MY70THAnv

I've been a Corvette Lover for 30years and a owner of 6vettes over the past 21years.

I have seen alot of of the Childish coments in this post. If you have a A6 had 2 or a Maunal or the new A8 (on the way). why hate on what you dont have to make your self feel beter.

I would have been fine if my 2015 would have been a A6. I am very happy its a A8.

1analguy

They weren't lying at all. "Two more gears are unnecessary" is still absolutely true...for a relatively light car with a torque-fat V8, like the C7. 8 speeds might be helpful in some of this transmission's other intended applications (trucks/towing, etc.), but if GM had instead developed a new A6 for the C7 with all of the improvements and the same ratio spread that they applied to the A8, then that new-A6-equipped car's performance would have been virtually identical to that of the A8-equipped car. The point they make about 'keeping the engine nearer its optimum torque range', in this case, is smoke-and-mirrors marketing hype because the engine's 'optimum torque range' is a mile wide. They spend all that money developing a 6.2L (LT1) with the fat mid range torque curve of a 7.0L (LS7), and then claim that they need 8 speeds to 'keep it on the boil'? No. Not even Porsche's relatively small, torque-poor flat six needs 8 speeds to perform well or operate efficiently. GM may have designed this transmission's torque capacity with the LT4 in mind, but those extra two gears were completely unnecessary for the sake of the Corvette's performance...that is, unless we're actually talking about its sales performance.

1analguy

This is almost an unfair comparison. Chrysler is switching from an wildly undistinguished 5-speed automatic that was already obsolete when they first inherited it from Mercedes-Benz, to a state-of-the-art 8-speed. So in their case, of course it's a fantastic improvement. The old 5 speed was the only reason that I haven't purchased an SRT. I'm dealing with one now in my '07 GC CDI and it is, though perfectly reliable, underwhelming, to say the least...and it could really do with at least 2 more gears.

ATX-C7

True--owning is not required.

Bashing owners and those that want to own is what we don't need from those precious few in this thread that tend to do that in 99% of all of their posts.

Post away

hawkgfr

How many miles now?

C7Kevin

Am I the only one who thinks that we C7 buyers are DAMNED lucky to have a man of Tadge Juechter's demonstrated leadership, competence and enthusiasm leading the Corvette C7 team that has designed and built a TRULY wonderful car? Are we lucky or not?

Get real, folks !!!

What was he supposed to do? Should he have risked jeopardizing 2014 Stingray sales by prematurely announcing the 8-speed's availability in the 2015 Stingray? Hell no! Only an idiot would do such a thing. He is neither the first nor last automotive exec who has had to "steer" his prospective customer base in the direction that will result in greater Corvette sales which will serve to fund future R&D of the type that resulted in the MAJOR, ground-breaking
technical tour-de-force that is the C7.

None of us are privy to the dictates of marketing, quotas and on-going financial justification(to GM) of the Corvette brand. Juechter is at least partially responsible for guiding the Corvette mission through all of the bankruptcy and government partial ownership horrors so that the Corvette survived as a GM priority even though it is admittedly a small contribution to Chevy/GM sales.

So, I strongly believe that we should all support Juechter and hope that he is allowed to do the same high quality job of leading the effort to promote and sustain the Corvette brand.

jimmyb

17 pages in, for the folks that didn't want to read 17 pages, I proudly give you the crib notes of this epically inane thread:

1. Tadge and Harlan are big fat liars. Or not.
2. The only people bothered by the intro of the 8 speed automatic are people who DON'T own a 2014 C7 automatic.

There you go, just saved you an hour that could be better spent cleaning your combs or something like that. You're welcome.

Jimmy

Snorman

Bingo.

It's pretty amazing, isn't it?

I, for one, am glad to see GM is already improving the C7. I think the A6 cars will end up going 11.3's later this year now that so many are in customer hands. It would be awesome if the A8 cars shaved a tenth or two off of that. I'm sure you could easily find that some of the people proclaiming the loudest that C7 A6 owners are so upset about the A8 were also the same people doubting the C7 would handily outperform the C6. How ironic.
S.

musclecar6

I couldn't have said it better myself. Not to worry, nobody pays any attention to the highly vocal less than brilliant types anyway.

Walt White Coupe

1analguy

Seriously? "Most" gained a full second 0-60? I doubt if any gained anywhere near that much, but if any did, they had small engines with little mid-range torque. If the C7 A8 beats the C7 A6 by more than a tenth or two 0-60, it'll be a minor miracle. The LT1 is all "sweet spot". As Tadge has said himself, it just doesn't need more than six gears to perform well.

Claims have been made that the A8 will out-perform the M7 in fuel economy, as well as in speed. How, exactly, is the A8 supposed to be a fuel economy improvement over the M7 on the highway? Does anyone here think that the M7's top gear is anything but a fully-optimized fuel economy ratio, or that the M7's internal friction will cost more in fuel than the A8's internal friction plus it's hydraulic pump(s)? The A8 might have a miniscule economy edge over the M7 in real-world low speed city operation, but maybe not even there. We'll have to wait for actual owners to crunch the numbers before we'll know. Don't let whatever the EPA's numbers turn out to be fool you on this. My late model DD always exceeds its EPA highway rating...in city operation. It sounds as though lots of welcome, past-due improvements were made to the A8, but two more gears were not required in this application...

c7luvr

Keep drinking that GM kool-aid!

MikeC4C5C6...C7

For me it's simple:

Driving a C7 good
Waiting for C7 bad

2015ers you will have a better transmission of course. But you're waiting I'm driving.

And in the end the love you make...Oops wrong forum.

And in the end we'll all be happy because the C7 is amazingly good whatever's its transmission!

AFVETTE

Thank you. On to more important things. Like where can I buy Z51 badges for my wife's Volt.

Bill17601

I had two C5's with four speed automatics. The last C5 I owned had an LS3. Believe me when I tell you I could run with any C6 LS 3. Maybe because I had a 3:15 rear, there is a lot more then the number of gears when it comes to performance.

Dr. ice

No need to be upset! But rest assured the 8 Spd auto will be a huge upgrade in the performance arena. I couldn't care less if it got 10 miles to the gallon.

Dr. ice

No theirs a man who gets it! Well stated and spot on!

Bill17601

There will be no more performance gain then the 6 sipped standard to the seven speed standard. You need to get a book that explains torque. Flat torques do not need extra gears. That is a fact not theory. No matter how hard you wish it ain't gonna happen, no huge performance gains from extra gears.

Dr. ice

Then why do you think GM is going to an 8 Spd auto? I am pretty sure it's not for the gas mileage gains.

LIE2ME

Actually, I thin k it probably is. Remember, this same transmission will find its way into the full size truck line where the gas mileage wars between the top three are "on". I believe that gas mileage is virtually the entire reason GM invested in this transmission....