Quote:
Originally Posted by wingchunsifu
Congratulations!
However I did the exact opposite. Swapped out a 17 black 1SS M6 which I had for one year, for a 17 black 2SS A8. Soooooo much happier now, especially with the 2SS trim. Yes I did encounter the dreaded transmission shudder at 2k milage. Dealer transmission triple flush solved the problem...so far.
Manuals I've had: 70 VW bug where I learned how to heel toe, 71 Merc Capri, 75 Nova with 3 on the tree, 73 Cuda with hurst pistol grip, 06 Mustang GT [would never buy a Ford again. Why do you think the US Presidential motorcade used a GM Caddi as the foundation for "The Beast"], Gen 5 SS. I Come from a car family with 2 lineages. Grandpa worked 35 years at GM plant and Dad owned a Dodge dealership.
Here's 10 reasons why I relinquished the anachronistic standard shift:
1- Too much work to drive the car for a daily driver [To be honest a 2012 Jeep Gr. Cherokee tuned Hemi is my daily driver]
2- M6 is a slower car with terrible throttle lag in 1st gear that can get you killed if you're darting out in an intersection in front of a speeding truck [which you shouldn't do].
3- If you are an active person in sports or work in any kind of human services where there is a high risk of injury; the car is no fun to drive when you're recovering in a cast or in pain. You really need 4 limbs to interface the vehicle properly. [And yes I've driven with 2 different casts and in pain from other surgries]
4- "Hey dude could you go move my car real quick?" "Um, sorry man I don't drive a stick". Or, "Here Mom you can use my car" "No I can't drive that"!
5- There's a reason the majority of supercars don't come with manuals. They're much slower than today's modern, technologically advanced automatics. The A8 2SS is my "poor man's" Supercar.
6- No throttle lag and I mean ZERO in any gear! Yes I "signed a pact" and tuned the engine turning off the 4 cyl deactivation and boosting the HP with a custom Diab-Lew tune. However even with the M6 there were dead spots in the throttle that I couldn't tune out. No bueno.
7- The A8 gives the Camaro its own unique personality and driving it spiritedly is like driving the car with your mind. On an M6 time is wasted on every human shift.
8- A8 holds a higher resale value and is easier to sell.
9- 2017 M6 has, along with the Gen 5 M6, the ridiculous "Skip Shift" 1-4 feature that can come up when you least expect it and are on an incline and don't need it. Sure there's a few ways around it like pausing the shift or hitting 3 instead of 4 or press ignore on the steering wheel but why should you even have to do that. On my Gen 5 I installed a skip shift eliminator. On the Gen 6 M6 I turned it off with the same Diablo tuner
10- NO remote start. The remote start in an SS with NPP exhaust is so cool when the LT1 fires up growling through the open baffles and startles pedestrians walking by. Not to mention warming up the vehicle for you in cold weather.
All kidding aside [not really] the M6 is a lot of fun to drive and practically indestructible as far as transmissions go. I never missed a shift with the precise Gen 6. Missed a couple with the Gen 5 and blew a whole lot going from 3 to 4 but hitting 2 instead with the shitty Ford Mustang ergonomically inferior in every way with severely canted head rests that will give you a neck ache after one ride. Never tried the "No lift shift" though. Let us know how it feels! Also on the M6 there is so much torque you don't even need to step on the gas to get the car rolling just let the clutch out slowly. Hell you can even start the car rolling on level ground in 4th gear with out it bogging! Awesome car in any format.
|
1. Got to disagree, this car has a feather light clutch and is a breeze to drive. The rev matching feature makes it even easier.
2.Hmmm, this is driver error. If you don't know how to properly launch any manual, you can have issues. The M6 gets up and go when launched properly. No issues here.
3. Agreed, it will be difficult for someone with a physical ailment.
4. True, but I actually like having a skill that's getting more and more unique as time goes by. And there's less chance of getting my car stolen.
5. Yep, the automatics shift faster, but many enthusiasts still prefer stick, even in their supercars. Porsche has experienced this first hand. Sure, to achieve the highest performance, you'd have to go automatic. No argument there.
6. Can't comment on tuning. Throttle lag? Not sure how transmission type would matter.
7. Subjective, but I consider shifting manually to be more in tune with the car than having a computer do it for you. Anyone hitting the gas pedal in an a8 would result in the same behavior, so the unique 'personality' you speak of is lost.
With the M6, the driver has a lot more control over how the car behaves.
8. You pay more up front for the A8 so that negates some of that resale value. Also, the fact that manuals are dwindling in terms of numbers can have a positive affect on the resale value in time.
9. I agree the skip-shift can be annoying. But defeating it isn't too difficult of you adjust your 1-2nd shift habit. As I'm doing that, it's getting to be a lot less of an issue. But plugging in a resister to kill it is really easy. This shouldn't be enough of a turn off to anyone.
10. Wouldn't mind it, but certainly wouldn't give up the joy of driving a manual for it.
At the end of the day, the A8 is only marginally faster than an M6 with a decent driver behind the wheel.