sithot

I'd take this "particular" gearbox any day of the week.

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...l=1#post645255

I guess the over-rev issue DME/CAN readings will now be a thing of the past and you'll be able to get a CPO.

If the "street" auto works as well as it does in the video I suppose I could grow to like it, not love it. The work with a manual is fun. I have my '67 911 with my all-time favorite gearbox to exercise "touch"; the 901.

The early BMW SMG was a POS. Only way to drive it was flat out. It was a miserable thing around town. It shifted at some of the strangest times without reason. (Well, the computer had one).

I have old antique motorcycles that get the juices flowing and the coordination sharp as you match revs for downshifts and work to be as smooth as possible on entry and exit from turns. Carrying speed into a turn on a slow bike will teach you a lot.

I wouldn't count on a manual box. I sincerely believe Porsche went "all in" on the program. The Germans are somewhat vexed by the outcry. It has made 997 GTRS prices solid and in fact sell for more than original MSRP. Porsche is going for market share and if selling more cars is a sin then I guess they better head to confession.

FWIW: Hagerty is providing lessons for kids who never drove a manual in an effort to keep the collector car market moving. Manuals will eventually be in everything. You can take that to the bank. We Luddites will go the way of all who have past before us. Into the history books.

997TTMeteor

Yeah - Spot-on. Will be eagerly awaiting the Harris review....

Nick

This much I know. Those of you who are MT enthusiast and decided not to buy the 991GT3 because of the lack thereof, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Since I have not owned a GT3 previously, you have made much easier for me to get one early. I cannot thank you enough.

Mike in CA

Nothing much going on this AM, so I'll bite.

Your "robot" comment extended beyond PDK. You also mentioned replacing steering, hitting apexes, gas, and brakes with machine control. Other have sarcastically referred to programming times from your favorite driver into the new GT3 as though that was the next step after PDK. That's the slippery slope, straw man argument I was referring to. I'm not at all offended by you calling PDK a "robot". I just think it's silly because you know it will come across pejoratively and c'mon let's be honest, that's your intent, isn't it?

I'm not sure why Lewis Hamilton's opinion is any more valid than Walter Rohrl's, who says he now chooses PDK for his personal car, but that's neither here nor there. (Oh right, I forgot, Rohrl is an obvious liar because he works for Porsche.) Anyway, Hamilton is entitled to buy any car he likes, as is Rohrl, as are you and I. Our personal choices don't make us better or worse, and do nothing to advance this debate one way or another.

Your reference to the F40 in the context of my personal comment to another poster (thanks for your input) is a total non-sequitur. If someone had given me a choice between a car equipped with a "three-on-the-tree" (I assume you know what that is) and an F40, I'd have taken the F40 too. My friend got the point which is all that matters to me. Nothing personal, but the fact that you didn't is somewhat irrelevant.

I get that you and others don't like PDK, or at least find it inferior to a MT, and aren't enamored with the new GT3. That's been made abundantly clear in hundreds of posts, often made by the same posters, making the same comments, over and over. I don't understand. It would be like someone going to the 997 GT3/RS forum and posting negatively in every thread about some aspect of those cars. They'd have a right to do it, of course, but I doubt it would be well received. A simple suggestion that will eliminate a lot of wasted bandwidth; if you don't like the new GT3, don't buy it.

And I just have to ask: What's with the blue text?

wanna911

Mike, dude, you know EXACTLY why Lewis's opinion is more valid...


EXACTLY why.

Mike in CA

Sorry, wanna911, the only way that works is if one were to assume that Rohrl is simply lying to please his employer. I give him, and think he deserves, more credit than that. I read the interview; if he didn't believe what he was saying, he didn't have to say anything.

jumper5836

I am sure if Porsche market hits their demographic you will find it much harder to get one. Now that the car is only available in automatic it will open the doors to all people that can't drive stick and would have never bought a car that they were afraid of. I suspect for every potential manual buyer they have just gained 10 new customers.

wanna911

D-E-N-I-A-L

Yes, you are right it's proper to assume that a test driver for a company will say what needs to be said vs what they think personally. It happens EVERY DAY to employees, athletes, race car drivers, you name it.

But if it doesn't support your case, feel free to ignore that glaring fact starting you in the face.

Until then, anyone who's not trying their best not to acknowledge the clear cut difference between a guy speaking freelance to reporters about a non-business related subject and an employed test driver speaking on one of the most controversial moves in the history of the program will see the difference.

jfr0317

Doesn't the Pagani have a Mercedes engine?

frayed

It's strange, this move to automanuals in sports cars, which now include the exotics, semi-exotics and even the more pedestrian rigs. So many years driving stick starting with my 68 cuda with '3 on the tree'. Only automatics I've had were in SUVs and pickups.

Somebody a while back wrote a post along the lines of if an alien observed a driver with a three pedal car then an automanual, the 3 pedal would come across as an oddity. Looked at from a clean sheet perspective, without all that history of driving manual sports cars, the observation is accurate IMO.

I just hope its at least 50% as engaging as it's been marketed.

Mike in CA

As for the denial issue, there are plenty of folks here who are ignoring facts that don't fit their argument. But here's the thing; I don't need Rohrl's or Hamilton's, or anyone's opinion on the internet to make the case for me.

For 4 years I've been driving a first gen PDK Carrera S. It weighs over 3300lbs, has 385HP, and a sport chassis with 19's. It's a terrific everyday driver and a capable autox car. I'm not posting TTD (well I did once) but the car is fairly competitive even with some guys trailering their cars in on slicks and I usually finish somewhere in the top 10 or so. Credit goes to the car at least as much as me (probably more) and it's a ton of fun to drive on the track and on the street.

The point is, I'm now in line for a car that's 150lbs lighter, has a 9K rpm motor with around 100 more HP, better brakes, a vastly improved PDK gearbox, a vastly improved chassis. and drop dead gorgeous looks. I don't need Walter Rohrl to tell me it will be spectacular, I have a personal frame of reference that guarantees it!

How does it compare to a 997.2 GT3 or RS? Well the numbers hint that it will be significantly "better", but you know what, I don't care whether it is or not. It's what I want, and I'm not even going to go on the 997 forum and post every day about how I'm making a better choice, and complain about how the "old" cars offer an inferior experience and performance even though I have no first hand evidence to back that up. Imagine that!

wanna911

For someone who doesn't need anyone to tell them anything you sure seem to be trying hard to convince yourself (and everybody else).

Just sayin'

wanna911

Mike in CA

Just sharing ideas which is the point of the excercise, I thought. Not trying to convince you of anything. It wouldn't work anyway, would it?

wanna911

Ok, here is your cookie.