[bobby35ny]

Not a flame thread, What Am I missing?

I'm in my 50's, Am I a dinosaur? I had the Chevelles and Camaro’s back in the day. Most were stick. I had a chevelle with the TH400 with a 10 inch converter and all the fancy auto stuff, reverse valve body, all the goodies at the time.

I didn’t have that car for very long, I got so friggin bored driving it.
I see many posts here that guys are waiting for the A10, I just don’t really understand that.

I understand that some people live in big cities and traffic is a horror show, I also understand some people have bad legs, of course you opt for the A10.

I watch all the videos of guys at the drag strip, I must admit, once I see the car is an auto I click it off.

I know the auto is FASTER, but my god, you watch the M6 guys go fast and it’s a thrill to me.

What happened to the driver EXPERIENCE? Your senses? The sounds the shifting? That’s all part of the driver experience.

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, Anyone could put their foot to the floor and go!

Maybe I’m just a dinosaur……

[slather]

I like a manual but have a bad left knee that can make shifting a pain. My wife does not drive the car often but she cannot drive a manual. Yes, she has tried. Automatics are much better than they were back in the 60's and 70's when my little sister called them hogamatics.

[pdiddy972]

There's a lot more yo the experience of driving than gear changes. Steering, braking, picking a line, all the Gs experienced, the wind noise, roar of the engine...

Most people go auto for convenience or speed.

[TopazM3]

Fortunately both are available, so we can each get what we like. I'm a manual guy and if I do get a ZL1, it will be manual. I like to enjoy my driving as much as possible and shifting, rev matching all of my downshifts (which I've done for decades) is fun to me. Some don't like this or have never learned. To each their own.

This new A10 promises to be an awesome tranny and I celebrate it. Don't want one for my car.

[Richard0nee]

Manual for me for the past 20 years. The fun, the shifts, the engagement and the driving experience is the reason why I can never own a performance car that's an auto (Doesn't matter how fast it is).

But for the guys who drag race on a consistent basis, have long commutes in traffic, lives on crazy hills everywhere in town.. I can understand them getting the auto.

Plus, my girlfriend can't drive my car

[GoneBoy]

I think there's a compelling case for each. If it were daily driver for me, I wouldn't want the m6 with all the stop-and-go traffic in my city. As a toy and occasional track car, I want the full experience of shifting gears. I can say based off all the a10 hype, if there were ever a time to make the switch to an automatic, this would be the time.

If I waited for that rumored mid engine c8 vette, I'd go automatic all day long. I understand that camaros are bonafide sports cars now, but in my mind it's still a muscle car, and there's something about a manual V8 muscle car that can never be replicated.

[Raven87]

I love 'em both. My Z has the 6 speed and the 'experience' of rowing the gears and feeling the effect of the upshift/downshift at my command is a HUGE part of that.

But I also am a huge fan of the auto and have driven the A8 in the C7 as well as the 6G Camaro and it is a damned impressive piece of machinery. I'm not a fan of the paddle shifters myself but many are. For me, the automatic's draw is twofold - convenience in town and quickness on the track.

Fun and being engaged with the car? Manual hands down.
Quickest shifts and have convenience in traffic to boot? Automatic any day of the week.

[Mr. Wyndham]

Originally Posted by bobby35ny

Not a flame thread, What Am I missing?

I'm in my 50's, Am I a dinosaur? I had the Chevelles and Camaro’s back in the day. Most were stick. I had a chevelle with the TH400 with a 10 inch converter and all the fancy auto stuff, reverse valve body, all the goodies at the time.

......

I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, Anyone could put their foot to the floor and go!

Maybe I’m just a dinosaur……

I don't mean this offensively....but I think most of your curiosity does stem from being older.

As a younger guy - I can tell you that I get a kick out of watching the C7.R crack off shifts one after the other, so quickly...or watching videos of a Porsche GT3, Ferarri 458, or McLaren do the same thing...yet, both of my past Camaros were stick, and I truly worry I'll miss it when I switch "camps".

But I'd like to offer my thoughts on your points, if you'd entertain them...a different perspective.

Originally Posted by bobby35ny

I watch all the videos of guys at the drag strip, I must admit, once I see the car is an auto I click it off.

I think that indicates there's an inherent bias on your part, then...perhaps you just don't like automatics, or dual clutches, etc...and you won't ever like anything other than that. That's fine. But worth noting...

Originally Posted by bobby35ny

I know the auto is FASTER, but my god, you watch the M6 guys go fast and it’s a thrill to me.

I was fortunate enough to be at the reveal media rides for the debut of the ZL1, and the A10 car was thrilling, as well. In fact...most people were going ape over that version, while the stick model was sort of regarded with simple expectation.

Originally Posted by bobby35ny

What happened to the driver EXPERIENCE? Your senses? The sounds the shifting? That’s all part of the driver experience.

The experience in the new ZL1 is lightning fast...and the A10 reflects that...with ten gears available to keep the engine in the sweet spot no matter what your speed....manual shifting isn't an option. Things happen to quickly. The responsiveness to the paddles is instant as well, so the driver feels fully connected to the car...choosing gears at will. It's a DIFFERENT kind of connection, but it's there.

The sounds of the A10 shifting are....I'm sorry....more intimidating and impressive than the M6. The engine is tuned to backfire on early shifts...and it does so with an unholy "bang" every time to crack off a shift. The M6 car at the event sounded great (they all do, the exhaust note is wicked!!), the A10 car had that extra "something".

There's also something to be said for the car shifting itself during traffic situations, or the boring trip to work in the AM when you're groggy and just not feeling it...

And auto-start...both for function (such as warming up or cooling down before getting in)...and for fun (such as scaring small children in a mall parking ramp).

Different strokes for different folks....I'd say - you're not missing anything, and you don't need to "get it".

Bottom line is (and I've been saying it for a while, now)....either choice will merit the driver one of the best Camaro driving experiences he/she has ever had.

[Richard0nee]

Originally Posted by Mr. Wyndham

There's also something to be said for the car shifting itself during traffic situations, or the boring trip to work in the AM when you're groggy and just not feeling it...

LOL! When I had a manual beater, I hated shifting in the early AM to work! One reason why I don't want to daily drive an M6!

Thankfully my beater is an auto. So having the manual for a weekend car to blast around in is perfect!

[jarhead420]

I am 50 years old, and I was always taught that a real muscle car has three pedals. The M6 is the way to go for me as well. I had three gen 5 Camaros, two were automatics and my third is a 15 ZL1 M6 which I will be trading in once my Garnet Red 17 ZL1 M6 arrives. I definitely feel more connected to the driving experience with the M6.

[Artos]

I just turned 47 & love rowing through gears, but passing up the technology of this 10 speed after reading up on it seems foolish to pick the manual. The manual tranny is the dinosaur to me in this case but totally get why folks want one.

Mostly confused as to why a few seem to despise one for choosing the A10...pretty cut & dry of what a fantastic piece of engineering we have with this tranny!!

[08z51c6]

I want the A10 but with it being a brand new transmission I can't say I'm not hesitant. Which is why I'll probably wait it out a year for the initial "market adjustments" dealers are sure to charge and for any bugs to be corrected.

[NCSD]

I'm an old guy too. 52 years old. I've always thought performance cars should be manual because they are more engaging and fun to drive. Over the years I've done some autocross, track days and I raced Baja for 3 years in a car with a manual transmission. So I know alot about manual transmissions and how great they are.

But this time I went with the A8, mainly so my wife can drive the car once in a while. To be honest, its pretty good with the paddle shifters. It holds the gears just like a manual. As you come up to the corners, when you downshift with the paddles, it rev matches just like you would heel/toe a manual. Its not the old tranny that when you shift and it coasts when you downshift. Its practically as good as a manual for what I do, and I drive the twisty mountain roads every weekend.

The best part for me is setting the car to track mode when you a doing a good section of road, The shift points get more aggressive and so does the suspension It's like a corvette in this mode. Then after the technical sections, you just put it back into tour mode and full auto transmission on the way home, turn on some good music and just relax like an old man should. In this mode it drives like a cadillac, which it basically is. This car is the ultimate dual purpose car, Dr. Jeckyl and Mr Hyde. It does both extremes, extremely well. The ZL1 will be even better.

If it shifted like my 1998 z28 I would say it sucked and you should get the manual. If I tracked my car every weekend and my wife could drive a manual, I'd probably go with a manual. I have no regrets and I'm probably faster everywhere with this set up.

For me. Based on how good my existing A8 is, and the Nuremberg ZL1 video, I'd probably go for the A10.

[alexandre_baril]

I think, unless most of the driving will be on the track, buying the auto because its quicker is a mistake. Buy the auto if this is what you prefers, otherwise buy the manual. Buying the auto because it may be more fuel efficient is even a bigger mistake.

I did not drove the ZL1, but did test drive both the Auto and the manual SS before buying. Unless you have a time split you won't feel the A8 difference in performance, in fact the MT6 appear faster to me, even if we know it is not. Driving the A8, for me, was boring as hell. I hate automatic cars and would not have bought a camaro if it was available automatic only.

If I was going to buy a ZL1, it would be manual for sure. But I am not a track enthusiast, I never go to the track and I am not planning to. So I never push the car even close to the limit on public twisty roads, so having the M6 is not a limiting factor, just a fun factor.