jpshark

Ok fellas, one more comment on this from me then I'm done with this...for a while anyways...

I've had both manuals and autos in the 8 Corvettes I've owned. I traded a 2012 Grand Sport with manual for my 2014 Z51 Stingray convertible. I love driving cars with manuals and if the car I bought had a manual in it instead of the A6 I still would have bought it. See I didn't order my C7, I purchased one off the showroom floor as has been the case with ALL my (new) Vettes.

And I can tell you from someone who has driven them all and generally prefers manuals I'd get the auto in a heartbeat if I had it to do over again; it's that good! All this talk about lightning fast shifts, skip gear downshifts, double clutches, quintuple clutches, visceral manual boxes and so on means exactly squadush on the street, which is where MY Vettes live. If you track your car regularly then the manual is most assuredly the way to go. Otherwise it really doesn't matter, just drive what you got and enjoy it!

PS - The ZO6 I'm going to ORDER next summer will definitely have a manual!

BOBSZ06

http://www.autoblog.com/2014/08/20/2...ew-quick-spin/


"When he reviewed the C7 for the first time, our own Michael Harley had these, not-minced words to say about the existing 6AT:

"The traditional six-speed automatic seemed to extinguish the C7's performance edge. I found it softer, slower and more lethargic (even paddle-initiated shifts had annoying lag). Even though it was every bit as quick in terms of outright acceleration, the gearbox took much of the excitement out of the driving experience."

Clearly there was room to improve.

Thankfully, I can now report that the improvements have been made, and that the new, General Motors-designed Hydra-Matic 8L90 is up to the task of shifting one of the best sports cars in the world. Take heed, 65-percenters."

"Down to it then. Executing shifts in manual mode feels dual-clutch quick, for sure. The Chevy guys were puffing out their chests talking about the speed of this 8AT versus Porsche's PDK, and the truth is that the reaction time from paddle-pull to upshift is right there. At least, as that's what my imperfect human brain can suss out – any advantage to the quickest dual clutches I've yanked would require a machine to judge."

mr.aqua

This is good news to my ears. My 08 LS3 A6 doesn't shift as quickly as I'd like in paddle mode. I've even tuned it with the intune. So kind of regretted the auto (got it because the wife doesn't drive stick). with that said I'm a manual guy but am intrigued with the A8. I drove a challenger scatcat with the A8 (different tranny) and was really impressed with how responsive the paddle shifting was.

I think I'm ready to make the C7 leap and will have to do a manual vs A8 comparision.

Higgs Boson

Definitely a test drive necessary thing.....

wingerr

Some preliminary observations-
Paddle shifting down the lower gears results in the engine flaring as the engine revs up, seemingly higher than necessary to match the lower gear. I was using it to downshift to slow the car down gradually as I would with a manual, but the blip on the throttle as it does so isn't very seamless. Probably won't be using it much as a result.

There occasionally appears to be a noticeable transition as the car is brought to a stop at slow speeds, maybe from it disengaging something.
One time I checked to rear view to make sure I didn't get bumped, but it was nothing.
Maybe there's a learning process involved, as it's still on break in miles.

jpshark

My '14 A6 does the same thing when manually shifting from 2 down to 1 unless you're almost completely stopped. I always thought that was a "torque converter" thing. (?)

For the street I love the auto whether it be 6 or 8. If I tracked my car regularly I would have to have a manual and my C7 ZO6 WILL have a manual.

wingerr

Yeah, it's not something I'm too concerned with, just found it odd that a simple paddle downshift would have the characteristics of a sloppy manual shift. This is not where the rev match for the next lower gear even goes up that high, it's below 2500 rpm or so, because I'm making sure it's slow enough to stay below the 4k recommended break in RPM before downshifting.

The shift down to M2 actually accelerates briefly due to the blip in the throttle before easing back down again; apparently overcompensating the RPM matching.

Someone watching as it does it would probably think, "that guy doesn't know how to drive stick" - not suspecting it's automatic

Corvette03051

The 2014 is just fine. The 8 speed IMO has 2 speeds too many to use the paddle shifters when cruising along at highway speeds. I have to repeatedly push it to get into fourth or lower. I don't feel a difference in crispness. Just one man's opinion who actualy owns one.

JerriVette

The ZF8 in the dodge scatpack is among the latest automatic torque converter transmission. The 8L90 GM 8 speed is even newer than the ZF unit and even better.

Or at least as good.

Test drives are always a good idea.