Drove Manual S5

[beenief]

Test drove the manual s5 this weekend, beautiful car but that gearbox is sooo clunky, my Acura has a slicker shifter, kind off disappointing. I think the tip is probably the way to go.

[turbo4s]

I agree

[SoCalS4Avant]

Was the car warmed up? My S4 can seem somewhat clunky before completely warming up. Just a thought...

[BD997]

Auto all the way baby!

[TapouTx914]

If it was cold out then i can see why but in warm weather I think the gearbox is very smooth.

[boomer]

Test drove the manual s5 this weekend, beautiful car but that gearbox is sooo clunky, my Acura has a slicker shifter, kind off disappointing. I think the tip is probably the way to go.

"Clunky"?? Did you drive the same car I have? Are you experienced in driving upper end cars with a stick? If you are looking for an excuse to get the tip then do so because it's a great transmission also but calling the stick "clunky" is absurd frankly. I have driven almost all sticks for 35 years and the S5 is absolutely NOT "clunky" if you know how to drive it.

[beenief]

I have never owned an automatic but i think this might be my first, I have driven BMW, sticks and acura sticks, never owned audi but it doesn't give one the same smooth slick feeeling as BMW or Acura, actually a couple of the reviews said the same thing. If this is upper end shifting I will stick to manuals with Beemer cause theirs is silky smooth.

[EuroB6]

^^ ive drivent the E46 M3 in manual, and it is "rubbish" Audi's is much better. My old Honda S2000 had the best clutch/shifter

[Monizzle]

Auto all the way baby!

never thought i'd see the day...

[JetBlue]

The transmission is going to feel heavier than any Acura because of the amount of TQ that has to go through it. Honda does have some of the best feeling transmissions on the market. The stick in the S2000 is undoubtedly one of the best transmissions on the market today. Overall though, the stick in the S5 is very good. You need to let it warm up before you really make up your mind about it.

[FauchX]

Auto all the way baby!

are you a woman?

[raykwok]

huh

[switchface]

The transmission is going to feel heavier than any Acura because of the amount of TQ that has to go through it. Honda does have some of the best feeling transmissions on the market. The stick in the S2000 is undoubtedly one of the best transmissions on the market today. Overall though, the stick in the S5 is very good. You need to let it warm up before you really make up your mind about it.

+1

are you a woman?

LOL, give me three pedals please.

[Clown4]

honda/acura make one of the top gearboxes out on the market to date!

again...a5's gearbox... should be even better than my b7 a4 haha!
don't hate the a5 manual!!!

[Pete4 1.8t]

Once it warms up I bet it would be really nice and smooth. The more recent BMW's have had lame gearshifts if you ask me, I've only driven M cars but they are always difficult to get along with. We had a 2008 M5 and the lumpy clutch and notchy snap of the shifter were less then pleasant, easier then the M3 I drove though, that car was a bitch to drive sometimes.

[AMC]

Auto all the way baby!

you must be gay

[SupraBlur]

I noticed the gates actually felt easier to sync into after the first couple of thousand miles. *shrug

I don't feel like it's any notchier than other sports coupes I've driven. Auto was never an option for me in this car, it already loses enough power through the AWD drivetrain, why lose even more through a slushbox?

To add another nail in the coffin, most manual transmissions produce little heat, are significantly lighter weight, and last forever (with normal relatively inexpensive and infrequent wear-out items, clutch disc, pressure plate, etc) whereas most autos feel completely different from new after 100k miles (indicating internal wear) and from my experience often need major rebuild or replacement after 150-200k miles, all the while they add stress to the cooling system since in most cars, the main radiator doubles as a transmission fluid cooler for the automatic.

Too many knocks against the auto to not just deal with synchros that are sligtly less smooth than a Honda. Of course if you just plain don't want to shift, then that's a different story.

*shrug

[quattro.it]

I have never owned an automatic but i think this might be my first, I have driven BMW, sticks and acura sticks, never owned audi but it doesn't give one the same smooth slick feeeling as BMW or Acura, actually a couple of the reviews said the same thing. If this is upper end shifting I will stick to manuals with Beemer cause theirs is silky smooth.

The Audi MT6 is light years ahead of the vague BMW "rubber" shifters.