If I were to race a 2002 Protege 5 manual in a 2002 Protege ES auto, about how far behind would I be once we hit the end of a quater mile? Does the auto really suck that much? The brochure states that the manual will run the quater in 17.4, while the auto will run it in 18.2, is 0.8sec really that much of a difference length wise?

 

The manual gets a better launch, but the auto has a quicker 1-2 shift, so if they guy you're racing is a poor driver you might win.

 

amazingly, my gtech says that I ran the 1/4 mile in 17.4ish seconds. And I have a manual


---------- Race Results: ----------
Reaction Time (sec) 0
Distance Time (sec) Speed (mph)
60 ft 3.154
330 ft 7.674
1/8 mile 11.457 66.39
1000 ft 14.679
1/4 mile 17.44 82.42

mind you, it wasn't very well calibrated at the time.

 

Well reaction times will play a part in the 1/4 at a track to .. You could win your race that way ....
I have a Friend who races with an auto and he basically just perfected his reaction times , with Practice... and beats 5 speeds pretty often
Bruce

 

I thought reaction time didn't matter at the track. I thought your car had to trip a sensor or sumthing as it leaves the line to start a timer to get your quater mile time. So you could leave 10sec after the first guy and still get 17ish quater mile times right? I've never tack raced before, but I was told that i could just floor it on the second yellow, and I'd have a pretty good reaction time because of "roll out" or sumthing. (The time and distance needed to be travelled by the car to trip the sensor, i think)

Just out of curiousity? What car does your friend drive? Our cars are a little underpowered, and the auto takes a damn lot of power out of the engine.

 

I never said it was included ,,

my friend has an Old cutlas ,, with mostly engine mods.
he usually races high powered American Cars though..

 

ya he never said that.

they do play a role... in the winner of the race of course!

the ET is a measure of your actual performance

 

dude if your real question is to get a manual or an auto, get a manual. it's a lot more fun. and forget this bs about you'll hate it driving in traffic crap. you'll get used to it and you won't even notice your driving a manual. it's alot more fun to get the manual. down with the automatics

 

Too late, he's already got an auto.

 

I always thought auto proteges were way slower than manuals. Hell with the auto shifting faster, theres always room to improve with the manual and you can shift faster with practice im sure. Maybe only with a short shifter... the 1-2 throw always bugs me by being really long

 

Sure the automatic shifts faster, but the gear ratios are different considering the auto has 4 speeds and the manual has 5. The manual is better all the way around, unless you can't drive well.

 

With a rebuilt tranny and some ***** under the hood and auto can take a stick any time. You just have to have the correct setup.

 

 

the only way you'd get me to drive an auto is if you chop off my right arm and left leg. i just hate sitting still.

 

I'm getting tired of ya'll bashing automatics like its a sin to drive a car with one. Not all automatics are trash. Well maybe the ones for the proteges but there are some automatics out there who can beat the hell out of a manuals. And vice versa.