My wife is a HUGE Manual Trans fan!!! I am not,, as I drove an at&t ladder truck for 30 years, mostly all man. trans... We test drove the dry clutch auto Dart 1.4L first, then found a manual trans in 1.4L that my wife prefered, and test drove it at another dealer who had one. WOW,,, what a different car a transmission can make! Coming from out of our current ride, a 2010 Honda Acord EX man. trans 5 speed, that Dart 6 speed man trans was a pain for both me and my wife! We found it turned the Dart into a DOG of a car below 2500 RPM no matter what gear we were in. It was as if 1st was so short, you needed to shift mid turn just turning onto a surface street. We both agreed that a 5 speed would have been much better, and safer, as with the 6 speed its just one too many gears, with too close a ratio! For instance, you need to go fast, FAST, or get hit by someone... :flashred: :excited: If your instincts kick in while in the panic mode, you shift down one gear, and floor it! Well, if that one gear down shift does not put the engine above 2500 rpm, your slower than a slug with a 1.36L engine, fully OFF boost, which = like 100 H.P. or less, and SMACK, you just got hit as you did not get out of the way fast enough due to that down shift / lack of rev, = lack of GO POWER! Maybe, just MAYBE you would down shift 2 gears, if your brain and hand were fast enough, but that may not even be enough to bring you into that sweet spot, full on 160 H.P. turbo boost. Plus, did that delay in thought, and action of down shifting 2 gears, just cost you your life??? :innocent: (Say shift from 6th to 4th, you might even need to go to 3rd)!
Where as with the automatic dual dry clutch trans., all you do is SMASH that gas pedal to the floor, wahm, bam, it INSTANTLY shifts to the best gear possible to give you every pony that turbo boosted engine can deliver, with no thought what so ever needed on your part,, other than to just "stomp on it" and GO!!! :drive: Bless my wifes heart, she even agreed that as much as she loves to shift, she would give up her beloved manual transmission as she could surly see the safety hazard of an underpowered car, in a panic condition! We also test drove the Mazda 3. Now it had enough go power to down shift once, and still get, some what, the "L" out of the way of itself, but its ride and noise levels were just too harsh, and loud. The Dart has it's competition beat, but that 6 speed man. trans. could be real dangerous if your not really thinking, in a panic situation! With the automatic, we never felt the turbo lag, as, it seemed to always be in the power zone. I just hope it gets good MPG as there seems to be a lot of MPG numbers floating around out there for the 1.4L automatic's... (Any real MPG's for 1.4L auto's out there)?
We ordered a Ralye 1.4L automatic, blue streak pearl, with a moon roof, and near all the options of the limited. (No leather, no TFT, & we hate power seats as they take TOO LONG to move). We are impatientily waiting its arival.
So anyone who has the Manual trans agree with the above?
Anyone know the "usual wait time" for a car to be built and delivered from the factory???
Beachnut
Where as with the automatic dual dry clutch trans., all you do is SMASH that gas pedal to the floor, wahm, bam, it INSTANTLY shifts to the best gear possible to give you every pony that turbo boosted engine can deliver, with no thought what so ever needed on your part,, other than to just "stomp on it" and GO!!! :drive: Bless my wifes heart, she even agreed that as much as she loves to shift, she would give up her beloved manual transmission as she could surly see the safety hazard of an underpowered car, in a panic condition! We also test drove the Mazda 3. Now it had enough go power to down shift once, and still get, some what, the "L" out of the way of itself, but its ride and noise levels were just too harsh, and loud. The Dart has it's competition beat, but that 6 speed man. trans. could be real dangerous if your not really thinking, in a panic situation! With the automatic, we never felt the turbo lag, as, it seemed to always be in the power zone. I just hope it gets good MPG as there seems to be a lot of MPG numbers floating around out there for the 1.4L automatic's... (Any real MPG's for 1.4L auto's out there)?
We ordered a Ralye 1.4L automatic, blue streak pearl, with a moon roof, and near all the options of the limited. (No leather, no TFT, & we hate power seats as they take TOO LONG to move). We are impatientily waiting its arival.
So anyone who has the Manual trans agree with the above?
Anyone know the "usual wait time" for a car to be built and delivered from the factory???
Beachnut
