First world problem. The two new Caddys that were first shown today will be available with 6-speed manual transmissions yet you can't get a manual in a new Vette. What is wrong with this picture? I had read that the manual wasn't going to be offered in the Vette because only 10% of potential customers said they would order it that way. Couldn't you make the same argument even more so with the Caddys? Edify me please.

 

I may be wrong about this, but I believe that the design of the bulkhead made it impossible to route the shifter linkage. They could have gone with a cable setup, but they do not have close to the same feel.

 

Caddy is not mid engine, different transmission than the one on the Corvette

 

Bean counters won on the Corvette issue and they trotted out Tadge and others to do the cover-story camouflage techno-speak tap-dance routine to quell the issue.

The fact is, any car, including the Vette could have a manual transmission.

Think about the logistics of the costs involved of everything to do a separate manual trans feature:

1. Vendor sourcing of everything from different interior to trans parts
2. Training dumb as a rock over-paid UAW staff about the assembly of 2 different styles of transmissions
3. Service training of 2 different transmissions
4. Clutch warranty service costs (with the automatics they can see if you've brake torqued the trans into melt-down), clutch grenades or warped fly-wheels/hot spotting, not so much, it's subjective at the point of mechanical failure
5. Engineering re-calibration programming of every system in the car

I could see the costs being almost double to put a manual trans in a car, but, in the many decades ago past, the automatics used to be the feature cost option.

GM should have continued with the manual trans program for the Vettes. It would be justified in a separate cost option that could have been an obnoxious $4-10k. Buyers would pay for it gladly.

Though, from personal experience, the latest round of ZF 8-speed transmissions (NOT in the Corvette) are impeccable for high-performance street driving. Less than 100mS shifts up or down are friggin amazing. I tell you, I did not miss the manual trans at all once I got used to the manu-matic electronic wizardry of the flappy paddles.

F1 only has flappy paddles. Tadge told me. So, I'm on-board

 

Absolutely agree about the ZF 8-speed. Nice piece.


Isn't GM going to have to do steps one through five with the Caddy as well?