Not everyone was impressed with the six-speed automatic that was first available on the new Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The seven-speed manual gearbox was the preferred choice for enthusiasts. However, Chevy even said at the time the six-speed slushbox was sort of a stop-gap unit until its replacement was good to go. And now it's ready. Chevrolet has just announced the new eight-speed automatic with paddle shifters is available. And according to the EPA it'll return 29 mpg on the highway.

That's a 1 mpg improvement over the old six-speed. The 16/20 mpg city/combined figure remains the same. OK, so you may not care all that much about fuel economy. Fair enough, many Corvette buyers don't. But the new eight-speed auto makes the Stingray even faster than last year. 0-60 mph now happens in 3.7 seconds, a 0.1-second improvement over the six-speed auto. There's also now a quicker quarter-mile time of 11.9 seconds. However, Chevrolet still hasn't released official mpg figures for the Corvette Stingray Z51 equipped with the eight-speed.