It's not hearsay. I've driven automatic turbos, and the first 2-3K RPM's are horrible until the turbo spools up. At least with a manual car you have the chance of starting with the turbo spooled up. Add on to that the fact that Honda engines make very little low end torque and the automatic transmissions have only 4 gears, and thus, longer gearing than the 5 speeds, and you have one very annoying bit of turbo lag. Will it be fast than before? Probably. Are you going to get annoyed that every time you hit the go pedal the car seems to hesitate a little? Probably.