The New C7 Corvette 8-speed Auto: Slush or Plush?

Purists will always prefer to stir up their own gears. It becomes home — our comfort-zone, if you will — to have one hand rested on the stick shift and a left leg ready to take action. Something we are becoming acutely aware of, though, is that they are becoming less and less popular, even among the elite performance cars.

Technology, in terms of transmission units, has made astronomical leaps forward. Long gone are the old 3-speed automatics we used to be burdened with, as the new C7 greets us with eight gears assigned to forward propulsion. So, what exactly is lost by removing a third pedal? Not much, says Corvette Forum member Big_Lebowski in a very thorough post titled, “A8 AUTO Transmission review by a manual driver.”

We know the C7 is quite an upgrade from the C6, and this new automatic transmission was included in the list of things to get perfect. No longer will you get the feeling that you have a gearbox borrowed from GMC. This 8-speed is the real performance deal, though as stated in a previous article, it is not entirely free from faults. But if your prerogative is more along the lines of cruising, we think you’ll be just fine.

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

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