GM Inside News Forum banner

Driven: 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Eight-Speed Automatic

5K views 19 replies 12 participants last post by  Dr.Show-Me 
#1 ·
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Eight-Speed Automatic
Now with eight ways to shift your pants.
Car & Driver
By: K.C. Colwell
August 2014


The race to higher gear counts is in full swing, and automatic gearboxes are leading the way. Driven partly by marketing one-upmanship and partly by the need to meet ever-tougher fuel-economy mandates, eight-speed autoboxes are everywhere, Chrysler’s running a nine-cogger in select models, and 10-speeds—from Ford, GM, Volkswagen, and others—are just around the corner. The General’s own in-house-developed eight-speed units (for its trucks and rear-drive V-8 cars) are just making an appearance after work on them had all but stopped during the company’s plunge into bankruptcy in 2009.

Full Article at Link.
 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
C7 z06 with A8 is going to be one fast daily driver.

The z51 A8 is an amazing sports car as well.

I've heard gm even improved the 7 speed manual rev matching downshifting capability so the technology is even faster than their professional test drivers...

Hard to say which transmission choice is best to drive. Both are that good.
 
#6 · (Edited)
What -

Highly relevant - to the story and in no way shape or form is it used against GM.


*****

'Imo', you can go further with it as in - a lot further.


Under Mr. Wagoner GM finally had a high quality longterm plan for the future ( with the endemic over Chevroletization - throw xxxx under the bus exception ) which as expected - no wait, make that which as required, included an outstanding, full spectrum PT effort.


Most likely - the best in the biz and now that we are here, the one best for how things actually turned out - in terms of @ least NAFTA.

Both of which - particularly the PT programs ( conventional to most alternative ) are a big part of the likely reasons GM got stabbed in the back and artificially shoved into BK.

Including for the specific purposes of helping Toyota and Ford - ie the Bankster's oldest and newest automotive pets.


This concept of a GM 8speed CAT was in all that - one way or another.


*************


The related question of far greater 'practical worth' - from a certain point of view........ say one that disagrees with the above would be -

WTF took so long - after the BK ??? Why was this RWD 8 speed idea and or specific concept deliberately delayed - along with the Hydrogen and Diesel programs ????


Of all the things GM could have had from all those previous efforts in the 2009 - 2015 period and did not, this is the one or one of the two that just boggles the mind.

One way or another and for one set or another of reasons - GM has been ( forced ? ) into half stepping something fierce - see above for most sensible and likely reasoning.

Whitacre whom at arms length + fifty paces I thought was 'ok' can now been seen as a likely big ass failure +++

And that label goes for anybody relevant who came after or is still there today that @ anytime in the process, helped put the mother ****ing loser electric efforts in front of all the rest - literally - no matter how well done technically.

If I was a newbie to the board I'd really want a full, and well developed understanding for all this - anybody still there today who signed off on even one document related - sigh....... I'd fire their ass yesterday.

With extreme prejudice - if warranted.


Wagoner got them a great seat @ the best table - and critically the cards - and they literally threw as many of them away as they could get away with.
 
#5 ·
For Corvette, to me it's not a Corvette unless it's a manual convertible. Just personal preference. Certain cars are better with manual shifters. The same applies to Porsche 911 & BMW M3.

But more gears in automatics are a good thing as well in non-sports cars. For a truck or muscle car or almost anything else, I'd take the automatic.
 
#7 ·
Tacky - ugly - expensive - and so not a Corvette. Shamvette - a mishmash of styling cues STOLEN from other companies and put in a blender and allowed to flow into pure ugliness with not one part of it looking like it belongs with the rest of the car.
 
#12 ·
Stock 2014 c7 z51 a6 has run 11.4 @ 120 mph at englishtown nj track.

I'm sure the A8 will be a tenth or so quicker.....maybe a slightly higher trap.....if the gearing is correct.

The z51 A8 rear gear ratio 2.72 vs 2.41 of standard automatic....

M7 has 3.42 rear gear but top three gears are overdrives in manual versus top 2 gears in the A8.

Potential roll on performance of A8 is intriguing.
 
#13 ·
Here is a needed clarification -

The new GM 8L90 eight-speed automatic, which will also go to work in the 2015 full-size trucks and SUVs equipped with the 6.2-liter V-8, doesn’t hamper the fun one bit.

On a road course, taking hot laps in an automatic that performs ignition-spark-cutting upshifts and positive-torque downshifts (engineer jargon for blipping the throttle to match revs) quicker than humanly possible allows the driver to concentrate on the steering and braking, potentially turning quicker laps in the process.

Plus, from our seat-of-the-pants perspective, the GM 8L90 shifts as quickly as any dual-clutch unit available.

Corvette engineers benchmarked the ZF’s dual-clutch automatic that goes into the Porsche 911 and claim the new GM ’box actually shifts quicker in some cases.
 
#14 ·
I hope the 8-speed does really well in the Vette. I got a chance to drive the '14 w/6-speed auto against the 911 S and Jaguar F-Type S w/ceramics and R Coupe with and without at Texas Motor Speedway on Monday. I was a little disappointed. The Vette had a tougher time keeping up with all three cars on the track course. Part of that was it felt twitchy to me and the power didn't lay down as smoothly as I expected. Great car, but there was a lack of confidence when driving it. Hopefully the 8-speed helps this in the quicker shifts department.
 
#19 ·
It's easy to make a competitors product twitchy.....ie just tire pressure or brand new tires could do the trick...

A couple of times I've purchased new tires and for the first 500 miles the tires could be freest because of the film put on the tires from the manufacturer to allow them to store longer...

Once it wears off the cars very stable.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top