[Bayles76]

I was a die-hard Manual only driver and first scoffed at the A8... then I drove one. I will never own another late-model Muscle car in a Manual. My reasoning follows.

I would say if the source of your information on the car is a legit guy/gal that you trust you'll be fine. The best thing to do, and what I would do if I were you, is take it for a test drive straight to your local Chevrolet dealership and have them do an full inspection on the car to ensure everything is in working condition.

On to the subject of the Automatic. I 100% believe the Automatic is the better car out of the 2. The manual is by no means a bad car, let me make that clear. They are both incredible feats of engineering and performance.

My personal reasoning why the A8 is a superior car is because:

1. FASTER ACCELERATION.
2. Better fuel economy.
3. Comfort.
4. Ease of use.
5. Competition Stabilitrak mode (I will elaborate on this below).

Reasoning

1. Even with the A8 is put against a professional driver in the M6 using its trick "No-Lift-Shift" the A8 is still faster. It just is. No matter how many people out there swear they can shift as fast as the A8.. they can't. Plenty of reviews and videos on Youtube to back this up.

2. With the manual I get better fuel economy in town and on the highway than I ever saw in any manual car. I average on the highway around 32 MPG and in town around 18 or so.

3. The A8 shifts buttery smooth when it's warmed up. When it's cold the 1-2 shift can jerk a little when under very light acceleration but thats the only one I've ever noticed can be a little rough. Once it has heat in it it's smooth through every gear under any acceleration.

4. Put it in drive and go. Or if you want to shift the car yourself then slide it over to Manual mode and it will behave like a manual. It will hold a gear as long as you want it to without shifting out like most Manuals.

5. Leaving the car in Automatic mode and putting the car in track mode is one of the best things about the car. Launch control is a sling shot from 0-60 in anywhere between 3.9 to 4.2 seconds. Quarter mile is dealt with in anywhere between 11.9 to 12.5 @ 117 - 113. Heavily depending on your launch and surface you're driving on. These times are possible with the OEM tires, youtube it.



All this being said, I couldn't be happier with my decision to go with the A8.

[random155]

Originally Posted by Bayles76

I was a die-hard Manual only driver and first scoffed at the A8... then I drove one. I will never own another late-model Muscle car in a Manual. My reasoning follows.

I would say if the source of your information on the car is a legit guy/gal that you trust you'll be fine. The best thing to do, and what I would do if I were you, is take it for a test drive straight to your local Chevrolet dealership and have them do an full inspection on the car to ensure everything is in working condition.

On to the subject of the Automatic. I 100% believe the Automatic is the better car out of the 2. The manual is by no means a bad car, let me make that clear. They are both incredible feats of engineering and performance.

My personal reasoning why the A8 is a superior car is because:

1. FASTER ACCELERATION.
2. Better fuel economy.
3. Comfort.
4. Ease of use.
5. Competition Stabilitrak mode (I will elaborate on this below).

Reasoning

1. Even with the A8 is put against a professional driver in the M6 using its trick "No-Lift-Shift" the A8 is still faster. It just is. No matter how many people out there swear they can shift as fast as the A8.. they can't. Plenty of reviews and videos on Youtube to back this up.

2. With the manual I get better fuel economy in town and on the highway than I ever saw in any manual car. I average on the highway around 32 MPG and in town around 18 or so.

3. The A8 shifts buttery smooth when it's warmed up. When it's cold the 1-2 shift can jerk a little when under very light acceleration but thats the only one I've ever noticed can be a little rough. Once it has heat in it it's smooth through every gear under any acceleration.

4. Put it in drive and go. Or if you want to shift the car yourself then slide it over to Manual mode and it will behave like a manual. It will hold a gear as long as you want it to without shifting out like most Manuals.

5. Leaving the car in Automatic mode and putting the car in track mode is one of the best things about the car. Launch control is a sling shot from 0-60 in anywhere between 3.9 to 4.2 seconds. Quarter mile is dealt with in anywhere between 11.9 to 12.5 @ 117 - 113. Heavily depending on your launch and surface you're driving on. These times are possible with the OEM tires, youtube it.



All this being said, I couldn't be happier with my decision to go with the A8.

Thank you for this. Im still on board with owning either trans type. However something else came up with the car and I will not be buying. THE SEARCH CONTINUES.

[Risky Justice]

If you want a manual, then you should hold out for one. I’ve been in a similar boat and I wished it was a manual just about every day I owned the car.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by YARBIE 1

My A8 rocks. This issue has affected hundreds of folks possibly out 40,000 plus cars sold.
As far as needing more than a triple flush to fix the problem its probably a few dozen or so cars.
This issue seeeeeems like a big one when youre on this forum. But this forum makes up about 3% of the total camaro owners in the country. Most owners are NOT on this forum. Just sayin.

On the flip side I only know 2 people that own A8s (neither are Camaro's). One of them is a 6 month old Canyon.

Both have had at least one torque converter replacement.

Very small sample size, but it makes me wonder if your estimate is accurate on how many A8s it affects.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Risky Justice

If you want a manual, then you should hold out for one. I’ve been in a similar boat and I wished it was a manual just about every day I owned the car.

This. I personally prefer a manual. My truck is an automatic which I allow because I tow with it. I've towed with a manual trans truck before and the joy of driving the manual just doesn't translate well to that use case for me

Otherwise, I stick with manuals since I simply prefer them.

[cbr1100xx]

Originally Posted by Bayles76

I was a die-hard Manual only driver and first scoffed at the A8... then I drove one. I will never own another late-model Muscle car in a Manual. My reasoning follows.

I would say if the source of your information on the car is a legit guy/gal that you trust you'll be fine. The best thing to do, and what I would do if I were you, is take it for a test drive straight to your local Chevrolet dealership and have them do an full inspection on the car to ensure everything is in working condition.

On to the subject of the Automatic. I 100% believe the Automatic is the better car out of the 2. The manual is by no means a bad car, let me make that clear. They are both incredible feats of engineering and performance.

My personal reasoning why the A8 is a superior car is because:

1. FASTER ACCELERATION.
2. Better fuel economy.
3. Comfort.
4. Ease of use.
5. Competition Stabilitrak mode (I will elaborate on this below).

Reasoning

1. Even with the A8 is put against a professional driver in the M6 using its trick "No-Lift-Shift" the A8 is still faster. It just is. No matter how many people out there swear they can shift as fast as the A8.. they can't. Plenty of reviews and videos on Youtube to back this up.

2. With the manual I get better fuel economy in town and on the highway than I ever saw in any manual car. I average on the highway around 32 MPG and in town around 18 or so.

3. The A8 shifts buttery smooth when it's warmed up. When it's cold the 1-2 shift can jerk a little when under very light acceleration but thats the only one I've ever noticed can be a little rough. Once it has heat in it it's smooth through every gear under any acceleration.

4. Put it in drive and go. Or if you want to shift the car yourself then slide it over to Manual mode and it will behave like a manual. It will hold a gear as long as you want it to without shifting out like most Manuals.

5. Leaving the car in Automatic mode and putting the car in track mode is one of the best things about the car. Launch control is a sling shot from 0-60 in anywhere between 3.9 to 4.2 seconds. Quarter mile is dealt with in anywhere between 11.9 to 12.5 @ 117 - 113. Heavily depending on your launch and surface you're driving on. These times are possible with the OEM tires, youtube it.



All this being said, I couldn't be happier with my decision to go with the A8.

Those are all legit reasons EXCEPT for the fact that at least 50% (according to the polls here) have the A8 shudder issue. AND.....there's no fix.

So if you want to shell out your money for an A8 knowing there's a 50% chance you'll have an annoying shudder with potentially no fix......go for it. I wouldn't touch it based on this info.

[Martinjlm]

Originally Posted by cbr1100xx

Those are all legit reasons EXCEPT for the fact that at least 50% (according to the polls here) have the A8 shudder issue. AND.....there's no fix.

So if you want to shell out your money for an A8 knowing there's a 50% chance you'll have an annoying shudder with potentially no fix......go for it. I wouldn't touch it based on this info.

I get that there are a lot of complaints of shudder here, but 50% is nowhere near the real world rate. A fail rate in the range of 2 - 5% would result in a voluntary recall. That was my experience when I was responsible for Powertrain Service Engineering. Not saying that people on Camaro6 aren't experiencing the problem. Just saying that it is a bit amplified because we as a group pay more attention to our cars and are more likely to spot even the most minute problems. If it were anywhere near even 10%, GM would have placed the transmission on stop order and would have recalled all potentially failing units.

[cbr1100xx]

Originally Posted by Martinjlm

I get that there are a lot of complaints of shudder here, but 50% is nowhere near the real world rate. A fail rate in the range of 2 - 5% would result in a voluntary recall. That was my experience when I was responsible for Powertrain Service Engineering. Not saying that people on Camaro6 aren't experiencing the problem. Just saying that it is a bit amplified because we as a group pay more attention to our cars and are more likely to spot even the most minute problems. If it were anywhere near even 10%, GM would have placed the transmission on stop order and would have recalled all potentially failing units.

All well and good. But since I don't have time to walk around and chase down every SS A8 owner on the streets, I go off the community here. One poll has 78 stating they have the shudder vs 25 not. That's 75% with the shudder.
And most don't have it reliably fixed.

If someone has knowledge of this and still gets an A8, best of luck and cross your fingers. Not something I'd be parting with $37K+ for. Oh and I don't trust GM doing the right thing by any means regarding recalls. That's actually laughable.

[protovack]

Thank you for this. Im still on board with owning either trans type. However something else came up with the car and I will not be buying. THE SEARCH CONTINUES.

What was it?