having some fun from time to time.

opinions welcome......

as you said its what your like.


autos are better for racing. manuals can be fun but suck in traffic but you dont appear to have that problem.



my SS has a built auto and i like it more than my m6 GTO but my GTO is by far a better DD vehicle.

my next car will have a manual.

I Have Had 28 Camaro's and 4 Firebirds and only 6 were Stick Cars so i perfer Auto's but its just what you want to drive !

i posted this here because its pretty general and not necessarily specific from one to the other. i know this pretty much comes down to personal preference but what are some logical choices that people have made to either have a manual or auto. A lot of people say auto's are faster but in which extent? I prefer manual because i feel like i have more control over the car and it seems funner to drive. in stop and go traffic, a manual is terrible and is a huge pain in the ass to drive. but for a car that might see a 100 mi. a month or less, a manual can be easy and fun and an auto can be very boring. i have seen more cars with less miles, better condition, and auto, in fact about 5:1, why is that? being in the market right now for a new car and having a preference for a manual, it is hard to find a clean, low mileage, and cared for car. i have skipped over so many taken care of auto's that i lost count compared to manuals. i am young still by many accounts, mid 20's, but have had 2 previous ls t/a's with manuals and am looking for my third and hopefully final, so low miles is essential since i am planning on keeping this car for a very long time and have something that me and my kid and have a common hobby. i never had a anybody growing up that cared about cars like we do here, so i want to provide that for my kid.

has anyone else ever had a preference for a manual but settled with an auto and been pleased with it? i am not so gung ho about going as fast as possible any more but i still enjoy being put back in my seat and having some fun from time to time.

opinions welcome......

You can have just as much fun with the A4 as you could the M6. I've owned both types and frankly I have no preference though I do like the A4 for driving around town as a manual got to be a real pain once in a while. Just like a M6, I can turn off traction control and nail it and I'm going sideways and that's just with the stock torque converter though the all-season tires don't exactly hook that well.

In stock form an M6 LS1 will be faster than an A4 LS1.

Now a fully built automatic, with no supporting mods, just a built transmission, will rape a manual in the drag strip.

Manuals get better MPG's, put more power to the wheels, and are better for roll racing.

i have seen more cars with less miles, better condition, and auto, in fact about 5:1, why is that? being in the market right now for a new car and having a preference for a manual, it is hard to find a clean, low mileage, and cared for car. i have skipped over so many taken care of auto's that i lost count compared to manuals.

has anyone else ever had a preference for a manual but settled with an auto and been pleased with it? These kind of threads often get locked down, so in now ...

When it comes to musclecars, manuals are more often "rode hard and put away wet" & probably wrecked more frequently. Autos tend to have older owners who don't push them as hard and take better care of them. Thus it is typically easier to find well-cared for good condition autos.

I originally wanted an M6 but "settled" for an A4 for these reasons. (Got the M6 some years later anyway). Stock to stock, I much prefer the M6. But with tuning, a Transgo shift kit, and a hi-stall converter, the A4 becomes a whole other animal that's every bit as much fun - if not more - to drive than a manual. Also, if the auto has 2.73 gears, you'll have to get rid of those IMO. The above steps made my A4 Formula the satisfying car to drive that it is.

An A4 will make a good cruiser, and will be better around town or in traffic....as you already seem to know.

As far as the manual being fater stock,well that all depends on the driver. My first LS1 Formula was a M6, my current one is an A4.

Being an admittedly lowsy stick driver, it took me about 3 or 4 times at the track to get my stock M6 down to a 13.7 1/4 mile time. My FIRST run out in the "slower" stock A4, I ran a 13.7. I've run a best of 13.6 with it.

Plus the A4 is super consitant. With the M6 I was all over the place, I have timeslips from mid 14-s to that 13.7, and only hit that once. With the A4, I have a glovebox full of 13.6 and 13.7 slips. One day I ran 13.7xx 4 times in a row with it.

So mostly it's a driver's game on A4 vs. M6.

Once you get into modding the A4, they can be a beast, but you still miss rowing through the gears.

When I got mine I didn't have a preference...I just wanted a T-Top Formula in nice shape. The one I found was, and I fell in love with the NBM color. It just happened to be an A4.

Do I get bored driving it at times? Yes. Sometimes I wish I had found a M6. Other times, I know if I had the M6 I'd get frustrated with it, as I did in my first LS1. I will say that T-Tops are more important to me than the M6, that was the one must have when looking for the car. I actually passed up on a clean lower mileage '01 Z M6 because it was a hardtop.

I would say don't settle if M6 is what you really want. You'll never be 100% happy with the car.

i was expecting this thread to be from 2002......

I've had 4 camaro's and 1 trans am. Of those only 2 have been six speeds. The trans am and my current ss. I prefer the m6. Its just more fun to me. However, my last ss which obviously was an a4 would put a beating on my current car, granite it had a cam and my current ss doesn't but still...But now that my knee is falling apart I'm looking for an identicle twin to my current car but in a4 form to do the dd duty. Its all opinion.

An A4 will make a good cruiser, and will be better around town or in traffic....as you already seem to know.

As far as the manual being fater stock,well that all depends on the driver. My first LS1 Formula was a M6, my current one is an A4.

Being an admittedly lowsy stick driver, it took me about 3 or 4 times at the track to get my stock M6 down to a 13.7 1/4 mile time. My FIRST run out in the "slower" stock A4, I ran a 13.7. I've run a best of 13.6 with it.

Plus the A4 is super consitant. With the M6 I was all over the place, I have timeslips from mid 14-s to that 13.7, and only hit that once. With the A4, I have a glovebox full of 13.6 and 13.7 slips. One day I ran 13.7xx 4 times in a row with it.

So mostly it's a driver's game on A4 vs. M6.

Once you get into modding the A4, they can be a beast, but you still miss rowing through the gears.

When I got mine I didn't have a preference...I just wanted a T-Top Formula in nice shape. The one I found was, and I fell in love with the NBM color. It just happened to be an A4.

Do I get bored driving it at times? Yes. Sometimes I wish I had found a M6. Other times, I know if I had the M6 I'd get frustrated with it, as I did in my first LS1. I will say that T-Tops are more important to me than the M6, that was the one must have when looking for the car. I actually passed up on a clean lower mileage '01 Z M6 because it was a hardtop.

I would say don't settle if M6 is what you really want. You'll never be 100% happy with the car.

My fastest time in a Bone Stock 02 SS A4 was 13.36 and i know w/ a -DA i could have done better and that car only went faster and never slower times like a M6 would cause the ECU dont make mistakes shifting !!!

My fastest time in a Bone Stock 02 SS A4 was 13.36 and i know w/ a -DA i could have done better and that car only went faster and never slower times like a M6 would cause the ECU dont make mistakes shifting !!!

That's a good time! Mine's 2.73 geared, and was running all seasons, so I thought that time was pretty good.

Switching to NT555's dropped me down to 13.6, and I know it's got 13.5 in it if I can get the right weather. One of the guys I went to the track that day emailed me link to a DA converter, and according to that I would have ran a 13.4 with better weather. I don't know, I'll believe it when I see the timeslip. So till then, I'll claim my car runs 13.6.

thanx everyone for their respectable input. my search is that it has to be a t/a, my wife convinced me of that. since it has to be a t/a it automatically gets the t-tops. it has to have black interior, can't stand the tan color. outside color doesnt matter much. just wasnt too sure about an a4 or m6 but i have been looking for m6's and i'm going to stay with it. i dont have a drag strip near me so consistent quarter miles arnt my bag. i do like the feel of the hard shifting of an auto that has been stalled and shift kit, but ide prefer it in a lsx sport truck.

That's a good time! Mine's 2.73 geared, and was running all seasons, so I thought that time was pretty good.

Switching to NT555's dropped me down to 13.6, and I know it's got 13.5 in it if I can get the right weather. One of the guys I went to the track that day emailed me link to a DA converter, and according to that I would have ran a 13.4 with better weather. I don't know, I'll believe it when I see the timeslip. So till then, I'll claim my car runs 13.6.

Mine Car was the 345HP SLP SS w/ the Blackwing Lid & CME catback so that helped also but w/ a Hypertech Hand Tuner & P&P TB it ran 12.87 !

Aside from personal preference; a manual will generally be faster then an auto WHEN DRIVEN TO FULL POTENTIAL. The reason why autos are more popular at the track and for bracket racing is because they are more consistent. IF someone actually knows how to drive a manual he will generally win. But the auto removes a lot of human error out of the equation.

I love M6 but if your doing alot of short trips around town and dd then it really starts to suck. That being said it's still worth it to me for those 'fun drives' but as far as getting from a to b an auto is sooo much more enjoyable. Best of both worlds, get one each!

Sorry, we've had plenty of these threads and they are all useless and become nothing more than a flame fest of opinions.

There is no right answer to this. The only correct answer is to buy which ever you prefer. Anyone that tells you that an auto OR a manual is "better" is merely telling you their personal opinion - there is NO fact to it whatsoever. It doesn't matter what you use the car for; racing, cruising, daily driving..... the answer is to ALWAYS get whatever you prefer driving. Never pick a trans type because someone else tells you that one is better or more boring or worse than the other.

Opinions on this are about as useful as opinions on which color is best - none of them matter except for the person that has to own the car.