all SH's were 5 spd's and alot of base's were autos so you are much more likely to find a SH in manual over a base in manual. The SS thing is an issue with the auto tranny's, they do tend to have problems. I would get the base if i were you. The ATTS really doesnt help "that" much and it only becomes evident on the track, like beaver run. The base 5spd is faster that the SH 5spd stock for stock by a few feet, mainly because the ATTS loses more HP on the way to the wheels. For the street and modding i'd want a base 5spd...actually id want a 4G with a worked h22a . im not a big 5G fan.

~kris