Originally Posted by elegant

I am totally with you “vetteman” on both of your points! Let’s hope the 4.2L, 32V, DOHC, TT, V8 is offered in the Corvette ME in year one! I don’t need the estimated 5.5L’s 800 HP for a later year’s ZORA, and would be happy with around the 550 HP/627 TQ that the Cadillac’s version of the 4.2L would provide. With a DCT, and the better acceleration of a ME (motor right over the drive wheels), the 2020 ME Corvette would rival the Z06’s performance, and in many circumstances beat it.

Please GM!

Originally Posted by Atomic Fred

That’s what I wanted to hear. Automatic operation when you want it, crisp driver control when you want it, no slushiness...

I too have driven only manuals (ex the occasional rental) the last 40 years. PDK sounds intriguing...

Originally Posted by Michael A

A friend of mine had a Porsche 911 GTS with PDK. After about a year, he got bored with the PDK, sold the car, and bought a 911 S with a six speed manual.

Originally Posted by NY09C6

We had a Audi with DSG. As others stated it shifts fast and smooth. Starting off and stopping was a little jittery but acceptable. I tried for months to drive it with the paddles for enjoyment but it just wasnt there. For the next 6 years it was left in drive which was boring. A DSG automatic will never ever be a replacement for a manual transmission car for me. GM needs to offer both. I believe those who want DSG will be willing to pay a 5-10k premium so this may be a win for GM from a finance standpoint.

Originally Posted by JerriVette

Only Porsche charges 4 grand for its PDK...but most options carry elevated pricing.

Most dct s don't carry that high a premium of a dct over a manual base model.

I imagine if corvette offers a dct and a manual the option will cost below the mid four grand level of the PDK in the Porsche and it will be worth it.

Porches charges ridiculous levels on its option list.

I enjoy the theee pedal dance but the performance efficiency of the Dct in the Ferrari 488 seems to offer efficiency and driving enjoyment

Somehow I think Chevy will manage a similiar driving experience as the Ferrari 488 offers.

Supposedly a quite enjoyable driving experience.

Originally Posted by SBC_and_a_stick

The exotic car companies discontinued the manual not because they didn't want to make it, it's because fewer than 1% of the drivers wanted one. Porsche brought it back on GT3 when people made money reselling stick shift 911Rs and they saw that demand and opportunity to make money.

Where is the demand for manuals going to come from next? If folks can't move themselves to learn it they'll never appreciate it. And by learn it I mean really learning it complete with gas bleeping and heal and toe.

Originally Posted by Suns_PSD

I'm sure there are some real enthusiasts that buy these uber expensive cars, but there are also lots of women and posers that buy them. I think that's why the Vette still needs a manual, it's clientele is a bit different.

A few years back before I bought my C6 I was shopping for a used E46 M3, and in the categories where I was shopping, people couldn't give away the auto trans E46 M3. I had people offering me M3s with autos for $7-9K less than comparably priced manuals, which there were not very available. That's an enthusiast car. I think the Vette not always, but often occupies the same space, particularly on the used market.

I was out zipping around in my 6 speed C6 today and I have to say, I don't need any car enough to quit shifting my own gears. What's the point really?

Originally Posted by NY09C6

Originally Posted by Suns_PSD

I'm sure there are some real enthusiasts that buy these uber expensive cars, but there are also lots of women and posers that buy them. I think that's why the Vette still needs a manual, it's clientele is a bit different.

A few years back before I bought my C6 I was shopping for a used E46 M3, and in the categories where I was shopping, people couldn't give away the auto trans E46 M3. I had people offering me M3s with autos for $7-9K less than comparably priced manuals, which there were not very available. That's an enthusiast car. I think the Vette not always, but often occupies the same space, particularly on the used market.

I was out zipping around in my 6 speed C6 today and I have to say, I don't need any car enough to quit shifting my own gears. What's the point really?

Originally Posted by NY09C6

A letter to America: Thanks for saving the manual sports car

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/03/30/...erica-opinion/

Originally Posted by AutoBlog

A letter to America: Thanks for saving the manual sports car

U.S. manual fans helped convince Porsche to stick with the stick

Our contributor Dan Trent lives in that far-off island across the pond where Jaguars rove the land. In this column, he reconsiders his opinions about the American relationship to manual transmission.

In my snooty European way, I used to assume American drivers couldn't cope with anything more sophisticated than a three-speed slushbox, while we more sophisticated types on the Continent were the true masters of heel-toe heroism and other traditional driving skills. Then automatic transmissions got better, supercar manufacturers became fixated with the motorsport associations of paddle-shifted gearboxes and, within a generation, stick-shift performance cars had seemingly vanished off the automotive map.

BMW is a perfect example: In Europe, the E60 M5 was only ever sold with the jerky SMG gearbox, its F10 successor with a more efficient and reliable dual clutch. Both were sufficiently fast, talented and desirable that we never really protested. And then we heard you could still buy manual versions of both in the U.S. Though the 2018 M5 has now gone two-pedal-only, you can still buy an M6 Gran Coupe with a stick, which we never got in Europe. And there we were thinking you didn't even know what a clutch pedal was for!

Manual diehards were left with few options, and when the 991 GT3 arrived as a PDK-only, it felt like the game was up. Porsche had made the GT3 ... easy. Those of us who'd subjected our long-suffering passengers to fumbled attempts at rev-matching and eventually graduated to bona fide hotshoe status (at least in our heads) had suddenly lost our hero car. Where the manual-only GT3 had once been a self-selecting means of separating those who could drive from those who couldn't, now anyone could hop in a GT3 and look like a driving god.

Porsche must have sensed disquiet in the ranks of hardened GT fans. Director of GT cars Andreas Preuninger was placed on YouTube to explain his PDK epiphany and how a dual-clutch transmission could still offer the emotional connection we all wanted, how paddle shifters were the way forward and how a two-pedal GT3 was the logical road-going expression of his department's motorsport mentality.

And yet, here we are now with a second-generation 991 GT3 with the option of a manual transmission. Preuninger implied he'd staked his reputation on it being a success, and if take-up wasn't as hoped, he'd have some explaining to do. Just the other week at Geneva, the about-face from the previous PDK-or-the-highway stance was dramatic: Preuninger and vice president of motorsport and GT cars Frank Walliser were beaming with delight at customer response, most notably in the U.S., where two-thirds of second-generation GT3s have been ordered with the stick option.

"We had several bets around the company and some bottles of wine have changed hands!" laughed Walliser when asked about how this fit with expectations.

"We're very happy we succeeded our own internal evaluations," added Preuninger. "The market clearly shows the need for a manual transmission; we were bold and daring enough to offer one. The success gives us the right and we will continue to do so for as long as possible."

Porsche is at pains to point out it isn't purely a U.S.-led demand inspiring this apparent U-turn. And having tested the water with the manual-only Cayman GT4 and 911 R and been blown away by hype-driven demand, it's clear the business case was still there. But the buying power of the American market has to be a consideration, and without that groundswell of support for the manual transmission I reckon we'd be in the same situation as we are with Ferrari, Lamborghini and others. The R8 has lost its charismatic gated manual, Alfa Romeo launched the 4C as a dual-clutch-only and the supposedly purist-focused Alpine A110 is the same. Lotus and Aston Martin are among the small number of brands sticking by stick, but the fact Porsche has responded to demand offers real hope for those of us who like changing gear ourselves.

Having just been lucky enough to cover the best part of 800 miles in a manual GT3, I can only count myself among them. I'd reluctantly bought the line that the PDK was an appropriate match for the latest high-revving GT motor. It will remain the only option in the RS, too. After driving both first-gen versions, I'd even publicly eaten my own words and admitted that — perhaps — a PDK GT Porsche wasn't evil incarnate after all.

Second into third gear in the 4.0-liter GT3 is enough to have me once again beating the drum, though. Selecting the ratio yourself, feeling the physical sensation of gears engaging through the shifter and savoring the mesmerising sweep of the rev counter toward that 9,000-rpm redline is my kind of addiction. Ultimate control over when and how to shift is another level of connection with the car. And the knowledge that smoothly riding that wave into third gear and beyond is going to require skill, timing and a degree of expertise beyond a fingertip on a paddle is the reward I want from a car such as the GT3. If I'm chasing lap times, I'll drive a racing car. For everything else, I'll trade tenths for involvement.

So, America, thank you for making stick-shift sports cars viable again. Keen drivers everywhere owe you one.

Originally Posted by elegant

I too would pay more for a manual, even giving up some acceleration and maybe even fuel economy.

However, after 53 clutched manual transmissions in a row, if the ME is as exciting as I think it will be, if no MT is offered, I would get a DCT ME (trading in our much loved 7M, C7 Z06). However, full disclosure, I have never driven a PDK nor equivalent — just love the three pedal dance...