6 Speed Auto - even better than expected

Corvettes are supposed to be manual transmission cars. At least, my first two ('60 & '68)were. Now the wife wouldn't hear of it. So I got the new A6 '06 car # 1462. Surprisingly, there is a lot of engine braking when you take your foot off of the gas in the lower gears - less so in the upper gears. I am guessing that the torque converter locks up much earlier than my present A4 Impala & Blazer (both ~ 40 mph). So it kind of seems more like a stick than an automatic. There is no 600 rpm tach drop as is present in my A4's. I have just barely used the sport mode. The tranny is so sweet that I don't feel the need. That mode is supposed to have tighter shifts yet but with all the gears it is smooth anyway. Once one uses the sport mode and the steering wheel push buttons you have to keep using them to upshift. In the sport mode you don't need to downshift as you slow but once stopped the HUD shows you that it puts it in 2nd gear for you. You can change it to either 1st or 3rd with the buttons. I waited for this new technology and it is even better than I hoped.


|UPDATED|10/9/2005 2:31:40 PM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Congrats! Great choice!