Automatic trans. on Corvette?

[Reaper948]

Yesterday I was driving back from lunch and I saw a 2001-2 Z-06 drive by and i put the :D face on....And the girl (not my girlfriend, thank god) decided to say ...I saw the first stick corvette the other day.... my jaw dropped my face turned :mad: and then I was like WHAT?! Are you ****g kidding??!

She made the point that her dad has had 3 corvettes and they've all been automatic transmission - Im guessing theyre older ones...70's...

I know that a Corvette's option can be an automatic transmission...BUT am I wrong when I say that most corvettes are manual? ( AND they come stanard as manual?)

[Stocker]

Somewhere around '80, Chevy went to the 5 speed overdrive manual. That trans wasn't strong enough for the 350, or maybe they decided they didn't want to have to warranty them. I have seen a few 4 speed manuals over the years but very rare, and I was surprised to actually see one. In 88 when they came out with the 6 speed manual, that's when they made the manual the standard trans with the auto as optional. In 93, the camaro's got the 6 speed. From 87 to 92 the 5.7 was only available with auto, as in most of the corvettes from the late 70's to 88.

[RoyLPita]

I talked to a guy at work how is a "Vette Guru" and he said that 65% of the vettes are automatic.

[Dr Caleb]

I agree. I had a '79 with the close ratio 4 speed, and it was rare. I haven't seen many Vettes with manuals.

[wchain]

I talked to a guy at work how is a "Vette Guru" and he said that 65% of the vettes are automatic.


How Sad :alone:

[ADE 1000]

With the C4 Corvette, the mix was in favor of the automatic. In recent history it has gotten closer to a 50/50 mix. On the late C4 and the non-Z06 C5 the auto was standard and the manual was around a $900 option.

The manual is standard and the automatic is a no cost option on the C6.

[TripleTransAm]

Somewhere around '80, Chevy went to the 5 speed overdrive manual. That trans wasn't strong enough for the 350, or maybe they decided they didn't want to have to warranty them. I have seen a few 4 speed manuals over the years but very rare, and I was surprised to actually see one. In 88 when they came out with the 6 speed manual, that's when they made the manual the standard trans with the auto as optional. In 93, the camaro's got the 6 speed. From 87 to 92 the 5.7 was only available with auto, as in most of the corvettes from the late 70's to 88.


The manual boxes in the 80s were the Doug Nash "4+3" units... essentially a 4 speed DN box with an electronically-controlled overdrive unit grafted on. In certain cruising situations, the overdrive would kick in automatically, unless the overdrive was 'locked out'. I heard this was extremely annoying, because the combination of the overdrive ratio and the current gear ratio would mean that RPM would actually CLIMB when you upshifted, since the overdrive would automatically drop out with the upshift, but I've never driven one myself so I can't confirm this annoyance.

[Reaper948]

Extremely informative....thanks

Although Im more upset that everything but this year's vette is standard manual and nothing else....Jeez. arent they supposed to have stick? Just the principle of it!

[TripleTransAm]

Depends on the engine, actually. Some of those 80s engines just didn't feel right with a stick, and as mentioned, the existing economy-focused 5-speeds didn't have the internal room for guts that could handle the bigger motors.

And some of these bigger motors just didn't lend themselves to manual shifting anyway. One of our local f-club members has a 1987 GTA with a 305 TPI / 5 speed combo, with mild mods that seem to not have resulted in any shift of the torque curve up OR down. He drove my 305 TPI automatic GTA back to my house from a car show where I had all three of my cars present (another member driving my WS6, and I was driving my '78)... when we got to my place, his eyes were wide and he had a great big grin, saying he loved the throttle response on my car. According to his descriptions, whenever his foot said "GO", something would add a "RIGHT F***ING NOW" right after it, by the time it got to the motor. ;) That's the interaction of a torquey low-RPM motor and a torque converter's multiplication, along with nice first gears in most GM automatics.

When you started getting into the higher-RPM-capable motors like the LT1 (and most certainly the 32V LT5 ZR-1), then a manual transmission made more sense. Nowadays, with the LS1-family motors, you're often likely to find the best ETs in an automatic due to the wide torque curve of these motors, and at the same time this same wide torque curve makes it a blast to keep the motor singing at high RPMs with a manual. (which is why I'm SO glad I ordered my WS6 equipped with a 6-speed!!). So you get a truly equal set of choices.

I wouldn't even dream of hanging in the upper 4000s or early 5000s in my 305 TPI for a great length of time. :lol:

[Dr Caleb]

That was the way I understood it too /steve. Corvettes from the ZR-1 on were just faster in the 1/4 and easier to drive with the auto trans. I've only driven 1 'vette made since the ZR-1, and it had the auto. It did have a very zippy 'go' foot feel to it.

But I agree, sports cars should have sticks. It's just the natural order of things ;)

[ADE 1000]

Extremely informative....thanks

Although Im more upset that everything but this year's vette is standard manual and nothing else....Jeez. arent they supposed to have stick? Just the principle of it!


This years Vette has a standard manual with a no cost option for an automatic. Previous recent Vettes had a standard automatic with an optional manual.

[Silver_04]

I know that a Corvette's option can be an automatic transmission...BUT am I wrong when I say that most corvettes are manual? ( AND they come stanard as manual?)

The manual is standard on the C6, but I imagine that most are still being sold as autos. The C5's had the auto as standard and the manual was a $1k option, never mind that annoying 1 to 4 gear skip under moderate acceleration...hence why I had the auto in mine.

[ADE 1000]

never mind that annoying 1 to 4 gear skip under moderate acceleration...hence why I had the auto in mine.

Your kidding right?? The 1-4 skip shift can be disabled in about 30 seconds. A fact that I thought was pretty well known.


Not a good enough reason to go with the wimp shift model. ;)

[Silver_04]

Your kidding right?? The 1-4 skip shift can be disabled in about 30 seconds. A fact that I thought was pretty well known.


Not a good enough reason to go with the wimp shift model. ;)

Disabling it is well known, but that's still not a good enough reason when you live near Atlanta.

[TripleTransAm]

I stuck with the skip-shift for several years, mostly because I felt if I tried to incorporate it into my daily driving, it might yield even better mileage than I was seeing with the relatively frugal LS1. But after one-too-many 4th gear lugs down to 1000 RPM while attempting to accelerate UP an overpass in dense traffic, I figured enough was enough. The drivetrain clunking and tortured sound of 3800+ lbs being pulled uphill in a 1:1 4th gear at 900 RPM is brutal.

So I crawled underneath and installed the skipshift eliminator plug and that was that. Either my mileage remained the same, or perhaps got better! And no more lugging for nothing. It's my opinion that such extreme "fuel-saving" measures are nothing but quick patches to address specific EPA fuel-consumption scenarios... scenarios that might not mirror a large percentage of real-world conditions. And one reason why I'm curious what 'opening up' my Marauder's shift program will do for around-town mileage... with all the lugging in the 2-3 and 3-4 upshifts, I'm almost thinking real-world economy will go UP with an opened-up shift schedule!

Traffic-wise, it's still annoying as hell to pilot such a heavy car in dense stop/go traffic while trying not to abuse the clutch too much while respecting the ~900 RPM idle speed as best as possible. But it's *still* a HECK of a lot more pleasant than my '98 Civic 4-door's 5-speed (which was silky smooth at all speeds EXCEPT for 1st gear crawling around 1500 RPM, which could induce sea-sickness with all the bucking... all other gears were fine).

[WantOneSoBad]

You said the girl was in a Z06. If it was a real Z06 then that car should have been a manual unless it the guy got a custom auto trans put in. I'm guessing he just had the Z06 badging though.

Also, anyone heard of a 6 speed automatic and where can you get them?

[CBT]

My 1977 is an automatic. At least your gal takes somewhat of an interest in them, my wife could care less. Breaks my heart.:(