TheMidnightNarwhal

So I read a couple of post around and I see so much bad stuff on the new A8. I'm thinking of either going for a new C7 or a used 2012 Carrera S and seeing all these A8 problems... oh boy.

Bettermost

Without a doubt some of them do have issues and may develop issues in the future. Some have no problems at all, Its a crap shoot. From what I hear a 5 year old Carrera S wont exactly be a trouble free gem either.

mschuyler

Don't be misled by a couple of very loud complainers. The number of people who have problems with the A8 is small, and they appear to be mostly with earlier models. If reading a few posts on here is enough to put you off a corvette, my guess is you were headed that way anyway. The vast majority of corvette owners have an A8 and are not complaining about it.

Thompson Motorsports

I have a 16' Z06 A8 with about 1500 miles on it now and so far extremely pleased with it. It is by far the best driving vette I have ever owned. I pulled the blower off and am plumbing a large single turbo on it now so we will see how it does under power, I am concerned but optimistic.

Richard Ames

Have been through the reprogram and stater update with the A8 on my Z51 15 coupe. That said overall it is an excellent transmission after warm up. Just treat it nice till it warms up some.

CriticalmassGT

The biggest issue I've seen is the lack of proper cooling. As long as you don't track the car, you should be fine with the A8. My thing is, if it were me. I'd wait until they started coming with the extra cooling for the transmission since they don't plan to back-install the cooling kits in older models.

The Porsche on the other hand is going to be super expensive for simple maintenance.


Just remember, EVERY car has its quirks once it gets a bit of age on it, they start to show. Ask yourself if you can live with those quirks before buying.

Corbrett

It is a bummer that some people have had transmission issues with their C7.

My Corvette is about to hit it's one year anniversary, and it has been amazing!
I love the A8, and would definitely make the same choice if I was buying a second C7.

TheMidnightNarwhal

Ehhh that's a myth. I went ahead and checked my self the 911 991 maintenance schedule and calculated the parts and all and it's really not that bad. But that's not the point.



Well you guys are giving me hope. It is true I only read a few post about it being bad and considering the majority of C7s are auto it is a very small percentage. And anyways if I do go for a brand new C7, I will have warranty right so if everything goes bad I can always cover it on that.

kp

If you go looking for problems you will probably find them, even one that works as designed is nowhere near perfect.

It is acceptable, if you want a DCT buy a car with a DCT, no other way to put it.

As far as the issues, GM put a lot of faith in the torque converter clutch. It is used often and common TCC issues are chatter/shudder. So any glazing or fluid sealing issues (tolerance stacking, damaged sealing rings on install etc) will come to light pretty quick.

The other issue with sitting overnight and delayed engagement has to be more than the added check valve since many early cars/trucks do not have the problem. Once again its most likely tolerance stacking or improper assembly. Either way that should not really affect anything long term, other than thinking 'thats not right' every time you drive it after sitting overnight.

The stock tuning is clunky and adaptive works OK, but you have to remember people dont always agree on what a 'good' auto should feel like. Some want hard shifts all the time, others expect a CVT-like experience where they cant feel the shifts. Cant have everything, it would be nice if the C7 had a few separate selections for trans behavior, but its all limited to what the hardware can do. I have had a lot of good auto (and DCT) cars and not one of them was 100% in the right gear at the right time in auto mode.

If you drive the car hard then the trans works pretty good, old man style cruising it is a but confused and crude at times. Have to remember its trying to get good gas mileage and low emissions most of the time.

Lot of guys hate autos for some reason and will bash it no matter what, seems like they are almost happy when others have problems. Some people have had issues and fixed, others have had issues and still arent happy and are vocal. If I had problems I would either just trade it off or if it wasnt too bad just drive it until I think GM has some real fixes/updates and get a new trans 4.5 years down the road

TheMidnightNarwhal

^^^ Listen. All I want from a auto is that is lets me drive when I'm in auto mode and when I'm in auto shift mode (paddles) it lets me do what I want to an extent, I understand it won't let me do a moneyshift but that's not waht I want.

The way I see the problem is that it happens when people are not using paddles correct? When shifting with paddles, it shift like you want without any problems or?

Any way like I said, I will have warranty.

kp

Sure you can shift with the paddles all day if you want to. At low throttle there is a lot of delay from when you hit the paddle until it actually shifts. That delay decreases the more throttle/higher rpm you drive.

It wont let you manually upshift or downshift if the rpm is out of range of course but you can pretty much do whatever you want otherwise. Even in auto if you drive it aggressively enough it does pretty good on its own.

And yes, if something goes bad its GMs problem for 5 years/60K miles.

TheMidnightNarwhal

Alright thanks for the clarifications

Only one way to know if I like it or not; test drive.

tail_lights

I'm on my fourth C7, all A8s and a couple did have the firm 1-2 shift when new but once driven it seemed to go away, the last one I bought seemed to have no issues. It is the smoothest by far. Weird thing is this one is a 2015, and it shifts smoother (from the start) than my 2016 did. I didn't classify the 'harsh shift' as an issue, just a quirk that ended up going away on its own (no trip to dealership).

dmvette

You can get positive and negative comments all day long but in the end, you really need to experience the vette for yourself to help you in your decision making process.

NSC5

I am completely satisfied with the A8 in my Z06 and with the Range AFM defeat module plugged in I leave it in full auto mode for most driving. One of the articles about AFM noted that the converter clutch was further modulated to help control the additional vibration in V4 mode and if so that will make the converter clutch issues more obvious and likely contributes to additional converter clutch issues.

Although not "car like" my favorite automatic is the Allison 1000 series used in the GMC/Chevy diesel pickups. When set to towing mode the converter clutch locks completely with the shift from first to second and then remains locked regardless of shifting and throttle position until a shift back into first gear. It provides a very "manual like" feel with no clutch slippage or varying RPM absent of changes in road speed.

rmorin1249

My '16 A8 only acts up when it is cold. Usually a couple rough 1-2 upshifts and an occasional rough 3-1 downshift. I plan to have it reflashed when I take it in for its first oil change service next month. I'm at 5500 miles and 10 months of ownership. The tranny is warranted for 5 years and 60K miles standard but I bought a 7 yr/75K mile Platinum Warranty more for all the electronics than the tranny. It is true some have had issues and now the Torque Converter issue is also a concern but again I think it is not a problem common to all A8 cars. I could be wrong, time will tell.

JonMN

Timely thread for me! Two Torch Red C7s Convertibles here in MN, and trying to decide between the M7 or the A8. The horror stories are starting to scare me off the A8. But I went from a M6 911 to an Audi double-clutch, and really like the double clutch. So was leaning towards the A8 . . .

TheMidnightNarwhal

Speaking of german cars... my current dilleme is either a brand new C7 or a 2012 used 911 991 Carrera S

capecodvette

2016 Stingray, A8, build date Nov 2015. No issues, at all.

hisvett

2015; 23232 A8's delivered in C7's
2016 Probably about the same
Total for the two year production; 46,000 A8's out on the road and you are worried about a few complaints????

I have one year (and 3 days) and 25K miles on my A8 including a few sessions on the track and I'm very happy that I did not go with a M7.