jay23ls

I'm happy to see that you're one of the few people on this planet (talking in general, not about the forum) that when they do not like something, they do not settle for it. You got and are maintaining the car you really want. Props to you my friend!

jay23ls

What's a Corvette without ABS? without power windows? without traction control? Still a Vette just not as, lets say "modern"

What's a Corvette without a manual trans available? Not a Corvette IMO. It just takes away too much of the driving experience if auto wasn't a necessity (ie traffic/commute, physical limitation, life limiatation ie wife haha)

just my opinion

Foosh

Right, and a TC automatic like the A8 can be manual too with an automatic mode. Sorry, don't think that's going to sell to the manual crowd.

Warp Factor

If you want to make driving the A8 more interesting and engaging, you can learn to time things just right so than when you paddle-shift, combined with closing and re-opening the throttle, it sounds just like a manual.

See, it doesn't need to be boring, you just need to challenge yourself.

Atari_Prime

A modern automatic is faster than a manual shift car in a straight line and at the track. A modern automatic gets better gas mileage and is more able to pass emissions standards. Most buyers do not know how to drive a manual transmission. Even less want to have a manual transmission as their daily driver. That whole 'fun factor' is the last reason to have a clutch pedal and stick and in the grand scheme amounts to a very small portion of the market. If Ferrari has abandoned the manual, the manual has no future. The manual is dead, regardless of those 23% numbers that keep getting quoted. Accept paddle shifters or buy a different car, you will not be missed, frankly because there aren't enough buyers that care about a manual for their voice to be heard.

kozmic

Eleven pages later, and nope... still not the least bit interested in any sports car without a third pedal and shifter...

Call me crazy as many times as you want, but I will just hang on to the ZR1 if the ME Corvette does not offer a manual.

jefnvk

And that is why I think the Porsche analogy isn't the best one. When they made their decision earlier in the decade, their competition largely was still on manuals, and many weren't quit yet to a DCT offering. In a couple years time, I think the landscape will be such that even if folks want to defect, there will be far few options to defect to. I view it as a critical mass type thing, once that pressure of losing market to a competitor wanes or ceases, they'll be out the door.

Michael A

So is a car without a hole where the roof should be, but somehow we still end up with that with every model iteration.

Atari_Prime

Skid Row Joe

Why not just buy a manual transmission?

..Some people go to great lengths when moving their paddle automatic shift transmission in a failed attempt to make their car sound like a manual,
when it isn't.

Judgment Day

I'll just repeat a post that I made in the past, because every now and then in this thread, I'm reading the 23% average being thrown around. Keep in mind, that the percentage is a leveled off number - much like any product that's released, it will dwindle over time. Of course MT sales are around 22-25% "now", partially due to the eventual release of the C8, but everyone who wanted a manual since the inception of the C7 years ago already has one by now. Water will find its level when vehicle sales settle in and dies down. That's not just with the C7, but that's a lot of marketable products across the board.

What Chevrolet needs to look at are MT sales during the first year or two when the people had to get the latest and greatest in the C7, aka the diehards**. I'd look at those numbers as it gives us a better figure of initial demand...in addition to customer allocated order percentages of MT versus automatic. That would definitely tell if its something that the consumer wants despite the advancement of technology.

**I did make a related post about it awhile ago, and I do have production numbers for the first two years of C7's timeline (2014-2015). This includes a 50% MT production rate for the Z06 brand in its first year. Not sure what Chevy's decision will be, but it will be a mistake if they don't even look at or consider those numbers.

Warp Factor

Because the automatic will do a better job of behaving like a manual, than the manual will do at behaving like an automatic. More options.

ROUTE 66

GM...The C8 With only an auto transmission! You might think you hit this one out of the ballpark. But you lost your *****...No manual I am OUT!!!

BLACKCREEK

My middle school grandson actually puts down his phone and talks to me when we drive. I let him shift the gears on my manual c7 and he loves it. There’s just something very satisfying about feeling the movement of the gear lever and the mechanical click of gear engagement.. I am retired so the corvette is just a fun ride for me and a road trip car but I would not buy a new one without a manual transmission so my current ride may be my last.

Fogboundturtle

How many of people here swear they wouldn't buy a C7 because of the tail lights were not round ?

ROUTE 66

C8 No Manual...I am out! I bought these new. All manual.. I still have them.
The blue camaro is my sons.1SS 1LE. I bought it new for him when he was 21.He might be your future if your still making manual transmissions.
Our pickups are also chevrolet Yes both are manual. I bought mine new in 01. His is an older short wide chevy we restored when he was 16. I would like to have a new pickup but you and the other part of the big 3 do not make a manual transmission pickup with a V8. So I will keep mine tell the wheels no longer turn or I am to old to make them turn.
GM ..Think about it !!!

ROUTE 66

I did not buy a C7 partly because of the tail lights but mostly because the damn thing is fugly> Looks Asian and somewhat Mustangi !!

jcp911s

I have never voluntarily owned a car without a traditional manual gearbox. Only my wife's car had an auto. There is a reason for this. The traditional "slushbox" (aka "Auto") we all know and hate seriously compromised the car's performance. On a road course, it was virtually un-drivable.

But its not your father's Oldsmobile anymore. (actually its not anybody's Oldsmobile anymore... but that's a different story).

When I bought my C7, I cross-shopped a Cayman S, and yes, I spec'd PASM, and DCT. I'm a HPDE Instructor, and wanted a car that I could drive to the track, do some hot laps with my buddies, and take students out for instructional rides. All my research showed the DCT was superior. Many of my friends who still race in PCA H Stock told me if you don't have a Cayman with DCT, just quit. The 6=speed isn't competitive.

Even stripped to the bare essentials, the Cayman stickered at $78K.

My 1LT Z51 went out the door at $60K, all in. While I can afford $78K, I can afford $60K even better. The A8 was required as my wife has to drive the car. With some trepidation, I took the plunge, and must say the A8 exceeded my expectations. On the street, its delightful, and on the track, it doesn't miss a beat... shifts are fast, smooth, and no overheating...

Now I must say that hurtling down the 'chute at Summit Point at 100MPH, threshold braking and executing two heel and toe, double clutch downshifts on a Porsche 915 transmission is an exilerating experience, the result of decades of practice.... but to accomplish the same result with two finger taps, well, just works better. Can't argue with better.

I would not buy another track car with a traditional manual transmission.

JerryU

Yep, have done that and I agree!

Even this old fart at 76 who has only driven standard shifts for 60 years is ready to accept new technology. Be easier than when I gave up a "slip stick!" However we'll still have the vocal minority, "No new Vette without round taillights." "Must be an FE with a large cid pushrod engine!

But I had this "dream" that Mary Barra saw my suggestion months ago and the C8 delay is not only because she told the Corvette marketing guys she was not going to introduce the "new halo C8" with just an old technology pushrod V8 when Alfa has a 2019 Giulia 4 door sedan with 505 hp from a 2.9 Liter hi-tech engine that they announced will have an additional 141hp for 645 using a KERS electric addition that uses some of the otherwise wasted braking energy!

In my dream meeting she said:
"Delay the C8 until it can be introduced with the Blackwing engine we're making in Bowling Green and tell everyone what we let Andy Pilgrim leak, it will have a battery powered FWD option- "It's in the works."
She added:
"While we're in the delay why lose any sales for not having a "manual?" I saw this post months ago so why not use the same Hall sensors as used for Rev Match to predict where the driver will shift to operate the DCT with a gated shifter like an old Ferrari! So it's not mechanical linkage, will be a bit slower shifting but lets folks pick the gear they want, when they want! It can have a switch for auto/manual when they are I bumper to bumper traffic. And if they want a 3rd pedal give them one that is an electric switch used only when leaving a light etc. They can pick when the clutch is engaged so we don't have to worry about slipping clutch issues when stopped, which I have heard discussed. Sure it's only for launch, it's not a manual linkage, but will keep some happy!
Heck do I have to use my old engineering background in addition to telling you how to market!"

Foosh

I agree with everything said here. If I were looking for a track car, I'd want the DCT. It's the proper tool for that job. For my street, fun, daily-driver, I still prefer the manual, stop-and-go traffic and all.