=>0-60 MPH 3.7 Sec, 1/4 in 12 Flat @ 119 MPH>8spd Auto Trans <=
#1
11-12-2014, 05:16 AM
=>0-60 MPH 3.7 Sec, 1/4 in 12 Flat @ 119 MPH>8spd Auto Trans <=
INSTRUMENTED TEST- VIEW PHOTOS (25)
- |
- Eight-Speed Automatic
We'd say something witty here, but those chrome wheels have us distracted.
- NOVEMBER 2014
- BY ALEXANDER STOKLOSA
- PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL SIMARI
No sports car should have chrome wheels. The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray convertible you see here does. It also has an automatic transmission, GM’s newin-house designed and -built eight-speed unit, which replaces last year’s six-cog piece carried over from the C6 Corvette. The new transmission has two things going for it: First, it has more speeds in an era where more is more, and second, ordering it doesn’t require those shiny rollers.
We already drove a gaggle of Corvettes equipped with the new eight-speed, dubbed 8L90, and came away impressed. Well, we were mostly impressed; the cheap-feeling plastic steering-wheel shift paddles threaten to drag down the experience. The shift lever doesn’t offer a manual-shift gate, so choosing your own gears requires use of these flimsy actuators. Chevy needs to upgrade the pieces yesterday, lest people dismiss the new eight-speed outright on its regrettable visual and tactile deficiencies.
Fortunately, everything else about the $1725 transmission is better executed. We recorded the same 3.7-second 0-to-60-mph time in this convertible as we did in a 2014 model with the six-speed automatic; by 80 mph, the newer Vette begins to pull away, and by 150 mph, it edges out a 0.7-second lead thanks at least partly to quicker shift times. The transmission’s logic and broad ratio spread elevate the self-shifting Corvette experience toward Porsche PDK dual-clutch-automatic levels of satisfaction. Weather, Eco, Tour (default), Sport, and Track modes offer drivers a spectrum of behaviors. In Track, the 460-hp V-8’s lightning-quick throttle response and the electrically boosted steering’s heightened alertness blend wonderfully with the transmission’s rev-matched downshifts and redline upshifts. Clear the red mist by switching to Tour or Eco, and the 8L90 works with a preponderance of civility.
The EPA says that while the 2015 Vette with the eight-speed nets the same 16-mpg rating in the city cycle as the 2014 model, the highway number rises by 1 mpg to 29. This test car’s participation in our brutal 10Best testing stifled fuel economy to a dismal 12 mpg, but we’re confident that with normal use, it could better the 18 mpg we recorded with the old transmission.
Transmission aside, the quintessential Corvette experience remains the same. We’d banish our test car’s Floridian retiree–grade interior and exterior color combo to the same purgatory Chevy sent the old automatic. The Laguna Blue paint isn’t bad, but the gray top is, and the slate-gray leathers and plastics manage to cheapen the look of the latest Stingray’s massively improved interior. It undermines the appeal of our test car’s $9450 3LT package with its attendant power seats with memory, navigation, sueded upper-cabin trim, leather-wrapped dash and door panels, heated and ventilated seats, a head-up display, and Chevy’s cool Performance Data Recorder. Our 8L90 muse also came with the $5000 high-performance Z51 package (performance brakes and suspension, dry-sump engine lubrication, 19-inch front and 20-inch rear tires, an electronic limited-slip differential, and differential and transmission coolers),which now includes the Vette’s available sports exhaust.
Toss in a $995 interior carbon-fiber dress-up package and the chrome-finished wheels ($1995), as well as necessary options such as the $2495 Competition seats (if you can fit in them), the $1795 Magnetic Ride Control adaptive suspension dampers, the $995 blue paint, and the $1725 automatic trans, and our Stingray’s sticker came to $84,840. That loaded price (bizarre color choices and all) still adds up to $16,435 less than what Porsche charges for a base 2015 911 Carrera cabriolet with the PDK dual-clutch automatic and zero options. The new 8L90 might not equal Porsche’s stellar PDK, but it lives up to the rest of the Corvette’s excellence in a way the old six-speed didn’t.
NOTE: The pricing information in this story has been updated because the original Monroney we were provided showed an option that wasn't actually on our early-build test car. View Photo Gallery
NOTE: The pricing information in this story has been updated because the original Monroney we were provided showed an option that wasn't actually on our early-build test car. View Photo Gallery
Last edited by Space; 11-12-2014 at 09:24 AM.
#2
11-12-2014, 05:17 AM
PRICE AS TESTED: $84,840 (base price: $61,720)> : (
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SPECIFICATIONS
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door convertible
PRICE AS TESTED: $84,840 (base price: $61,720)
ENGINE TYPE: pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 376 cu in, 6162 cc
Power: 460 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 465 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.7 in
Length: 176.9 in
Width: 73.9 in Height: 48.6 in
Curb weight: 3506 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 3.7 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 8.3 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 14.5 sec
Zero to 150 mph: 21.5 sec
Rolling start, 5-60 mph: 3.9 sec
Top gear, 30-50 mph: 2.2 sec
Top gear, 50-70 mph: 2.5 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.0 sec @ 119 mph
Top speed (drag limited): 181 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 136 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 1.04 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 16/29 mpg
C/D observed: 12 mpg
SPECIFICATIONS
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door convertible
PRICE AS TESTED: $84,840 (base price: $61,720)
ENGINE TYPE: pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 376 cu in, 6162 cc
Power: 460 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 465 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.7 in
Length: 176.9 in
Width: 73.9 in Height: 48.6 in
Curb weight: 3506 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 3.7 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 8.3 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 14.5 sec
Zero to 150 mph: 21.5 sec
Rolling start, 5-60 mph: 3.9 sec
Top gear, 30-50 mph: 2.2 sec
Top gear, 50-70 mph: 2.5 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.0 sec @ 119 mph
Top speed (drag limited): 181 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 136 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 1.04 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway: 16/29 mpg
C/D observed: 12 mpg
#3
11-12-2014, 05:24 AM
0-60 3.6 sec
FIRST DRIVE REVIEWarrow2015 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Eight-Speed Automatic
Now with eight ways to shift your pants.
The race to higher gear counts is in full swing, and automatic gearboxes are leading the way. Driven partly by marketing one-upmanship and partly by the need to meet ever-tougher fuel-economy mandates, eight-speed autoboxes are everywhere, Chrysler’s running a nine-cogger in select models, and 10-speeds—from Ford, GM, Volkswagen, and others—are just around the corner. The General’s own in-house-developed eight-speed units (for its trucks and rear-drive V-8 cars) are just making an appearance after work on them had all but stopped during the company’s plunge into bankruptcy in 2009.
Now the Corvette gets updated with its rear-axle-mounted version of this new eight-speed automatic. Why is this news? While we’re firm believers that manual transmissions still provide a higher and more nuanced level of organic driver involvement and control, it’s no secret that high-performance cars are often faster and quicker during limit testing when equipped with the automatic gearboxes. Ferrari and Lamborghini have gone exclusively to automatics, andthe new Porsche 911 GT3 and the 911 Turbo are automatic-only. One might say that Chevrolet is taking a page from the Porsche playbook by even offering an automatic in the forthcoming Z06—a model that had been limited to manual-transmission offerings in the past. Its supercharged LT4 small-block V-8, with 650 horsepower and 650-lb-ft of torque, will be the most powerful engine General Motors has ever produced. So don’t think of an automatic, even if it is a more common planetary-gear type rather than the more exotic dual-clutch variety, as a handicap the Z06 must suffer.
GEARS WITH BENEFITS
How can we be so sure? Chevy hasn’t shown us a running Z06 in the flesh, but the company did let us sample the new eight-speed automatic in the 2015 Stingray and Chevy claims that the new ’box is quicker in a straight line than the manual. We discovered that the old six-speed auto was quicker than the manual version with individual tests of Stingray convertibles, but knocking another tenth off of the zero-to-60-mph and quarter-mile times puts the estimated times of the eight-cog Vette perilously close to those recorded for the C6 ZR1 in the first metric and nearly into the 11-second range in the second.
The new GM 8L90 eight-speed automatic, which will also go to work in the 2015 full-size trucks and SUVs equipped with the 6.2-liter V-8, doesn’t hamper the fun one bit. On a road course, taking hot laps in an automatic that performs ignition-spark-cutting upshifts and positive-torque downshifts (engineer jargon for blipping the throttle to match revs) quicker than humanly possible allows the driver to concentrate on the steering and braking, potentially turning quicker laps in the process. Plus, from our seat-of-the-pants perspective, the GM 8L90 shifts as quickly as any dual-clutch unit available. Corvette engineers benchmarked the ZF’s dual-clutch automatic that goes into the Porsche 911 and claim the new GM ’box actually shifts quicker in some cases.
GOIN’ WITH THE FLOW
Several laps of GM’s Milford Road Course revealed that the transmission programing in good-old “D” with the car’s Performance Traction Management switched on is pretty good for track duty. It’ll hold gears up to redline, downshift by itself just as one might do while tapping the steering-wheel paddles, and automatically upshift when it should. A two-three midcorner upshift doesn’t upset the chassis as it might with a manual transmission because the torque flow at gearchanges is smoother. We’re not saying the automatic is more fun to drive than the seven-speed manual, but don’t be surprised if the next Corvette we put on a racetrack has an automatic.
GM wouldn’t confirm whether the automatic Corvette is quicker on the track, but the Z51-equipped cars are certainly built for it; they will lap continuously for a full tank of fuel without overheating. When the 8L90 goes into the Z06, it’ll have two transmission coolers—one in the hindquarters, as with regular Stingrays, and another farther up the chassis laying flat on the underbelly.
Through ample use of aluminum and even some magnesium (a first for GM automatics), the new 8L90 weighs eight pounds less than the six-speed 6L80 it replaces, so curb weights should not increase for 2015. The new transmission gets its eight ratios, with a 7.02:1 spread, from four simple planetary gearsets and five clutches, three of which are always closed for increased efficiency. And speaking of efficiency, Chevy says it missed its goal of achieving a 30-mpg EPA highway rating by the narrowest of margins—one hundredth of a mpg. Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter says GM will retest the car next year with an extra 2 psi in the tires in an attempt to attain the 30-mpg label. That’ll require Chevy to change the recommended pressure on the door-frame placard and then print in the owner’s manual that it is okay to run at a lower pressure for “comfort.” That’s a trick Porsche’s been doing for years.
Watch this space for a full test of the eight-speed-automatic 2015 Stingray as soon as we can hook up our gear to one. All that talk about another mile per gallon is nice, but we’ll let you know if our prediction of a 0.1-second quicker zero-to-60 time compared with that of our last test of a six-speed automatic Vette—down to 3.6 seconds—pans out. View Photo Gallery
PHOTOS (85)
SPECIFICATIONS
Now the Corvette gets updated with its rear-axle-mounted version of this new eight-speed automatic. Why is this news? While we’re firm believers that manual transmissions still provide a higher and more nuanced level of organic driver involvement and control, it’s no secret that high-performance cars are often faster and quicker during limit testing when equipped with the automatic gearboxes. Ferrari and Lamborghini have gone exclusively to automatics, andthe new Porsche 911 GT3 and the 911 Turbo are automatic-only. One might say that Chevrolet is taking a page from the Porsche playbook by even offering an automatic in the forthcoming Z06—a model that had been limited to manual-transmission offerings in the past. Its supercharged LT4 small-block V-8, with 650 horsepower and 650-lb-ft of torque, will be the most powerful engine General Motors has ever produced. So don’t think of an automatic, even if it is a more common planetary-gear type rather than the more exotic dual-clutch variety, as a handicap the Z06 must suffer.
GEARS WITH BENEFITS
How can we be so sure? Chevy hasn’t shown us a running Z06 in the flesh, but the company did let us sample the new eight-speed automatic in the 2015 Stingray and Chevy claims that the new ’box is quicker in a straight line than the manual. We discovered that the old six-speed auto was quicker than the manual version with individual tests of Stingray convertibles, but knocking another tenth off of the zero-to-60-mph and quarter-mile times puts the estimated times of the eight-cog Vette perilously close to those recorded for the C6 ZR1 in the first metric and nearly into the 11-second range in the second.
The new GM 8L90 eight-speed automatic, which will also go to work in the 2015 full-size trucks and SUVs equipped with the 6.2-liter V-8, doesn’t hamper the fun one bit. On a road course, taking hot laps in an automatic that performs ignition-spark-cutting upshifts and positive-torque downshifts (engineer jargon for blipping the throttle to match revs) quicker than humanly possible allows the driver to concentrate on the steering and braking, potentially turning quicker laps in the process. Plus, from our seat-of-the-pants perspective, the GM 8L90 shifts as quickly as any dual-clutch unit available. Corvette engineers benchmarked the ZF’s dual-clutch automatic that goes into the Porsche 911 and claim the new GM ’box actually shifts quicker in some cases.
GOIN’ WITH THE FLOW
Several laps of GM’s Milford Road Course revealed that the transmission programing in good-old “D” with the car’s Performance Traction Management switched on is pretty good for track duty. It’ll hold gears up to redline, downshift by itself just as one might do while tapping the steering-wheel paddles, and automatically upshift when it should. A two-three midcorner upshift doesn’t upset the chassis as it might with a manual transmission because the torque flow at gearchanges is smoother. We’re not saying the automatic is more fun to drive than the seven-speed manual, but don’t be surprised if the next Corvette we put on a racetrack has an automatic.
GM wouldn’t confirm whether the automatic Corvette is quicker on the track, but the Z51-equipped cars are certainly built for it; they will lap continuously for a full tank of fuel without overheating. When the 8L90 goes into the Z06, it’ll have two transmission coolers—one in the hindquarters, as with regular Stingrays, and another farther up the chassis laying flat on the underbelly.
Through ample use of aluminum and even some magnesium (a first for GM automatics), the new 8L90 weighs eight pounds less than the six-speed 6L80 it replaces, so curb weights should not increase for 2015. The new transmission gets its eight ratios, with a 7.02:1 spread, from four simple planetary gearsets and five clutches, three of which are always closed for increased efficiency. And speaking of efficiency, Chevy says it missed its goal of achieving a 30-mpg EPA highway rating by the narrowest of margins—one hundredth of a mpg. Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter says GM will retest the car next year with an extra 2 psi in the tires in an attempt to attain the 30-mpg label. That’ll require Chevy to change the recommended pressure on the door-frame placard and then print in the owner’s manual that it is okay to run at a lower pressure for “comfort.” That’s a trick Porsche’s been doing for years.
Watch this space for a full test of the eight-speed-automatic 2015 Stingray as soon as we can hook up our gear to one. All that talk about another mile per gallon is nice, but we’ll let you know if our prediction of a 0.1-second quicker zero-to-60 time compared with that of our last test of a six-speed automatic Vette—down to 3.6 seconds—pans out. View Photo Gallery
PHOTOS (85)
SPECIFICATIONS
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 3-door targa or 2-door roadster
ESTIMATED BASE PRICE: targa, $56,720; roadster, $61,720
ENGINE TYPE: pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 376 cu in, 6162 cc
Power: 455 or 460 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 460 or 465 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.7 in
Length: 176.9 in
Width: 73.9 in Height: 48.6 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 3450-3500 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 3.6 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 8.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.0 sec
Top speed: 180 mph
FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 16/29 mpg
OTHER STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKEESTIMATED BASE PRICE: targa, $56,720; roadster, $61,720
ENGINE TYPE: pushrod 16-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 376 cu in, 6162 cc
Power: 455 or 460 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 460 or 465 lb-ft @ 4600 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.7 in
Length: 176.9 in
Width: 73.9 in Height: 48.6 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 3450-3500 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 3.6 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 8.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.0 sec
Top speed: 180 mph
FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 16/29 mpg
#4
11-13-2014, 06:08 AM
First 2015 Chevy Corvette Z06 Convertible Crashed
By Viknesh Vijayenthiran November 12, 2014 3:00 AM 
. View photo
The 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 is yet to go on sale but has already suffered its second crash, this time in its convertible bodystyle. This makes the latest crash, which took place on a wet highway near Jackson, Michigan, the first for the 2015 Corvette Z06 Convertible. The previous crash involved the coupe and occurred during Nürburgring testing.
According to onlookers, the 650-horsepower sports car spun while driving down the highway and came into contact with another car. Both cars then proceeded to slide into a wire fence which appears to have sliced its way through the Corvette like a hot knife through butter. Fortunately there were no serious injuries reported.
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This particular Corvette Z06 Convertible is equipped with the car’s Z07 Performance Package and finished in the new Daytona Orange Sunrise paint scheme. It’s also wearing manufacturer plates so is likely to be a pre-production unit being used for final validation. As sad as it is to see it in this state, being a pre-production unit it was likely to end up in the crusher regardless.
Production of customer cars is expected to commence in the next month or two. Chevy has previously stated that deliveries of the 2015 Corvette Z06 will commence in early 2015.
#6
11-15-2014, 03:10 AM
A Corvette or a Home ? Same Prices (WoW)
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
FUTURE
Price:$78,995 0 to 60 mph:TBD EPA:TBD
1. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Price:$56,500 0 to 60 mph:4 sec EPA:14/19 mpg
2. Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
Price:$73,300 0 to 60 mph:4.4 sec EPA:13/19 mpg
FUTURE
Price:$78,995 0 to 60 mph:TBD EPA:TBD
1. Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Price:$56,500 0 to 60 mph:4 sec EPA:14/19 mpg
2. Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
Price:$73,300 0 to 60 mph:4.4 sec EPA:13/19 mpg
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