Cardinal Flyer

According to recent posts, the new mid-engine Corvette will not have a manual transmission, even as an option.
Without debating the pros & cons of slush-boxes vs. sticks, seems to me that we're seeing the end of an era.
Sad to see the Corvette become a computerized Batmobile for Millennials.

Dutch08

I agree 110%. In maybe thirty years everything will be electric, self guided. You'll have complete connectivity to your bank, job, friends while in your car. Driving as such will be dead and you'll buy a travel slot for a place on the highway for a programmed destination.

jbc1995fb

Sounds like a discussion for the C8 forum

marinablu67

Also, if you're a fan of convertibles like I am, the C7 will be the last real Corvette with a rag top, a true sports car!

BadAV

I wouldn't bet either way on that just yet. But I am not in the market for a C8 so I have not been following the news that closely.

marinablu67

Using logic, I don't see how this car could be with the engine right behind the cabin, but I'm no car designer!
What I do see most likely happening is a Targa top will be offered as an option, but not a full fold down top.

Oic0

I bought a C6 A6 because my wife demanded an auto (as a passenger she hates the feeling of manual shifts). I sorely regret it. Paddles suck and if you let it do it's own thing, the the transmission is unpredictable. I really wish I had the manual

Jughead

Lots of high end cars using paddle shifters.

jrose7004

More than likely the fall of the Corvette is due to the fact that we're getting older and the younger generation are car enthusiast!

captain vette

I can’t agree more it’s a sad day for manual transmission fan like me

SlothX311

Except it wont be a "slush-box".... it will be a dual clutch auto. A "slush-box" refers to an automatic transmission with a torque converter, like the one in the auto C6.

Interesting take on the evolution of a platform. I'm an avid fan of the analog car, manual trans. Fun to drive, very hard to squeeze everything out of the platform. That said, I think your take on this is a little short sighted. How did we get here? Constant improvement. Faster 0-60 times, higher lateral G numbers, better braking, higher top speeds. This is the logical crossroads for any performance oriented car. Mid engine, dual clutch cars are faster around a track. Given that this is America's gift to the auto racing world, it seems like a logical conclusion.

I am interested to see what happens with the Corvette lineup though. There's no way they're just going to transform the product line into something with a higher starting price than the top of the line (ZR1) of today. Its cutting themselves short of thousands of cars per year they would otherwise sell. I can't afford a $120,000+ car. The $60,000 base price is a good spot in the market. Will be watching this closely.

Pete Schweaty

Lots of mid engine cars have true convertible tops.

R&L's C6

Except the vast majority of Corvettes will never see any sort of track time. For the most part, C6's have more performance than most owners ever realize.

It's all about bragging rights while sitting in the garage and waxing them.

wayback

Wonder how many people complaining have driven a good dual clutch set up? Best of both worlds I think. Control when you want with lightning fast shifts and fully auto when stuck in traffic. Win, win.

Bruze

We're much closer than you think.

Enjoy your hotrods while you can.


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919cw313

Opposite sides of the same coin, but probably the same amount of people who think paddle shifters on a C6 are cool.

Bingo002

Ever since the introduction of the 6th gen Camaro, I’ve been thinking this. The Camaro has become lighter, more powerful, and more track oriented just in the last decade not to mention getting much more difficult to see out of. The Camaro if it hasn’t already, is becoming the traditional Corvette. What we’re seeing now is the corvette just doing what it’s always done, and competing with cars far above its weight class, and guess what, those cars all have DCT’s by now (see Audi S series, M cars, and if you want to go there, Lambo’s and Ferrari’s as well). GM will still make that same old fun sports car, it’ll just wear a different name.

wayback

Touche, but you can't compare the C6 shifters to a good dual clutch set up. I know, I have a tuned A6 C6 and it sucks even compared to my sons GTI dual clutch.

But overall I like daily driving the A6 better than I did the M6 I had.

919cw313

Absolutely. That was my point.

I was completely anti-anything with two pedals and couldn't believe Ferrari went to all F1 trans several years ago. Then Porsche came close to doing the same. The fact is, when you get to hypercar performance, you're better off with a DCT.

captain vette

Not at all this discussion is about the death of the manual tranny. And it is a shame.