I have just transitioned from a C6 auto to a C7 m7 and am wondering how robust the gearbox is. I must admit to having trouble adjusting to shifting again and have managed to make a mess of some gear changes and am hopeful that I am not damaging the gearbox.

 

I can’t speak to the robustness of the gearbox other then mine has had no issues. A few suggestions I have after two years of ownership. 1. The m7 wants to force you to shift into 3rd or 4th when shifting out of first if your rpms are not high enough. Don’t fight it, get the revs up to avoid the intervention or shift into third or fourth. The other issue I have had is confusing fifth and seventh. My suggestion is to practice the shifts standing still so you get the hang of how much pressure to the right is required from a neutral position to fifth versus seventh. You can watch the display and it will tell you what fear you selected
hope this helps….

 

Welcome to the REAL C7 gang!
GM designed the transmission to be beefy enough to safely transfer the engine power, while the Automatic Rev Match, the "nannies", and RPM limiter allow smooth shifts and minimize potential drive train damage. I wasn't a fan of the ARM initially, but use it regularly now.
A related issue is the throttle body programming that is indistinct and mushy when pulling from a start. In the first six months of C7 ownership, I had more stalled starts than in 50 years of manual trans driving. The solution was installing a Soler Throttle Body and Throttle Controller to get the throttle to respond the way it should have from Bowling Green. Lots of CF thread info on the Soler units.
Having driven almost exclusively manual trans cars for decades, aside from the throttle body issue, the C7 M7 is a decent trans (I'd give it an 8.5 - 9 out of 10) that has a couple of small issues. A common CF thread topic is the "notchy" 1-2 gear shift, and the gearshift popping out of first gear when starting off. I have not experienced the "notchiness", and a forum search will give more information. The popping out of 1st gear is usually because the shifter wasn't fully forward due to a slight misalignment of synchro rings or gears in the trans. The simple solution is to ensure the shifter is fully forward when shifting into first.
You've got miles of smiles ahead with your M7! An A8 MAY win at the track by fractions of a second, but the enjoyment of properly managing RPM, speed, gear selection and throttle lasts a lonnnngggg time!

 

You can buy a skip shift eliminator and very easy to install. Keeps you from having to go from 1 to 4 at any speed.

 

99,750+ miles on my MN7 - zero problems. There was a learning curve at the beginning.....

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THE SKIP SHIFT ELIMINATOR - Mine only came into play when I WANTED it to. Of course, I've been rowing gears since 1957.

 

Do some speed shifting up and down the gears. You're not likely to hurt anything. They're durable and robust machines.

 

Uh....no......

Not necessary. If he's driving the C7 M7 normaly, it's a complete waste of money.

 

The shifter is easier to use if you place your palm on top of the shifter and use the heel of your hand to shift to 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th and the tips of your fingers to shift to 2nd, 4th, and 6th. The transmission has a centering force that centers the shifter in the 3/4 gate so you will still need to apply a slight sideways pressure toward you for 1st and 2nd and a slight sideways pressure away from for 5th, 6th. 7th requires more pressure away from you. Use your wrist to flick the shifter forward and backward along with a small amount of arm movement.

Grabbing the shifter like a pistol grip practically ensures missed shifts (other than shifting into 1st and 2nd) since you end up trying to aim the shifter into the gates and either override the transmission centering force or don't apply sufficient force to overcome the centering action when shifting to 5th, 6th, and 7th. Grabbing the shifter in a pistol grip is a sure-fire way to eventually achieve a Money Shift.

Bill

 

Lots of good info here, I also am embarrassed to admit having stalled my C7 many a time whereas any other car never had an issue in 34 years of driving manuals.

I don't use a skip shift eliminator either, just my lead foot.

Like the OP coming from an A6 C6.

 

I personally like to keep rev match on all the time. Keeps me from money shifting because I hear the rev match making the engine rev too high telling me I'm going into too low of gear. That has saved me a few times. A Spring Mountain instructor told us this in class and I bought into it right away. Also after it warms up it shifts much smoother. What Bill posted above is spot on. Don't force it. Light touch, shifts like butter. I love these transmissions.

 

The transmission is robust. You will not harm anything unless you do something remarkably ham-fisted.

A skip shift eliminator is worthwhile if you drive in busy traffic. Skip shift is easy to avoid if you drive in little to no traffic, but can be a bother when coming out of a parking ramp merging into slowish busy rush hour traffic. An eliminator gives you once less thing to think about, and you can drive the car as you would like under all conditions.

At ~ $15 and a few minutes of time a CAGS eliminator is cheap. Of course, if you drive only under conditions where is easy to avoid CAGS, do not bother to get an eliminator and save a few dollars.

 

I always appreciated the skip shift eliminator I had on my '99 and '00 C5s. No worry about a 1-4 shift happening at the wrong time.

 

Just drive the thing as if it's a sports car and go on. However, if you screw-up too many shifts badly enough, you can break anything. Take the time to (re)learn how to do it right and you (and it) will be okay. ENJOY!

 

If you’re missing shifts, leave the rev match off until you get use to it. Because if you miss a down shift it will spin the motor to the moon.

I like the six speed in the C6 and camaro better, seven speed is complete unnecessary.

 

Actually better to leave it on because it won't exceed the REV limit since it's controlled by REV match. You will hear it REV high, and know to not put it in that gear. If you leave REV match off, you put into that wrong gear, and then you will REV to the moon, and blow the engine. I learned this from a Spring Mountain instructor. It wasn't my idea.

 

Speaking from my own personal experience. If you have rev match on and miss the shift from 7th to 5th and put it in 3rd instead at 90 mph, yes it lets you know and not in a good way.

 

I get your point 100%. My point is REV match gives you a safe warning that it's the wrong gear BEFORE you actually put it in gear and let out the clutch. That warning you call bad, but it will not exceed the engine's electronic REV limit. If REV match is off, you don't get the warning, and you may do a money shift. Too late to react. There is no limit on the REV's. That could be a blown engine.

 

I dont recall reading a thread on M7 failure. Tremec has done a good job if used properly. I dont use Rev Match. Something about blipping the throttle on a downshift with perfection that gets my juices flowing.

 

me too ! My last 3 “fun” cars were manuals (‘9 Z28, C5, C6) were MNs so it’s not lack of experience.

 

REV MATCH is good stuff!🚘