Sorry, but autos historically bring more at resale than manuals.

 

You're absolutely correct.............if you have a Buick Park Avenue or some such vehicle-still bet that's not going to be the case with the xfire!!!!

 

I was referring to all cars, except those that do not come auto. Even Corvettes. But you may be right.

 

The six speed equipped vehicle has less value on the used car market, should that be of consideration to you.

 

I did a little research. Asked a car salesman friend to look it up at the dealership. Trade-in value for the auto and six speed Crossfire are identical.

 

Your car salesman friend is 100% right. When it comes time to trade or sell, the price you get or should pay for an auto or manual is the same.

Reference KBB for a 2004 Crossfire Coupe, in excellent condition with 8,000 miles on the odometer:

Trade In Value: Manual = 24,050 Auto = 24,050

Private Party Sale: Manual = 26,710 Auto = 26,710

Suggested Retail: Manual = 29,575 Auto = 29,575

Of course the price may vary by location but the bottom line is once the car drives off the dealer's lot, it depreciates and there is no difference between manual or auto when it comes time to trade or sell. On the other hand whoever sells/buys a used car may try to tell you different. It pays to do your homework when buying a new or used car.

 

Trade in here is around 20k max! either 6 spd or autostick.

 

Like a lot of you, I've owned cars with sticks, autos, and autoshift transmissions. I have had sticks in cities and where I had to drive daily on expressways that were almost always backed up. That is painful. BUT, if I own a sports car, even something that, like the Crossfire, is not all that fast, I will ONLY use a stick. Not a sports car otherwise.
However, if I ever move back to the city, I will be driving the fastest and best looking automatic trans car I can afford. Probably an Infiniti G35 coupe.

 

All I can say is look at this article someone linked to in another thread:

http://www.roadandtrack.com/article...article_id=1985

G35?

 

Richard,
You, as all of us, are certainly entitled to your opinion, however, I have owned one of every worthwhile, "sports car", you can name (and several you can't), and I will assure you that when you
watch a C-6 with an automatic, or a 911 with tiptronic, eat your stickshift Xfire without stopping to spit out the bones, you'll have a tough time convincing those folks that their cars are not, "sports
cars". When I started driving, well over 50 years ago, there were no mass-produced automatic
trannys and air conditioning hadn't come along yet, either. According to your definition, should all of those cars acquire the, "sports car" nomenclature? Are all of today's vehicles, equipped with air
conditioning to be labeled, "luxury cars"?

I continue to maintain that a vast majority (if not all) of late model vehicles, when designed with no clutch, will bring more money, AND sell quicker, than their counterparts with a manual shift. I believe
this is a given, excluding a few folks who refuse to see the light, regardless of fact.

 

I just purchased a new one in the Minneapolis area and was doing some comparison. Both have 5000 miles on them.

Auto - 22,000
Manual - 21,000

My opinon is that the stick - even though it's more fun captures a much smaller target than the automatic.

 

here's a quote from cars.com:

"While automatic transmissions improve resale value for all other kinds of vehicles, they're neutral overall for sports cars; manual transmissions do better in some sports cars, automatics in others. This depends, in part, on the original cost of the transmission option."

my opinion for the crossfire is that the autostick will have a slightly higher resale value in the future, but not nearly as high as the $1K difference when buying new. kbb does list the price of the auto and manual as being the same. however, other guides, such as edmunds and nada have the autostick selling for $400-700 more. who knows how accurate any of them are. consider that the ratio of autosticks/manuals is right around 60/40. it is unlikely that supply and demand will make one significantly more valuable than the other because both are plentiful.

i've given this possible explanation before, but i'll summarize it again. in the new car sports car market many are bought by middle aged people because they have more disposable income. they also tend to buy automatics for the driving ease and convenience. in the used car market younger enthusiasts can now afford the vehicle and many of them want the manual. a while back i owned a used corvette with a manual. only around 30% of corvettes were produced with the manual for that year. even though the auto was priced as an option in that car, it was the manual that was in short supply in the secondary market. it had a resale value several hundred dollars higher than the auto.

if someone prefers the manual and it meets their driving needs they should get it and hopefully spend a few $ less. if another person likes the auto and it suits their needs, they should spend a few $ more and get it and maybe even make up the difference some day in fuel savings.

 

Dear mappel70,

Sounds like a bit of over reaction to me. Don't care if they sell for more or quicker on the used market; that's never a consideration for me. Of the 29 cars my wife and I have owned or leased since we got married 40 years ago, about half were sticks. Four of those cars were Nissan Maxima SE's. Three of those four were automatics, and the fourth, a six-speed stick, was far and away the best drive. And if I could afford a C6, yeah, it'd be a stick. Do I think a car that's a sports car should only have a stick, including the 911? Yeah, I do.

 

I agree. If I did use my xfire for commuting, I would have the AutoStick. However, I chose the 6spd because as a weekend pleasure vehicle, I wanted to feel the performance and have command over a sports car. The sweet spot in 3rd gear going into curves and accelerating out to 4th gear and so on is just awesome.......not to mention dropping down to 5th gear at around 75 mph to zip pass others on the highways.

 

Niko,

Go auto! Merc don't make a decent stick shift!! Had it been a nice sweet 6sp Getrag like a Beemer then sure, I would say go for it.
The auto isn't the best in the world but on a dry day with traction sw off its a shed load of fun ad will power drift the **** end in and out all day!!

The auto can be a bit of a slug to upshift if you wellie it hard the back of the gas its computer can't make its mind up quick enough. New SRT apparently modified to cope this. Bloody typical, why not just put 7spd auto out of 350 SLK, obviously Crossy just the poor relation huh!

DSG 6 speeder as used in Audi VW is one of the nicest Auto's I've driven for a while, so smooth.

Seriously, get the auto, it's fine and the Tiptronic means it drives like a manual any way but no clutch which is a pain in traffic.

Madshandy (Lancs)

 

Hmmm. Never thought of turning the traction switch off. But it brings up another whole set of questions, which I won't ask. I'll do some research and get back. It's obvious it's pretty even between auto and stick. As mentioned in my first reply, I'd have had the clutch and 6 except for my lovely spouse who needs to drive me home late sometimes.

 

It basically comes down to preference, but in this day and age I think using both sets of hands and feet to drive a vehicle is a little outdated. All the new vehicles from Ferrari, Porsche, and even Lamborghini have some sort of auto F1 paddle shifters as options. Even the new 1001 HP Bugatti Veyron is an auto. Times have changed people. I'm guessing in another 10 years many trannies won't even exist.

 

How many out there are experiencing troubles with a standard stick while in first my stick pops out of gear and makes a hellish sound, contact me 2004 xfire 6 speed.

 

Do a search.

This has been discussed extensively. I believe there were TSB's about this.

 

I guess if you are driving the car everyday in heavy traffic its a no brainer, get the auto. I didn't even consider the auto, but the autostick should be alot better than a standard auto, I guess. My thing is this, its a sports car and sports cars should have a manual, just my .02 cents.