CT5-V ZL1 1LE transmission in 5BW? Or, how the 5BW is a 7-speed missing 6th gear.

[Lawineer]

Am I the only one who wishes 6th was taller, if anything? It's fine the way it it is, but I miss the hyper-tall 7th in my C7. I get into 6th around 55-60mph and don't really feel a need to drop it into 5th unless I really want to pass fast.
I love those quite, low rpm, low engine brake, high mpg (relatively), low wear highway cruising gears. I wish more car companies did that.

I also don't give a shit about performance over 160mph

 

[CaddyTrack]

You guys are fucking hilarious.

This reminded me of a story recently while taking my Dad to the airport...
My Dad, who is aging more than I'd like based on the question he asked while we were cruising on the freeway in a bit of traffic ~62mph. He'd been in my car several times in the last 2 years, but isn't remembering. Also, mind you, he has driven manual Porsches his entire adult life, and still owns one, albeit parked and hooked up to a battery tender.
He states and asks, "Oh, it's a manual. So, what gear are you in, second?"
I laughed out loud wondering why I would possibly be in second gear at 60+ on the freeway. I was in 5th. But in my laughing, came a thought.....first gear rides up to 56, so I COULD actually be in second gear right now.......so, I downshifted through quickly 4th, 3rd, 2nd , rev matching heel/toeing till the v8 screamed into the traffic around me. It made my Dad laugh pretty heartily, but I still don't think, at the moment, that he really comprehended his strange question and what I did to react to that.

Now, I want to go find the PDR recording of this interaction.

Bringing it back to the convo. . . 2nd gear is good for 55-60mph on the Freeway.....so is 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd. Freedom of choice. I love this car.

 

[coffee_time]

You guys are fucking hilarious.

This reminded me of a story recently while taking my Dad to the airport...
My Dad, who is aging more than I'd like based on the question he asked while we were cruising on the freeway in a bit of traffic ~62mph. He'd been in my car several times in the last 2 years, but isn't remembering. Also, mind you, he has driven manual Porsches his entire adult life, and still owns one, albeit parked and hooked up to a battery tender.
He states and asks, "Oh, it's a manual. So, what gear are you in, second?"
I laughed out loud wondering why I would possibly be in second gear at 60+ on the freeway. I was in 5th. But in my laughing, came a thought.....first gear rides up to 56, so I COULD actually be in second gear right now.......so, I downshifted through quickly 4th, 3rd, 2nd , rev matching heel/toeing till the v8 screamed into the traffic around me. It made my Dad laugh pretty heartily, but I still don't think, at the moment, that he really comprehended his strange question and what I did to react to that.

Now, I want to go find the PDR recording of this interaction.

Bringing it back to the convo. . . 2nd gear is good for 55-60mph on the Freeway.....so is 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd. Freedom of choice. I love this car.

IIRC the top of 2nd is like 81mph or something insane lol

 

[Exia]

Am I the only one who wishes 6th was taller, if anything? It's fine the way it it is, but I miss the hyper-tall 7th in my C7. I get into 6th around 55-60mph and don't really feel a need to drop it into 5th unless I really want to pass fast.
I love those quite, low rpm, low engine brake, high mpg (relatively), low wear highway cruising gears. I wish more car companies did that.

I also don't give a shit about performance over 160mph

7th in the Corvette was great for cruising but it also severely neutered the vehicle, you could not pass anything. A simple downshift to 6th and away you went but I never found myself wanting a 7th gear in the BW. You are still under 2k rpm depending on speed which is fine and you never really had to downshift to pass. The C7Z would probably be at 1400-1500rpm and you absolutely had to downshift to pass anybody or when you hit an incline that I hated it but at least it allowed me to shift once in a while on the highway.

My ZL1 1LE with a shorter 6th gear was turning 2100+ on the highway and I wanted it to have a normal 6th like the BW and regular ZL1.