Two Of Five 2014 Corvette Buyers Reportedly Going For Manual
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Out of the gate, the 2014 Corvette Stingray ordering demographic is telling us some interesting stats out of the first 485 models sold last month. According to Autoblog, just about every single early customer already owns at least one Corvette, signaling that they are of the die-hard audience. Second is that two out of every five buyers (38 percent) are sticking with the seven-speed manual transmission with Active Rev Matching, rather than opting for the less fun, less efficient six-speed automatic.
In addition, 75 percent of all orders have opted for the Z51 performance package, but it’s not expected to stay this way. As hardcore Corvette customers find themselves with their new Stingrays in their garage, the take rate on performance options is expected to taper off, as more of the mainstream crowd looks to own the American exotic.
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To be honest 38% for a Corvette sports car with a manual is a bit sad. I would like to think at least 50% take rate would be what we would see but as with most models anymore the manual is a dying breed.
The normal cars are now below 7% manual now and so few people anymore even know how to drive one.
I took my son out in a C5 Manual the other day and hammered it through the gears and he asked me why I was shifting so much. It never occurred to me he had never ridden in a manual shift vehicle before. Not even a School Bus.
I love the automatics for the daily drive as there are often times I do not feel bothered to shift or the need to have to change a clutch when the time comes. But for a weekend play car I am all for it.
Right now I do not own a manual but my next Corvette will be a manual.
Times have really changed.
Might have something to do with the quality and swiftness of the shifts in an auto nowadays. Manual transmissions are actually slower and more of an obstruction in tapping the potential of the C7. I wouldn’t have belived it myself 15 years ago, but here we are.
Waiting for the DSG. The Corvette needs to stay ahead.
While it is true that many automatic cars are now faster not just in shifting but in some cases performance the changes I believe are for other reasons.
Heavier traffic in urban areas take the fun out of shifting.
Multi tasking buy todays drivers.
The lack of love from the MFG on building these cars anymore as often the emissions are more difficult to control.
The repair cost as most FWD or even the clutch in a rear transaxle can be expensive to repair. Just wait for some of these duel clutch systems to fail and see what the cost of repair is. On a $500K car it s not a big deal but on a $55K car it is a major expense.
Finally so many can not drive a stick today. I was looking at a 5 speed SS but my wife has never learned how to drive a stick. Also in most cable sifted cars the shifters go to hell after 30K miles as they loosen up.
I expect there will be some kind of sifting around but even Ferrari’s are rare with a gated shifter anymore. I think we are seeing the end to the original manual tranny,
I hate to see it but if you look around it does not look good.
My last manual was difficult to sell as they all loved the car but the manual killed the deal. Many could not even drive it.
I need to do with my son as they did with me and get an old manual and set him loose in a cow pasture.
Love the fact that 75% will be Z51 and only 38% are standard shift. This makes them rare and more valuable.
Manual trannies will go the way of the dodo bird once twin-clutch automatics become the norm. Faster than any automatic or manual driver can ever perform, and torque is applied to the wheels 100% of the time. They are quite awesome – I fell in love with them a few years ago when I test drove a Mitsubishi Evo that came with it. Once you try one there’s little (NO) benefit to a true manual anymore. They’re that good.
Well, I like my standard transmission except when on a hill. I don’t race my car so I don’t care about speed to 1/4 times. I just like shifting. When and if the go to something like you are talking about so be it. For now if I was racing I’d take an AWD, paddle shift automatic but I would prefer if it was more like a standards transmission with gears meshing and no clutch except for initial take off and then I’d want clutch engagement to be totally programmable. like the top fuel rails. Please supply technical information about you Jap transmission so we can all read about how it works
Sure thing. The Evo one is made by Getrag. Here’s info on it and twin/dual clutches in general.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Clutch_SST
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/dual-clutch-transmission.htm
This sounds pretty cool. As long as they can build it to take 505 HP- 750 HP I’ll be happy and so will a lot of other people. Twin-Clutch Gearbox. I would love to get a better picture than what they provided so I could get a visual of how the clutches and gear work together and see them function. Tanks
Twin-clutch gearbox is undoubtedly a revolutionary technology for manual transmission. Its impact to the automotive world is even greater than automated manual gearbox such Ferrari F1 system. Twin-clutch gearbox was first put into production by BorgWarner, which calls it “DualTronic”. It was first used in Audi TT 3.2 in the name “DSG” (Direct-Shift Gearbox).
Like automated manual gearbox, BorgWarner’s DualTronic can operate as a semi-automatic, where the driver changes gears via buttons, paddles or conventional shifter. There is no clutch pedal, because the clutch is automatic while the gearshift is implemented by electro-hydraulic actuators. For relax driving, there is also a full automatic mode, where computer determines which gear to be selected.
So, what’s the difference between it and other automated manual gearbox?
Unlike conventional gearboxes, DualTronic uses 2 clutches – one clutch connects to the odd gears (1st, 3rd and 5th) while another clutch connects to even gears (2nd, 4th and 6th). This enable it to shift far smoother and faster than conventional gearbox.
Why? let us see how a conventional gearbox work first: when a driver wants to change from one gear to another, he presses down the clutch pedal, thus the engine is disconnected from the gearbox. During this period, no power is transmitted to the gearbox, thus the driver can shift gears. When it is done, he engage the clutch again, then power is again transmitted to the gearbox. As you can see, the power delivery change from ON to OFF to ON during gearshift. How smooth the change depends on how skillful the driver cooperate the clutch and throttle. Automated gearbox like Ferrari F1 is similar. The only difference is that the clutch and gearshift are operated by computer via hydraulic actuators. The ON-OFF-ON power delivery still exist. In contrast, an automatic transmission with torque converter does not has this problem.
Twin-clutch gearbox can overcome the ON-OFF-ON problem too, thanks to the twin-clutch design which enable it to “pre-select” the next gear. Take this example: assuming the car is accelerating at 2nd. The clutch controlling the even gears is now engaged while another clutch is disengaged. From the data taken at throttle position and rev counter, the computer knows that the driver will select 3rd soon, thus it will connect the 3rd gear. Because at this moment the clutch for odd gears is disengaged, the pre-selection of 3rd will not affect the 2nd gear currently running. When the driver touches the gear-shift paddle, computer signals the even-gear clutch to disengage and simultaneously the odd-gear clutch to engage. In this way, gear is changed from 2nd to 3rd instantaneously, without any OFF period, without any delay – the only delay is caused by the smooth disengagement and engagement of the two clutches. Therefore power delivery is smooth and uninterrupted.
Pre-selection of gears quicken the shift a lot. Upshift takes just 8ms, 10 times quicker than BMW SMG II which is the fastest automated manual gearbox currently available. Downshift is less impressive, because the gearbox need to wait for the throttle blip to match gearbox speed with engine speed. Change down a gear therefore takes 600ms. Changing down a few gears could be more complicated. The most complicated is from 6th to 2nd (both are controlled by the same clutch while the distance between the two gears is the longest). It needs to change to 5th (controlled by another clutch) temporarily before 2nd is selected. This takes 900ms.
To package 2 clutches in limited space, BorgWarner decided to use multi-plate clutches which are far smaller in diameter than conventional clutches. Multi-plate clutches also allow finer control of engagement speed versus smoothness. Depending on driving style, computer can easily change the gearshift speed / smoothness setting.