Automatic Vs. Standard
 

Does it really matter. What are the pros and cons.

i pesonally love shifting through the gears. standard easier to do burnouts and such, drifting, etc. but i heard autos are better for drag racing. but if just driving normal i'm not to sure i think its just preference. but i think manuals can hold more power if you were to modify your car.

Yea, if you were going to drag the car an auto is the way to go. The stock auto tranny (a340e) can only hold about 300hp. The non turbo tranny (w58) can also hold about 300hp. But the turbo tranny (R154) I havent seen destroyed from high power if they were maintained correctly.

Its a turbo and its an automatic. what can that tranny hold?? so the auto would be better for like red light to red light racing?

i wouldnt suggest doing the redlight rally racing idea

but a lot of pple have been using auto trannys for drag racing since they are more consistent and shift quicker

an auto is better for high hp dragging, but these autos are relatively weak compared to the r154. other wise its all just preference

If your auto is working good now (which by the way is a 'beefer' one than the N/A one), I would put your $$$ into all the other repairs and engine mods first.

Cherry that baby out !!!

Later, if you ever burn up the auto, then you could do the manual swap for fun and a different kinda ride.

I have owned both an automatic for 5 years and now a manual for 2 years. Both are tuff trany's and I think it all comes down to your preference. For MKIII's there are definitly more autos available and more demand for manuals, thus for resale you probably want to go for the manual. As for performance again it's whatever you are up to and how you intend to drive your car. I think if I had two identical cars and resale was not part of the question I'd probably go for the auto as to me it seems to fit the car better than the manual. After all the MKIII is not really a sportscar but a touring car.