Thoughts on buying 2015 convertible corvette with the A8 transmission and the ZF1 package.What is the overall reliability
Car has under 10,000 miles .Thank everyone for your feedback

 

Make sure it has had the triple flush. My '15 has 91K on the clock and except for my current torque converter issue has been trouble free. It was my daily driver up until I retired in May. 100 miles a day

 

I have one...purchased it used and bought an extended warranty for piece of mind. I ended up with the famed shudder at 23,000 miles and got the triple flush under warranty ...the shudder went away. I love the car! It's a blast to drive! As with any high performance sports car, eventually you will experience a problem or two...I have my second problem now...at the first start of any given day, I am experiencing a short delay in engagement of the transmission after letting it warm up and idle down putting it in drive or man 1. I plan on getting it to my dealer soon...best of luck to you! I hope this helps...

 

Keep in mind that there have been approx 125,000 C7s produced with A8 transmissions and the vast majority have had no issues, however many owners with A8 issues come here to report such and/or seek info. While this is good it makes A8 issues seem FAR MORE widespread than they actually are. Most sources put the A8 failure rate at approx 5% which is an abnormal amount of issues.
If you develop an issue it is usually within the first few thousand miles. There's a devise available that keeps C7'c fuel management from switching to V4-V8 which typically guards against converter/shutters issues. Ranges Technology makes these units which sell for around $199. It easily plugs into your OBD11 located just in front of your hood release.
Also, GM has issued TSB 18-NA-355 (below) for the A8 Triple Flush (updated April 2020) which is covered by C7's warranty that has been very successful in resolving most A8 shudder issues.

Here is a summary of symptoms: (most common are highlighted)

(1) - Surging and Lugging - Your car can't seem to maintain constant speed.

(2) - Shuddering - Feels like you are running over a rough road when you are on a smooth road. Comes and goes without warning.

(3) - Vehicle Lurches

(4) - Slow to go into gears including reverse.

(5) - Gears don't shift easy.

(6) - Strange Noises - Clicking or revving.

(7) - Gears Slipping - Loss of acceleration.

(8) - Overheating.

(9) – RPMs jumping up and down slightly at constant highway speed.

 

My 15 is in the dealers as we speak for that. It's the torque converter. TSB:16-NA-014

My personal opinion on the range device is if your car has no shudder and you just want to disable AFM, go for it but if you have the shudder, why should you have to spend 200.00 for an aftermarket item to correct a known problem? I tried the range device and it did nothing for the shudder

 

Yellow , after 3 flushes , adding the friction modifier and everything else you did , your shudder was not being caused by all the normal reasons otherwise you would not still have it
So no the range did not help you but the mmajority of others who have bought tthe range have seen the improvement.

And why buy the device , unless you are going to tune out AFM its the only way to shut AFM off and there are other reasons to want to shut it down such as collaped lifters etc

Dave

 

The purpose of the Range Device is to help guard against A8 shudder issues, not to correct them.

 

I am one of the majority of A8 owners with no problems mentioned in the above post

I have a 15 , with 46,000 and I still have the orginal fluid , yes that's right lol, the stuff that is not suppose to work because of the wrong friction modifiers and is hydroscopic...
And i might add i drive my car hard ......its not a garage queen

Alot of the problems , now not all...are caused by untrained mechanics who shoot the parts cannon at the trans . GM made the problem worse when the told the dealers to just flush the trans with no diagnosis, if customer said they had shudder then they flushed it

Which led to pissed off customers when the flush did not fix the problem and tons of bad posts about the transmission . Rough engagement , flush it , shift flair , flush it , vibration flush it .....there are 1,000 reasons other than the fluid that would cause these symptoms and GM has a procedure to test for each

My own experence ...I got the shudder ...but mine was right after I installed my new tires ..... exact symptoms... if I did not know better I would have been heading to the dealer and without question they would have done the flush . The reality was it took 3 road force balance tries to get the tires right , not that the first 2 were bad , 3 tires balanced at the low side of the spec and one rear was at the very high side , this caused the harmonic vibration that mimicked the shudder

Moral of the story .... there are other things that can cause a harmonic vibration

The odds are in your favor that you will be fine if u purchase this car

Dave

 

I didn't say correct the issue. I implied "masking it"