Originally Posted by millpond

From Autoguide. We will probably see this transmission in the C7 or C8:
Chevrolet is claiming that the new 10-speed automatic transmission in the Camaro ZL1 shifts faster than a dual-clutch transmission.
“There is simply nothing like the experience offered with the new 10-speed automatic in the Camaro ZL1,” said Aaron Link, ZL1 lead development engineer.

Originally Posted by DAFFYDRUNK

Not fair to call the m7 a pos... or slow. Depends on driver ability. If you know what you're doing, you can seriously shift it almost as fast as the A8.

Originally Posted by Curahee

I'll hold out for the 12-speed.

Originally Posted by jdhommert

Some unbiased thoughts and comments from someone who will argue both sides...probably gonna be a novel

I specifically asked Tadge about the A10 fitting in the Vette. I said you know we heard that the A8 wasn't needed or may not fit in the C7 early on, and you specifically said it's not needed when the C7 came out with the A6. So Tadge, you don't have to comment but I'm assuming the C7 will get the A10 soonish, because I'm assuming "it won't fit" is true, but you can easily make it fit by shortening the torque tube or something. He broke it down and explained to me that no it won't ever fit the C7 architecture because it's about 1.5" too long (never had that problem myself) and due to the way things are positioned and mounted, every piece in the driveline needs to be the right size/proportion/in the right spot or the axles wont line up with the wheels/transmission. He said you can't just adjust something else on the car to make the A10 fit, it's just too big sadly.

Take that for what it's worth, we know he's had to fib before or say things that people dont like to promote the current product or walk the company line etc

First- Not even going to address upshifts as thats not the issue and all tranmissions can shift super fast and that's never the issue and hasn't been for a long long time. People who defend the A8 or GM always says but its as fast as a DCT....ok thats about upshifts, again thats not the issue at all.
IMO-A8 is a great automatic transmission...its got its issues and quirks sure, but it seems to be a pretty damn good performer overall. I think the A10 is a big step up on the A8 and damn it sounds like that thing is incredible in the several videos I've seen of test drives in the ZL1. The thing is just cracking off shifts as fast as hell.

An automatic won't/cant ever be as fast as a DCT on a paddle/manual downshift from my understanding of how the two transmissions and technologies work. First a DCT is able to be instant, we know that. An AT will always take longer to downshift, and I think the diff here is if its in D or you're doing it manually. If you leave an A8/10 in D, it will do everything for you and downshift at the right times and be the brain for you. It will downshift super fast because it knows thats what it wants to do before hand/right before the shift happens. When you have it in paddle mode, it has no idea when a shift is coming and then when you tap the paddle it still has to go through the checks to make sure it's cool to do a downshift which will take some time, probably a very small amount of time. Then it has to do the downshift, which will take a litle more time than a DCT downshift, with the A10 it's probably a small difference. However I think that with the "thinking" and slightly longer shifting process, you'l never be quite as fast or feel quite the same as a DCT.

The flip side to that is-
1. Obviously maybe the A10 is getting damn close to a DCT for manual downshifts. I specifically found manual paddle downshifts in those videos and blew it up on the bigscreen and listened/watched for the tap and then the shift. I was very impressed and intrigued with how quick the A10 downshifted, but we need real world results to see how it performs in all kinds of shifts, not just a handfull you see in a video. Seems promising though.
2. If you leave it in D, who cares? It seems like some of the lap times being done are with an auto in D. Car seems to be able to do everything damn near perfectly and always be in the right gear for you so you can concentrate more on other driving stuff. Less involvement and fun, sure. I get it because I want a car/transmission where i have that video game thing where i touch a button and boom it downshifts before i even get the button all the way pressed down. But again, the car seems to be able to perform incredibly if you just leave it in D. As long as there aren't overheating issues, but that's another issue. I think the A8/10 are about as good as you can possibly get for a true automatic with a TC, but it's not fair to compare it's performance as far as heat and response/downshifting time to a true DCT. A TC has some advantages on the street that is tough for a DCT to replicate. Not a knock on either choice.

I'm really looking forward to what the A10 can bring, but I don't expect it in the C7. I might buy a Camaro when it comes with an A10, but I'll probably just get a CTS for a daily instead. I'd imagine they will have the A10 for a base automatic, and then finally have a real DCT available in the Z06/ZR1/Zora or something.


Guys-lets keep this civil and not get mad because somebody else likes a different kind of transmission than you do. All choices in life have their pros and cons, it's what you personally want and are willing to live with. I was pretty anti-auto and really didnt want my dad to get one as we have always been manual guys. I test drove an A8 and I was pretty impressed and he was happy as all hell. Good for him.

Hopefully that wasn't too awful or long to read lol

Originally Posted by Bucknut2006

More interest in the downshifts and delay between triggering a shift and it actually happening. To me, that's more important than being 36% faster going from 1-2 than a PDK.