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This is not intended to start an Auto/Manual trashing thread.
Around 75% of corvettes are autos and if you’ve been following the C8 threads, it’s widely speculated that the ME will be produced as a DCT-only model so the C7 may be the last generation where we have a choice in transmission types. What drove your choice and why?
Faster, better, smoother, not an old man, traffic, more gears, awesome multigear kick-down, paddle shifting, holding hands with the wife, eating an ice cream cone, scaring school children with performance shift mode, annoying M7 owners, participating in A8 v M7 threads and winning.
You might not have intended for this to be confrontational, but just you wait....
I've only driven manual vettes until my 2017, I switched to the A8 in my '17 GS for a couple of reasons:
1) bad back, neck and left knee so I couldn't get comfortable or into a position where rowing the gears wasn't painful
2) I simply wanted to try the auto with paddles
My 2013 Corvette was a manual. It was fun rowing thru the gears, but when I took it on a parade, the fun stopped. My 2016 is an auto. Much easier during parades, plus the auto is quicker than the manual. I love how it responds when I am cruising along and go to WOT. My left knee acts up sometimes now, and I am glad I don't have to operate a clutch.
The state of the roads and always present stop and go traffic in the Pittsburgh area make a stick very hard to live with. Coming home from Carlisle last summer I sat in a traffic jam on I 70 for over an hour. Just not fun trying to pump a clutch in those situations.
This is not intended to start an Auto/Manual trashing thread.
Around 75% of corvettes are autos and if you’ve been following the C8 threads, it’s widely speculated that the ME will be produced as a DCT-only model so the C7 may be the last generation where we have a choice in transmission types. What drove your choice and why?
I have owned 4 Vettes.The first was automatic and then 2 sticks.I just recently bought a new vet.This one was automatic.The only reason I bought an automatic is the traffic in Los Angeles is horrible.Bumper to bumper and my foot was getting tired pushing on the clutch.While I still like the stick ,the automatic is the way to go in this traffic.Rod:salute :
I've owned a number of manuals, but in the interest of allowing the wife to drive some on road trips the automatic was my choice for the C7. (she likes cars but doesn't 'get' the manual tranny thing and does not want to learn) Traffic is another consideration; during my trip to the Indy 500 in '16 it took 2+ hours to go from the hotel to the track-all stop & go. Glad I had the auto then. The autos are not like the old Powerglides, so you're not sacrificing any performance going that route-actually gaining some depending on your driving ability.
Obviously, you don't live in Orlando, or other crappy place, where it is bumper-to-bumper traffic with 10 minute red lights every block - or you would not be asking this.
Obviously, you don't live in Orlando, or other crappy place, where it is bumper-to-bumper traffic with 10 minute red lights every block - or you would not be asking this.
The drive to visit my daughter in Hunters Creek on I-4....
I went with the automatic because at the time I lived in Portland with a lot of traffic. And I like to drag race. I am in AZ now and am strongly considering the M7 for my next one. The A8 has become boring to certain extent. It's all a matter of your personal situation. If you don't care one way or the other get the M7. It's more reliable.
Faster, better, smoother, not an old man, traffic, more gears, awesome multigear kick-down, paddle shifting, holding hands with the wife, eating an ice cream cone, scaring school children with performance shift mode, annoying M7 owners, participating in A8 v M7 threads and winning.
This is not intended to start an Auto/Manual trashing thread.
Around 75% of corvettes are autos and if you’ve been following the C8 threads, it’s widely speculated that the ME will be produced as a DCT-only model so the C7 may be the last generation where we have a choice in transmission types. What drove your choice and why?
Traffic. While I enjoy manuals as much as the next guy, I have found their use in stop and go traffic to be very fatiguing. I live in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex and as such, am in a lot of stop and go. My vette is a daily driver and so this becomes an issue.
So, sorta lazy, sure, but man, traffic just blows when it comes to manuals.
I've been driving manual transmissions since I was 14; I'm 53 now. The automatics have gotten better and better, especially over the last 5-10 years, to the point that they can out-shift all but the best drivers. The software running these new systems is very good, and I must say that performance mode in the vette is highly entertaining!
I drove auto transmissions Corvettes from 1990 until 2014 when I bought one with an M7 - why did I go to an M7?
I found one with just 1800 miles on it in the color I wanted and all the junk on the car I wanted. So, I bought it. Do I like it?
Yeah, it's okay, but I could easily and happily go back into an auto tranny.
I've been rowing gears since 1955, have owned standard transmission Porsches, BMWs, Mercedes, Jags, Audis, and others, including my first sports car - a 1954 MG TF (bought in 1960)....
My current other car is a standard shift also - of course 328 Ferraris did not come with auto transmissions.
I have more than 600,000 miles in Corvettes (almost 700,000)....
Last edited by 4thC4at60; 01-15-2018 at 12:26 PM.
Reason: clarity
01-15-2018, 10:35 AM
Why do you drive an automatic?
:salute :
Moving along only a few yards at a time at 5 mph makes a m/t a royal PIA.
