A8 v 7 speed manual
05-12-2018, 01:47 PM
#101
Torn on this issue. Love my M7, but wondering if I get the next car and I'm relegated to paddle shifting - which I'm not crazy about - if i'll learn to love it.
How many of you with the A8 leave it in Drive - vs. how many of you paddle shift the car regularly?
How many of you with the A8 leave it in Drive - vs. how many of you paddle shift the car regularly?
05-12-2018, 02:33 PM
#102
Instructor
I don't have an argument either way. Having said that I have been keeping my eye out for discounted new C7s from dealers inventories. Almost all of the leftover 2017 models are M7 it seems.
05-12-2018, 02:45 PM
#103
The problem with all automatics is they are never in the gear you want precisely when you want it. When I drove the A6 with the paddles there was always a lag either upshifting or downshifting. It may not be a lot, but it was enough to rule the car out for me. The new C8 may be the greatest car in the world, but if it doesn't offer a manual option, it's not on my list.
The funny thing about paddle shifting is that it came from F1 and a completely different environment than how we drive. In F1 there is a real advantage to not taking a hand off the wheel - or yoke - and shifts are lightening fast. Street drivers do not need the quickest shifting - they need the most satisfying. It ain't paddles - as Chris Harris says, "I hate those fookin paddles!"
And Patencad - how are those black exhaust tips holding up?
05-12-2018, 10:23 PM
#104
Melting Slicks
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pdiddy972 (05-14-2018)
05-13-2018, 01:58 AM
#105
Before deciding on a car, I rented an A6 Vette and absolutely hated the car. I had to think long and hard about what I liked about it, which was almost everything, and what I disliked about it, and realized it was the A6. I ordered an M7 and couldn't be happier.
The problem with all automatics is they are never in the gear you want precisely when you want it. When I drove the A6 with the paddles there was always a lag either upshifting or downshifting. It may not be a lot, but it was enough to rule the car out for me. The new C8 may be the greatest car in the world, but if it doesn't offer a manual option, it's not on my list.
The funny thing about paddle shifting is that it came from F1 and a completely different environment than how we drive. In F1 there is a real advantage to not taking a hand off the wheel - or yoke - and shifts are lightening fast. Street drivers do not need the quickest shifting - they need the most satisfying. It ain't paddles - as Chris Harris says, "I hate those fookin paddles!"
And Patencad - how are those black exhaust tips holding up?
The problem with all automatics is they are never in the gear you want precisely when you want it. When I drove the A6 with the paddles there was always a lag either upshifting or downshifting. It may not be a lot, but it was enough to rule the car out for me. The new C8 may be the greatest car in the world, but if it doesn't offer a manual option, it's not on my list.
The funny thing about paddle shifting is that it came from F1 and a completely different environment than how we drive. In F1 there is a real advantage to not taking a hand off the wheel - or yoke - and shifts are lightening fast. Street drivers do not need the quickest shifting - they need the most satisfying. It ain't paddles - as Chris Harris says, "I hate those fookin paddles!"
And Patencad - how are those black exhaust tips holding up?
The Black tips are starting to chip a year in, I spot sand, respray primer and flat black, only takes a few minutes and they look fine after that. Flat paint is the key, it would be much harder with a gloss finish. I just saw a tiny chip on another pipe, I'll go after that one over the next week. Holding up reasonably well. Really the way to do it is drop the rear bumper, take off the exhaust and have them powder coated, but that is just SO involved and expensive, this really is an easier alternative. They really do look factory, very happy with how they came out, even after respraying two of the tips recently.
05-13-2018, 09:27 AM
#106
Team Owner
If I am relegated to a paddle shift, I will just buy daily drivers likely trucks which are newer, and the fun car will be an older manual transmission car.
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patentcad (05-13-2018)
05-13-2018, 09:46 AM
#107
Team Owner
My theory is this and no one shoot me:
1. Majority of Corvette owners are an older population. Older people have more health problems such as bad knees, etc etc. And I feel they are just too lazy to shift (not in a bad lazy way, it's just more work and they just want to get in and go and not have to do anything besides steer).
2. As a daily driver, manuals suck unless you drive 5 min to work which is unlikely for most people.
3. Drag racing, automatic is faster
4. Millennials and newer generation of younger people have no clue how to drive stick because everything is automatic and paddle shifters.
5. No maintenance really
Personally I searched high and low for an M7. I am 33, shifting is just 110% more fun. I had a 2008 G8, lots of mods, but shifting was always missing. Sure the automatic shifts faster, but on track days I enjoy shifting and when I am cruising through the mountains, it's just more fun. To me, it's a sports car. Sports cars should be manual. That's why I always loved the Viper, manual only. But if you go to a car search site and filter by manuals, it eliminates about 75% of available Corvettes. And the C8 is only coming in automatic. I don't daily drive mine, it's more of a car show/track/fun cruising car. If I had to daily it, might be a different story.
1. Majority of Corvette owners are an older population. Older people have more health problems such as bad knees, etc etc. And I feel they are just too lazy to shift (not in a bad lazy way, it's just more work and they just want to get in and go and not have to do anything besides steer).
2. As a daily driver, manuals suck unless you drive 5 min to work which is unlikely for most people.
3. Drag racing, automatic is faster
4. Millennials and newer generation of younger people have no clue how to drive stick because everything is automatic and paddle shifters.
5. No maintenance really
Personally I searched high and low for an M7. I am 33, shifting is just 110% more fun. I had a 2008 G8, lots of mods, but shifting was always missing. Sure the automatic shifts faster, but on track days I enjoy shifting and when I am cruising through the mountains, it's just more fun. To me, it's a sports car. Sports cars should be manual. That's why I always loved the Viper, manual only. But if you go to a car search site and filter by manuals, it eliminates about 75% of available Corvettes. And the C8 is only coming in automatic. I don't daily drive mine, it's more of a car show/track/fun cruising car. If I had to daily it, might be a different story.
While I enjoy driving my C6 Z06 with it's manual transmission, I wish it had a ZF 7 speed DCT.
I go back to 1954 when my Mom taught me how to drive in her 1952 Chevy with a 3 speed manual. My first car(when I was 17 years old) was a home built 1953 Ford coupe with a small block Chevy and a Chevy 3 speed manual. My first new car was a 1964 Malibu SS hardtop with a 327, 4 speed manual.
I have had a lot of different cars and hot rods over the years, but sometimes newer is better, and that's why I wish my Z06 had a terrible new auto(7 speed DCT), so I could enjoy it even more.
PS- of the four cars I own currently, two are autos(Mercedes DD and my 1964 Corvette with it's original 2 speed auto) and two are manuals(Z06 and my 1956 Corvette with a 4 speed Muncie(not original). I guess that makes me an equal opportunity driver.
Last edited by JoesC5; 05-13-2018 at 09:48 AM.
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thocar (05-13-2018)
05-13-2018, 09:54 AM
#108
Team Owner
I special ordered my 2014 with a manual transmission, but also because I did not want chrome or black wheels...but did want Z51 spoiler...
It seems now, you also have to special order if you want something besides black wheels. I looked at Kerbeck inventory and every car with manual transmission also had black wheels...
It seems now, you also have to special order if you want something besides black wheels. I looked at Kerbeck inventory and every car with manual transmission also had black wheels...
05-13-2018, 10:03 AM
#109
Team Owner
Before deciding on a car, I rented an A6 Vette and absolutely hated the car. I had to think long and hard about what I liked about it, which was almost everything, and what I disliked about it, and realized it was the A6. I ordered an M7 and couldn't be happier.
The problem with all automatics is they are never in the gear you want precisely when you want it. When I drove the A6 with the paddles there was always a lag either upshifting or downshifting. It may not be a lot, but it was enough to rule the car out for me. The new C8 may be the greatest car in the world, but if it doesn't offer a manual option, it's not on my list.
The funny thing about paddle shifting is that it came from F1 and a completely different environment than how we drive. In F1 there is a real advantage to not taking a hand off the wheel - or yoke - and shifts are lightening fast. Street drivers do not need the quickest shifting - they need the most satisfying. It ain't paddles - as Chris Harris says, "I hate those fookin paddles!"
And Patencad - how are those black exhaust tips holding up?
The problem with all automatics is they are never in the gear you want precisely when you want it. When I drove the A6 with the paddles there was always a lag either upshifting or downshifting. It may not be a lot, but it was enough to rule the car out for me. The new C8 may be the greatest car in the world, but if it doesn't offer a manual option, it's not on my list.
The funny thing about paddle shifting is that it came from F1 and a completely different environment than how we drive. In F1 there is a real advantage to not taking a hand off the wheel - or yoke - and shifts are lightening fast. Street drivers do not need the quickest shifting - they need the most satisfying. It ain't paddles - as Chris Harris says, "I hate those fookin paddles!"
And Patencad - how are those black exhaust tips holding up?
But, just like driving an auto with a paddle shifter, you select the gear that you want to be in when you want to downshift from 7th gear to 2nd gear to pass a slow car on a two lane highway with very short passing zones. With my manual transmission, I'm in 2nd gear before I pull out to pass, not after I'm in the oncoming traffic lane do I decide to downshift to 2nd gear.
05-13-2018, 12:06 PM
#110
Burning Brakes
Member Since: Feb 2010
Location: Clearwater Florida
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Come on guys. The real story is today's buyers want immediate gratification and don't want to order a car the way they want it. Most consider the color more important than other features. Dealers order automatics because they won't have buyers eliminating their in-stock car because the buyer (or his or her mate) doesn't know how to drive a manual transmission. Some of us consider automatics "soul-less" driving experiences. Sadly, I have read that the next gen C8 will be automatic only.
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ptran00 (05-20-2018)
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patentcad (05-13-2018)
05-13-2018, 12:37 PM
#112
Team Owner
Black can be very heavy if they are steel. Color means nothing. It is aluminum vs steel!
05-13-2018, 01:25 PM
#113
Team Owner
Has nothing to do with chrome. It's a joke about the B.A.B.R.'s
Last edited by JoesC5; 05-13-2018 at 01:30 PM.
05-13-2018, 04:27 PM
#115
Team Owner
05-13-2018, 04:37 PM
#116
Advanced
I found my car on a dealer’s lot. M7 was mandatory for me. 0-60 time isn’t as important to as the connection I feel to the car when diving a manual tranny.
05-13-2018, 04:46 PM
#117
Team Owner
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pdiddy972 (05-14-2018)
05-13-2018, 07:37 PM
#118
I remember JFK's funeral on TV like it was yesterday. I distinctly recall being highly annoyed that the Saturday cartoons weren't being broadcast, but in an act of first grader benevolence and forbearance, I let it go at the time. I was born in November 1957 when men were men and the Mets were yet to be born.
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05-14-2018, 07:06 AM
#120
Miller Time Wisconsin 🍺
Member Since: Oct 2012
Location: The only thing we have to beer is beer itself 🍺
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2022 C7 of the Year Finalist - Modified
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
Finalist 2020 C7 of the Year -- Modified
2018 C7 of Year Winner
2017 C7 of Year Finalist
St. Jude Donor '13-'14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22
In owning 4 Vettes, I have saved about $7,000 by going with manuals. 