The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1's 10-Speed Auto Laughs In The Face Of Your Porsche PDK Gearbox

Clearly a fan of a good pub boast, Chevrolet has decided to tell the world that its new 10-speed automatic gearbox shifts faster than Porsche's dual-clutch transmission
The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1's 10-Speed Auto Laughs In The Face Of Your Porsche PDK Gearbox

When news of Chevrolet’s new Camaro ZL1 dropped earlier this year, one detail stood out: its optional 10-speed automatic gearbox. Now we’ve gotten over all the Vin Diesel and ‘lol it’d be a mountain bike if it had any more gears‘ jokes, General Motors has decided to tell the world just how fast its new 10-speeder is.

It actually shifts quicker than Porsche’s super fast twin-clutch PDK gearbox on certain changes. It’s 36 per cent quicker when shifting from first to second, 27 per cent quicker from second to third and 26 per cent quicker for the third-fourth upshift. What GM doesn’t say is how it compares to PDK on the remaining upshifts, or any of the downshifts, but still - that’s an impressive claim.

The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1's 10-Speed Auto Laughs In The Face Of Your Porsche PDK Gearbox

The speed is all down to clutches. While it may have a torque converter, this is no ordinary slush box. Why? Because it’s rocking six clutches: two brake clutches and four rotating clutches. And despite having an extra clutch and two more gears than GM’s eight-speed ‘box, clever packaging means the overall size is about the same.

Other fancy features include a new low viscosity transmission fluid to reduce friction, and an “internal thermal bypass” which allows for shorter warm-up times.

It’s worth noting that this gearbox won’t be restricted to fancy schmancy GM products like the ZL1 - it’s set to appear in eight of the firm’s cars by 2018, and as it’s been co-developed with Ford, will also be installed in Blue Oval machines like the F-150.

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Comments

Quack

Porsche’s engineers be like

05/12/2016 - 14:31 |
400 | 10
Anonymous

In reply to by Quack

That’s a good comment might make it on top comments of the week

05/12/2016 - 14:33 |
12 | 34
ElTiooJonny (#404GermanNotFound)

In reply to by Quack

I think Chevrolet has seen too much F&F

05/12/2016 - 15:32 |
178 | 2
Stubaru

Porsche guys be like

05/12/2016 - 14:41 |
204 | 8
Anonymous

Are 10 gears really necessary?

05/12/2016 - 14:43 |
4 | 4
Ben F. (Slowmaro)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

No, but you gotta meet these stringent fuel economy standards somehow.

05/12/2016 - 14:49 |
12 | 2
zoppp

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Hell why not. Can keep less powerful engines in their powerband for longer. Or just go electric and have a wide powerband and better efficiency.

05/12/2016 - 15:26 |
2 | 2
Callahan Mcginty

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

The more gears, the better you can stay in the power band, it’s just the time to shift that makes it bad, but now they shift crazy fast. Only down side is reliability

05/12/2016 - 16:02 |
4 | 0
Anonymous

Nice, can they make one that doesn’t rattle like an old tool chest after 10k miles?
Otherwise i am certain i would still prefer the porsche..

05/12/2016 - 14:46 |
6 | 6
Ray Sloan

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Your camaro rattled after 10k?

05/12/2016 - 14:49 |
6 | 6
Noimagination

So it seems as though the ZL1 probably only has an advantage through the first 3 gear changes, and with a 10-speed, how often are these changes likely to be made?

05/12/2016 - 14:47 |
8 | 4

Much more often then the rest of the gears. every time you pull away from standstill.

05/12/2016 - 15:52 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

But does it have a name like this?

05/12/2016 - 14:54 |
136 | 2
JenstheGTIfreak (pizza)

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Clutchy McDoubleclutch

05/12/2016 - 14:57 |
298 | 0
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

doppelkupplung just means doubleclutch

05/13/2016 - 07:30 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

it should be… by the time the porsche has done one gear change this must need about 3…

05/12/2016 - 14:55 |
108 | 4
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I was going to say exactly that.

05/13/2016 - 00:06 |
4 | 2
Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Comment of the week

05/13/2016 - 02:43 |
4 | 12
CitigoMan

Vin Diesel Approves this camaro.

05/12/2016 - 15:28 |
32 | 2
DeKileCH (Opel Squad)

What everyone seems to forget is the weight. A six speed gearbox is already much heavier than a five speed gearbox and I really don’t wanna know how heavy a ten speed gearbox is.

05/12/2016 - 15:46 |
20 | 2

and complexity and cost…. for ever decreasing gains

05/12/2016 - 15:51 |
16 | 2
Jakob

The front air inlet looks like somebody messed around with the AutoSculpt feature in Need For Speed.

05/12/2016 - 16:01 |
56 | 2
CitigoMan

In reply to by Jakob

lol so true

05/12/2016 - 19:10 |
4 | 0