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again, i'm not trying to judge anyone's purchase. their money, their car. if someone wants an AT or chooses to buy an AT, i have zero qualms about it.
that said, i posted this on preludezone.com (under a different s/n) and many of the AT owners spoke out about how they catch a lot of flack for owning an AT. while it's not cool to make fun of people, let's face it. that's the nature of things. especially when owning a hi-revving car!
when i owned an rx-8 (stratospheric redline!) the AT's had less HP, less torque, and were an all around inferior car. it even had a different engine with less 'valves'. most of the AT owners would seemingly overcompensate by over-modding their cars. some would eventually get tranny swaps. to me, this does not make sense. why not just wait to find an MT or get the MT in the first place? in general, MTs are about $1.5k cheaper than ATs! add in the cost of changing tranny's, etc, etc, and you just dumped a ton of money because of a chip on your shoulder.
when i was shopping for my 350z, i wanted a convertible-MT. this combo is basically non-existent unless you're willing to pay full retail! dealers say because most of the folk that want a 'vert are AT-types, so they just don't order them from japan. so, i had to make the choice to go hardtop-MT vs. 'vert-AT. i've never owned an AT and could not see myself ever owning one just because i appreciate controlling my gears and revs so much. that's just MY OWN preference. to me, there's nothing like dropping it in 2d and hitting a corner hard! however, IF i had gone AT, i certainly would not put a boot over the PRND21!
most recently, when shopping for a prelude, i've seen many super clean cars at great prices but were AT. i passed them up because i know what i am looking for in a car; which is the impetus for this post. i would get all worked up and happy, having found a super clean lude with low miles and then to contact the owner, wait for a response and find out the car is an AT. it's very frustrating! the pics show a shift boot, the dash pic is angled so that the "PRND21" is hidden! very frustrating! they may as well have been a vw cabrios to me...
the guys at PZ say they put boots over their shifters because of aesthetics and because they catch so much **** for owning an AT. my point is, if you're going to go AT, why front? no need to justify your purchase to anyone but yourself. so either folk do this to deflect flack from others or to compensate for a chip on their shoulders? if it's the former, who cares? it's your money, your car! if it's the latter, then, you're not really fooling anyone, especially yourself.
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 2000 Crystal Blue (5MT; 2.2L; 2-Stroke VTEC): TEIN | K&N.
Last edited by lude&lascivious; 12-30-2011 at 05:18 PM.
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). In which case, why try to cover up the fact that the car is an AT? 
I also see that some members here and other forums do it, not just to Preludes but to just about all "Automatic Sports Cars." 
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