We’ve covered videos from YouTuber Morgan Crosbie before, including his look at what happens to the C8 Corvette’s engine bay after a wash, and what it’s like to drive the mid-engine machine in the snow. Now, we’re taking a look at Crosbie’s thoughts on the C8’s new M1L dual-clutch eight-speed automatic transmission.
Indeed, Chevy’s decision to keep the new C8 Corvette as an auto-only affair has certainly ruffled more than a few feathers, but as Crosbie accurately points out, the demand for a three-pedaled setup is simply not high enough to justify the added expense of offering such a thing.
“When [General Motors] looked at the numbers of how many people bought a manual transmission in the C7 [Corvette] generation, it didn’t make any sense for them to also be building a bespoke transmission for the manual [C8] fans as well,” Crosbie says.
Crosbie is a Chevrolet sales consultant, so he has a bit of an insider perspective on this sort of thing, and indeed, his statement is on the money in terms of what we’ve heard from official GM representatives on the topic.
Interestingly, Crosbie also admits that he was among those enthusiasts who were disappointed to learn that the C8 Corvette would not offer a manual transmission. However, he says that after driving his new Vette, he thinks the M1L dual-clutch eight-speed will provide a satisfying sports car experience in the long run.
The video is pretty long, clocking in at just under 20 minutes, but if you want to hear some first-hand experience with the new C8 Corvette, it’s definitely worth a watch. Crosbie also provides some driving experience impressions from behind the wheel while driving on the road, which are fun to watch as well.
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Comments
Having had a C7 manual & a 70 LTI manual ( bought new – still have ) & a 03 50th auto ( Wife’s car ) . Manual to me is the Sport in driving. Corvette going soft. Gary
Vast majority of people who complain about there not being a manual C8 are people who not only will never buy a C8, they are people who will never buy a Corvette period.
No one should comment on the Duel Clutch till they have driven one.
I have not driven a GM but I have driven a duel clutch. It is amazing how fast it can shift.
I love a manual but the world has moved on and has only gotten faster.
As a person who learned to drive on a stick shift in 1962 and who has had both stick shift cars and automatics, I can see the attraction for both. It is very gratifying to learn to shift and to do exactly what one is supposed to do during acceleration and braking and around curves, turns and hairpin steering, drifting, big tracks, small tracks, GT tracks, etc. It was really a lot of fun in the 50’s, 60’s and so on. It is also fun when picking up a classic and rebuilding it. Not a lot of people like change except for gadget junkies who love it. Police agencies everywhere have long abandoned stick shift in the majority of the world and there are several reasons (too many to enumerate here). Technology is pushing ahead at an alarming rate. 3-D printing is replacing all forms of old fashioned construction for example. Micro processors and smaller are making everything smaller and faster and lighter as a byproduct. Same with switching & all other forms of electronics. It is also interesting that it would be possible to have a dual clutch manual transmission with rev. match or not at the driver’s option. I don’t know if that would make a stick any faster than it is now. I have been using an automatic dual clutch transmission in my 2012 Porsche for just about 8 years now. At the same time I have a Mustang Bullitt with a five speed manual transmission, as one of my three cars. When I’m driving it, I enjoy shifting it. That said, it by far gets the fewest miles on it of any of my three drivers. I have an unusal shifter on the steering wheel of my Carrera which allows up and down shifts with either hand by both a push and a pull. I don’t know how many years Porsche had this option, but I believe it was dropped. This is a seven speed and it is a PDK type dual clutch with launch control and Sport Chrono. I really love the transmission and I do a combination of auto and manual shift with the shift by wire system which I guess F1 shifters also use to change gears, one at a time. It appears, that with some exceptions, for the most part the advancements are simply changing what automotive provides or can give. With autonomous driving cars and with intelligent cruise control and auto braking by the car which eventually will maintain a safe distance from other cards, stick shift is on its way out regardless of whether we want stick shift or not. Emissions are even greater with stick shift. The have to be during the period they move while shifting, necessarily in a neutral moment during such shifts. Dual clutches have almost no period of time when they are not engaged and so over time save a lot of needless gasoline expenditure. Electric cars do not, for the most part have shifters of any kind. The world is goig the way of automatics. However there are many older cars with sticks. As they become rarer, especially in the really desirable cars, they will eventually become more expensive and harder to come by. F1 shifting is manual method, but it is not a stick method. Can’t stop taxes, can’t stop progress, can’t stop city hall and the Corona is hard to stop. As I said, I keep my old 2001 Bullitt around to drive a stick shift when I need to. But the rest of the time I drive the PDK and I even get stuck driving a M-B 9-Speed DCT when my wife wants me to take her some where. For a while, it was coming. Now it is no longer coming, it is here: Autos are what car makers make. Even Porsche will only make a stick for just so long. AF