How hard would it be to change the tranny from a 7AT to a 6MT, should the 7AT blow?
Granted the paddle shifters would be out of place, and there'd have to be some wiring done for the synchro-rev...but, I imagine it might be possible/easier done than replacing the 7AT w/ new?
Also, I've noticed with the paddle shifters / bumping it over to manul-mode, it drops it to 5th automatically from 7th, or drops a single gear if it's lower. Enough to where you can manually bump it once without fear of redlining quickly even at WOT. If you bump it twice, it'll redline pretty quickly and need shifting- and potentially break traction