[Hose92SVX]

As far as straight line speed goes it won't really matter becuase the shift points will be the same. As far as brake-torqueing to get a jump off the line being hard on the car, yes it's hard on the car but if the drivetrain is in good condition it should be able to handle hundreds of starts like that. On a car like this I would stay away from starts like this since the transmission is expensive to replace and the AWD doesn't allow good tire slip to relieve some of the pressure which means the drivetrain is taking alot more abuse then say a mustang. The main advantage of having the manual shift is that on this particuliar car there is no buttons to unlock the shifts from 4th to 3rd and from 2nd to 1rst, so it makes it easier to downshift a gear while concentrating on the turns. The main advantage of manually selecting a gear is to keep the suspension smooth and keeping the motor in the powerband while navagating twisty roads. Lets say your on a straight away and the straight away allows enough room to shift into third but you are only going to get another 50 feet of power on while in third before you hit the brakes and downshift. In this case you are probably better off staying in second letting it run close to the rev limiter then off throttle, smooth brakes, stay in second and concentrate on taking the turn smooth and to the limit, rather then going to third, then braking while downshifting into second. The reason is because if you downshift during the braking zone there will be a moment where the car will have no engine braking then sudden engine braking while you are applying the brakes. It will upset the chassis and the smoothness of the braking and if you are already at the cars limit of availible traction then you will slide once the the gear changing upsets the cars suspension and brakes. This will also cause panic mode and not allow you to concentrate on the turn. You'll notice on some race cars the driver will heel-toe the throttle and brake while downshifting so the engine braking stays smooth while downshifting. This is hard to master and won't work on a automatic. Smoothness=Speed.