Auto
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 1999
Posts: 41,732
Likes: 1,718
From: Springfield MO
Real Corvette race cars shift gears using paddles. They are called C7R's, and are built expressly for the track and cannot be licensed for the street. They could use the existing Tremec manual transmission if they wanted to, but they don't.
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 1,481
Likes: 394
From: Virginia Beach Virginia
Like others I debated between a manual and automatic. Two main reasons I selected the A8. Traffic & 7 gears in the manual. I drive the eastern seaboard primarily and traffic is a bad dream which is a nightmare in a manual. Drove my 5 speed pickup in that traffic for years. Thought I’d miss the shifting but, I don’t.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,800
Likes: 2,653
From: Down south in Dixie
Sumptin's wrong here. Where's all the "You ain't a man if you don't drive a manual", or a Vette ain't a Vette unless it's a stick" folks? They usually show up quickly on one of these threads. 
with ya OP. My first C6 was a manual. The tranny, and clutch were so stupid it was nearly impossible to shift smoothly. So, I went to an auto in my second C6. There's was absolutely no thoughts on what tranny would be in my C7. I enjoy the A8, and mine has been great. There's something to be said about just pushing the "skinny" pedal, and just moving on down the road. 
with ya OP. My first C6 was a manual. The tranny, and clutch were so stupid it was nearly impossible to shift smoothly. So, I went to an auto in my second C6. There's was absolutely no thoughts on what tranny would be in my C7. I enjoy the A8, and mine has been great. There's something to be said about just pushing the "skinny" pedal, and just moving on down the road.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 25,583
Likes: 16,941
Rebel,
These silly debates go in cycles. One of these incredibly stupid arguments just played itself out recently, so folks are sick and tired of it for the time being. It'll happen again the near future.
So often, so many can't comprehend that personal preferences differ, and the only thing that matters is owner preference. I'll never understand why folks feel the strong need to convince others their preference is better.
These silly debates go in cycles. One of these incredibly stupid arguments just played itself out recently, so folks are sick and tired of it for the time being. It'll happen again the near future.
So often, so many can't comprehend that personal preferences differ, and the only thing that matters is owner preference. I'll never understand why folks feel the strong need to convince others their preference is better.
Last edited by Foosh; Jun 9, 2018 at 10:42 AM.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2015
Posts: 1,845
Likes: 693
From: Lagrange KY
Rebel,
These silly debates go in cycles. One of these incredibly stupid arguments just played itself out recently, so folks are sick and tired of it for the time being. It'll happen again the near future.
So often, so many can't comprehend that personal preferences differ, and the only thing that matters is owner preference. I'll never understand why folks feel the strong need to convince others their preference is better.
These silly debates go in cycles. One of these incredibly stupid arguments just played itself out recently, so folks are sick and tired of it for the time being. It'll happen again the near future.
So often, so many can't comprehend that personal preferences differ, and the only thing that matters is owner preference. I'll never understand why folks feel the strong need to convince others their preference is better.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 6,800
Likes: 2,653
From: Down south in Dixie
Rebel,
These silly debates go in cycles. One of these incredibly stupid arguments just played itself out recently, so folks are sick and tired of it for the time being. It'll happen again the near future.
So often, so many can't comprehend that personal preferences differ, and the only thing that matters is owner preference. I'll never understand why folks feel the strong need to convince others their preference is better.
These silly debates go in cycles. One of these incredibly stupid arguments just played itself out recently, so folks are sick and tired of it for the time being. It'll happen again the near future.
So often, so many can't comprehend that personal preferences differ, and the only thing that matters is owner preference. I'll never understand why folks feel the strong need to convince others their preference is better.
Last edited by Rebel Yell; Jun 9, 2018 at 12:08 PM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 8,133
Likes: 144
From: Ex-SF Bay Area; now happily Denver area
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 3,340
Likes: 2,083
From: Lehigh Valley PA
Im sort of the opposite. Im coming from an AUTO C5 Vert (fun to drive, amazing car and I absolutely loved it)...but when I had my 94 C4 Manual, I seemed to also pick the C4 when I wanted to go out and have fun cause of the manual tranny - even though my C5 was faster and a convertible.
So when I started looking at C7's, a "must have" feature was the manual tranny. Nothing wrong with Auto or Manual - but for me, the fun factor, the "driving of the car feeling" comes from working through the gears of a manual tranny.
Just my .02 cents...
So when I started looking at C7's, a "must have" feature was the manual tranny. Nothing wrong with Auto or Manual - but for me, the fun factor, the "driving of the car feeling" comes from working through the gears of a manual tranny.
Just my .02 cents...
Race Director
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 15,323
Likes: 2,077
From: Guelph, Ontario
I thought I was going to miss the manual trans when I went from a C6 to my C7, especially when going on Corvette cruises on twisty roads, but I went on a nice long cruise thing morning with over 30 Corvettes and I still had a blast on the twisty bits! I didn't even use the paddles all that much, I mostly just left it in D and let it do it's thing and I think the car did a great job of being in the right gear at the right time. I'm still amazed at how quickly this trans shifts into the next gear at full throttle, you would swear it was a DCT.
Race Director
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 15,323
Likes: 2,077
From: Guelph, Ontario
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 17,982
Likes: 1,072
From: Lansing MI
I'm still pretty impressed with the mileage my A8 gets, although it is a base model with the 2.41 gears, so a Z51 with 2.73 gears would definitely not be as good on gas. On my entire cruise today, which was about 170 miles, I averaged 27.1 MPG and that included a lot of full throttle blasts, a bit of idling (while crossing over the border to the US and then back into Canada) and we were running the AC a lot of the time too. On one stretch coming home I set the cruise to 110km/h (68 mph) and had the AC going, and got 36.4 MPG for a half hour stretch of driving. It's another thing I love so much about my C7, I can go on these long cruises and even with the full throttle blasts it'll still keep my fuel bill lower. On this same cruise there were a few mildly modified C5s and C6s that made roughly the same horsepower as my C7 but got considerably worse MPG. I know a lot of people like to poke fun at me for my love of the MPG this car gets me, but I just love the fact that I can have my cake and eat it too! (and I still come back to the fact that the more MPG I get with this car means I can drive it more often and what's not to like about that?)
I have to drive 1300 miles between Mich and Texas probably 10 times a year. The Corvette is the perfect car for this sort of thing. 30 mpg is a totally reasonable expectation. Plus you can get through traffic with the greatest of ease. The utility of the Corvette is always understated. I have been lucky to see these cars change from the carburetors of the 70s through the present day of fuel injection. I am still amazed whenever I think of how far they have come. There was a time when 30 mpg was basically impossible for any car, and 400 plus horse power meant 10 mpg.
Race Director
Joined: May 2001
Posts: 15,323
Likes: 2,077
From: Guelph, Ontario
That's also the reason I chose automatic on this one, so my wife could drive the Corvette as well, as there will probably be times on the trip down there where she'll do some driving duties, and plus once we're down there if she wants to pop out to the store for something she can do that too.
If I had a huge budget, I'd have a ZR1 with a manual trans and keep my current car for long trips. There are a lot of things about manual trans cars that I like and same with auto. It'll be a sad day in the future when Corvette owners no longer have a choice and are forced to only have automatic though.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2016
Posts: 793
Likes: 142
From: Texas
The only reason that I have the automatic transmission is to share my C7 with my wife, still for me there's nothing like the driving involvement of the manual transmission unless is a PDK automatic transmission that is something else.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 2,012
Likes: 955
From: Central Commiefornia
Diff'rent strokes..
Of the dozen cars I've owned, the only auto was a used '73 Camaro I bought in college. I liked the car but missed shifting gears... Every car before and since has been manual, and an auto was completely off the list for my '17 C7.
MTs can be annoying in traffic, but that situation represents a microscopic fraction of my driving time, making it a small price to pay for the satisfaction of properly timing gearshifts up and down, and I do get some left leg exercise while crawling along...
Besides, it works as additional antitheft protection, as many car thieves can't drive a stick shift.
Of the dozen cars I've owned, the only auto was a used '73 Camaro I bought in college. I liked the car but missed shifting gears... Every car before and since has been manual, and an auto was completely off the list for my '17 C7.
MTs can be annoying in traffic, but that situation represents a microscopic fraction of my driving time, making it a small price to pay for the satisfaction of properly timing gearshifts up and down, and I do get some left leg exercise while crawling along...
Besides, it works as additional antitheft protection, as many car thieves can't drive a stick shift.
Last edited by jimmbbo; Jun 10, 2018 at 01:29 PM.