Cur

I agree. I mean there are people getting butthurt over the fact that GM gave the new Camaro the same powertrain, unneutered, as the Corvette.

Every forum has "those guys", every single one. Luckily there are enough topics like these that "those guys" can't help but post in and they self-identify to the rest of the members.

EDITED TO ADD: Some people have way, WAY too much of their self-worth tied up into the things they own, so they'll crap on others' stuff to make themselves feel better.

Corgidog1

Some of the reasons are just ridiculous-I especially like #4 where the auto is safer because you have more time to spend concentrating on the road instead of focusing of shifting-now you have a free hand to text, use your phone, hug your dog, fool with the radio, etc. etc.

Oh I feel like such an outsider when I drive my stick...

98Pace

Your skirt won't get caught in the clutch pedal??

Stavesacre21

As expected, most of these are quite subjective. I won't argue with many of them, because they may be accurate for the majority of drivers out there. But then again...manual drivers aren't the majority anyway, right?

Teaching your child to drive a manual is an amazing bonding experience, and if they are 16, I HIGHLY doubt they will have no interest in learning to drive their father's Corvette.

boraxman

ETHYL

You forgot to mention red vs blue vs yellow vs white vs black. etc.

Steve_R

Our esteemed "CorvetteForum Editor." Almost everything he/she posts is stupid, inane, or obviously intended to start arguments like this.

No, it's the person who started it (see above) knowing exactly what it would lead to.

6104696

this thread has to be for the sole purpose of stirring the pot. the list is BS....those "reasons" are not vette-specific and it is the same old drivel. The C7 manual/clutch is no more of a "monster" in traffic than any other good manual transmission.


And I do live in a major city/area (DC) and do drive my manual in traffic, as I have done for 35 years, and I enjoy (almost) every minute of it.


The auto is fine for those who want it. The manual is fine for those who want it. It's sad to me that the take rate for the auto exceeds that of the manual by like 900%, but that's the way it goes. I bought a 2016 z06 instead of a 2016 CTSV since there is no manual option in the CTSV (I had 2 previous CTSV's all manuals)......

C7-Beast

You're right. I guess we are all just feeding the troll editor. I also agree his posts seem to be on subjects that will start fires. I guess that is way to draw in more users.

iclick

I'll pipe into this thread, feeling qualified to do so having owned nothing but manuals for the past 35 years, but now have an A8 C7.

1. Traffic: I live in an area with some of the worst traffic in the U.S., but having a manual never caused me any emotional or physical trauma. Besides, I was always happier the more shifting I had to do.

2. Thrilling as a manual: I agree, and finding the right gear quickly is a matter of punching the throttle with no deliberation needed. To me this is the most compelling reason to own an auto tranny at this technological level.

3. Share the experience: Not going happen. They can share with someone else's car--and besides, it is an opportunity not to allow it.

4. Safer? YMMV, but I don't feel any more or less safe.

5. ...enables you to use the time you’d typically spend on shifting to appreciate some of the other great performance features of the car. Encouraging one to shift his/her attention elsewhere while driving is not a virtue, IMO.

6. Passing it down. I couldn't care less if they like it or not.

7. ...no longer feel like an outsider. Never felt like an outsider driving a manual. Rather, I felt like others were missing out on a great experience.

On the negative side, the added cost diminishes the virtues of an A8 quite a bit. I like to shift but have not been using the paddles and don't really miss shifting that much, yet on balance I would rather be shifting. If I sound confused, I am--and am not sure how I will feel about this in a year or two. For the time being I'm not sorry I spent the extra $1800 for the A8, but am still evaluating all aspects for future decisions.

chi_stingray

My thoughts exactly. I've had people ask me to drive mine that I definitely did not want driving it and since it was a manual they couldn't.

RC000E

I bought a Corvette 2 years ago on a deal...it was an auto, but I thought "maybe I can daily this and not have a problem with it"....nope...sold it a month later. Can't do it. Only time I'll own a Corvette with an "automatic" is the day it has a DCT in it, and I'll still own a manual with it.

RC000E

A. I can share it just fine by scaring the hell out of them in the passenger seat
B. I don't earn/buy things for myself, so that others can have access to them. If my friends want a Corvette, they are free to go buy one. Two people are looking to buy as we speak because of me

2vette2

And I'm a fan of the automatic.

dvilin

He sure did.

Vetteman Jack

You are 100% right in my book. I've owned both auto and manual Vettes and have had just as much fun in both. What someone else chooses for their tranny is of no real concern to me - I buy what I want.

SPDY 772

I've had Vettes with both.

Manual sucks!

C7Kevin

This is NOT just idle speculation.

I CHOSE to wait for a 2015 model Corvette Z51 only so I could get a car with the 8-speed automatic.

After I had driven my 2015 for 6 months, I took the new Corvette owners class at the Spring Mountain track.

As luck would have it, the school had VERY few automatics and they were the old 6-speeds. Even these few automatics were assigned only to people who "merited" them.

So, I only got to drive cars, several(5-6) different cars in fact, that had the 7-speed manual transmissions.

These cars were all well-broken in, so newness of the transmission should not have been an issue.

I found all of these cars to be awkward, at best, to shift and I had trouble finding the correct gate at times.

I also found the foot well crowded(even with size 10 feet) and I was not at all impressed with the rev-matching feature.

As one who has owned mostly manual transmission cars, over almost five decades of driving, and having driven race cars with manual transmissions including one Hewland, I am well-versed in the so-called heel and toe method of downshifting and was so used to doing it that rev-matching felt strange and distracting to me. I also felt that the throttle "blip" came too late for my tastes.

So, God bless the Corvette team for adding rev-matching for those many who like it, but I remain unimpressed by it's implementation.
That's funny because I really expected it to be great when I read about the rave reviews it received in online reviews and in the magazines.

At the end of the school, I was glad that my time driving a manual-equipped Corvette was over and that I could go back to FULLY enjoying the Corvette driving experience in my own car.

Another big benefit I see in having the 8-speed automatic is that the driver can focus on steering and braking rather than doing a Texas two-step every time either an upshift or downshift is required.

The 8-speed isn't perfect. As documented on this and other forums, it has a few problems. But it puts the car in the right gear at least 95+ percent of the time, in my experience, and the manual setting allows drivers to select the best gear for their style of driving and the situations they drive in.

My advice to anyone planning a purchase of a 2015 or later Corvette is that they at least consider getting an 8-speed.
If they get the 8-speed, they always have the option of shifting it in manual mode and having the best of both worlds....without the ball and chain of a clutch pedal and with the hassle of finding shift gates.

Oh. The automatic has also produced faster 0-60 times in a number of tests, as if that mattered.

One additional benefit of the automatic is that its problems can sometimes be fixed by using a software/tuning fix. Any problems with the 7-speed manual require metal work or fervent prayer, probably both.

fueledpassion

To me, the only objective reason to have an automatic is for fast E.T's in the 1.8 & 1/4 mile run. That's it.

The darndest thing is not whether the automatic is worth it or better than the M7. The tragedy is that, specifically in the C7, max performance and max visceral experience are mutually exclusive. You can't have both in the C7, ladies and gents. Pick one.

Fortunately for myself, the C6Z only comes in manual and that statement above does not apply to that generation of Vettes, or any previous generation for that matter. For what it's worth, some of us like manual transmissions because they are a defying cry against the lazy, unwilling-to-deal-with-a-learning-curve generation that doesn't even know how to drive a manual.

Being able to drive a manual requires that you actually understand the relationship between the engine and drivetrain. Otherwise you will be incapable of doing the right thing or picking the right gear in any given moment of acceleration change on the road. So maybe that is a +1 for manual drivers in general - they understand their equipment. Not that auto drivers don't of course, but I'm sure there is a growing population of auto drivers that don't know a thing about the vehicle mechanics.

brettlid