I've been a Trans am follower all my life. I currently have a 89 formula 350, and i love it. But ever since seeing the new Trans Am in black, with the ram air, i knew i had to have it. Anyways, i'm finally living up my dream in a few months after a lot of hard work to buy one. I'm gonna be buying a 2001 black/black ws6 Trans Am. My problem is, i can't decide on a4 or m6? I'm mostly only going to be street, rarely track, but it will be a daily driver. I've never had an manual though, so i don't really know how they are. I really am leaning toward an m6, and have been for a long time, but i just don't wanna make a mistake, so i'm asking for your opinions? Is the m6 hard to drive, or take much skill? What are the advantages? What are your experiences on these trannies? What are your opinions? I know this is long and i'm really sorry, but this is my dream car, so i want to make it perfect with no mistakes or second thoughts. Thank you guys so much! I appreciate it!!!

<small>[ October 13, 2002, 11:58 PM: Message edited by: FireHawkT/A ]</small>

 

You can learn how to drive a stick with an M6. It's pretty forgiving and will take you a month or two to get it down good. It's a hell of a lot of fun too!

I'd only look at an auto if I were going to drag race it exclusively. I do drag race, but I also like to road race. Therefore I'm one of a few left that really drag race with a stick, but oh well!

 

Before u buy do a piston slap listen.

 

Hey thanks a lot guys! I'm pretty sure i'm leaning toward the m6. I just think it will be so much fun, since my main focus is street driving/racing. Thanks for the tips!

 

A4's break fewer parts. If you're going to be abusing the car AT ALL and don't want to spend the $3,000 to make an M6 strong (12 bolt and a good clutch setup) then buy an A4. The ONLY reason to get an M6 is simply for the fact that they are enjoyable (to most) to drive. I have an M6, bought it brand new 7 months ago and wish I had gotten an A4 because I've gotten into raing much more then I had planned. Since you're not an experienced stick driver, and do plan to race, I think an A4 is the better choice for you.

Once again.. A4's are for driving hard and racing... M6's are for driving just to enjoy driving. A4's are cheaper to make fast too. There's a reason about 75% of the guys on this site drive Auto's...

 

When my clutch was going out I taught my g/f to drive stick and she picked it right up. With all the low end torque the cars rarely stall, so you can drive them pretty easily. If you have a friend that knows stick, just get him to give you a crash course(no pun intended) when you pick it up. M6s are a blast to drive. You won't regret it one bit.

You might want to invest in a skip shift eliminator though. The CAGS can be annoying and make learning tricky.

Good luck and have fun,
Mike

p.s. Don't all LS1s piston slap a little? Mine does when it's cold and it's runs like a champ.

<small>[ October 17, 2002, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: buschman ]</small>

 

Drag racing = Auto
Street driving = M6

The M6 is more controlable on the street,expecially around corners..
If your not a high speed corner nut then I would recommend an Auto and put a stall converter in it.

 

My new T/A is an A4.The only races i've had are with other trans-ams.They were both manual shift,one WS6...we were dead even,and the other was a late seventies T/A and I blew him off the line with the A4 bigtime.

The A4 does seem nice for racing.

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Is the m6 hard to drive, or take much skill? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">All driving takes skill. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Driving an auto takes JUST AS MUCH skill, just a different kind.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The ONLY reason to get an M6 is simply for the fact that they are enjoyable (to most) to drive.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Um... what other reason would there be? What's the point of not having fun driving? I really don't get it.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Since you're not an experienced stick driver...</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The only way to become one is to get started. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Once again.. A4's are for driving hard and racing... M6's are for driving just to enjoy driving.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Tell that to nine ball. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="gr_tounge.gif" /> He runs tens with an M6.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You might want to invest in a skip shift eliminator though. The CAGS can be annoying and make learning tricky.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Amen, brother!

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"> the other was a late seventies T/A and I blew him off the line with the A4 bigtime.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dude... That's not fair. You'd have to give him 9 cars even with a 2 speed powerglide. late seventies T/As were slow as ****.

Anyway... I guess what it comes down to is that the only "reasons" not to get an M6 are people's preconcieved notions about what can and can't be done with them. Notions which are based entirely in fantasy, I might add. A4 cars are probably plenty fun to drive, but if you've got the itch to try an M6, you really ought to try it. It's an amazing difference. Where people get caught up is they get lazy. A4 drivers tend to get lazy and don't make the transition to a manual car well. It takes gobs of practice to get REALLY good at driving a stick. Of course, it takes gobs of practice to drive an auto if you want to do it right. I've driven both and I can say with a fair degree of certainty that the only time you will ever see any real-world disadvantage in the M6 is in the snow. Of course, that's even not a big deal once you get used to it. There's an art to it that auto drivers don't care to learn. So IMHO, the bottom line is if you want to try it, there's no reason not to. If you want something "easy" and don't want to put in the effort of learning to do it right, stick with the auto.

 

The biggest factor I can think of is your daily commute? Is it a lot of open roads? Or is it a busy highway with expectable traffic?

I wanted an M6 in the worst way, but ended up getting an A4, turned out to be the right choice for me, my drive to work and school always has traffic and I would hate to control the car manually. Though I must admit I do wish I had an M6 sometimes.
Also stated above, A4 are less desructibe than a M6.

 

DO NOT BUY AN A4! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Mad]" src="gr_images/icons/mad.gif" /> I ahve both now and the SS with the M6 is 100x more fun to drive. The SS is my wifes car. She never drove a stick till now. When she first got it she didn't want to drive it she only wanted the TA in an auto. Now it's been a month or so, and I CAN"T GET HER TO TAKE THE TA. She LOVES the Stick and would now have it no other way. Do yourself a favor and get he damm stick. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="gr_grin.gif" />

 

Hey thanks for your opinions guys! I was really leaning toward the m6 before this post, but now i'm almost positive that i'll get an m6. It is mostly open roads and not really much traffic around here, so it should be fun! I've only had auto so far, but i really wanted to try out a stick, i have no doubt i would love it, just trying to get some opinions, thanks again guys!!!

 

A4 spoken here ! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

Just don't use ported MAF ends on it without getting computer tuning first ! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Sad]" src="gr_sad.gif" />

https://ls1tech.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ulti...;f=24;t=000294

https://ls1tech.com/ubb/ultimatebb.p...c;f=7;t=006335

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Bear:
<strong> ...She LOVES the Stick...</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif"><insert gratuitous joke here> <img border="0" alt="[jester]" title="" src="graemlins/gr_jest.gif" />

Seriously though... It's not even a matter of traffic. I drive into Chicago every stinking day and would still rather have the M6. Sure the A4 would be _EASIER_ but there's nothing wrong with driving an M6 in traffic. Instead of holding your right foot on the brakes you have to hold your left foot on the clutch. Big deal. *shrug* If the traffic is so bad that you can't keep the pedal down that long, you should probably just pop it into neutral anyway.