View Poll Results: MANUAL or PDK?
MANUAL
128
55.90%
PDK-S
101
44.10%
Voters: 229. You may not vote on this poll
POLL : MANUAL or PDK. UPDATED-POLL INCLUDED-PLEASE VOTE.
06-16-2013, 10:12 PM
#136
Ok, you got me. Been planning this ever since 2001 when I became a member, just waiting for the opportunity to finally mess with your collective American heads! 
If y'all (would AP use y'all?
) know anything about conducting a poll you understand that the parameters of how you extract polling data are very specific. This is hardly a scientific poll, by any stretch of the imagination. It's a straw poll which measures the preferences of a specific audience with no concern given to obtaining a representative sample.
That said, given the RL audience, I was surprised to see this many people vote for PDK. To me that indicates that even among a "rabid" enthusiast group, a very significant number choose PDK and not a MT. If you made sure to include a representative sampling of the entire sports car buying population, including a statistically valid cross section of buyers from all countries, I suspect the results would skew even more heavily toward PDK.
Some may disagree with that assumption; so be it. The bottom line is that Porsche is currently selling significantly more PDK cars world wide than MT cars. For good or ill, that's the only poll that really counts, and the only real measure of whether Porsche's gearbox choice is a swing and a miss or not.
Meine Herren und Damen Ich wünsche Ihnen guten Abend!
If y'all (would AP use y'all?
) know anything about conducting a poll you understand that the parameters of how you extract polling data are very specific. This is hardly a scientific poll, by any stretch of the imagination. It's a straw poll which measures the preferences of a specific audience with no concern given to obtaining a representative sample.That said, given the RL audience, I was surprised to see this many people vote for PDK. To me that indicates that even among a "rabid" enthusiast group, a very significant number choose PDK and not a MT. If you made sure to include a representative sampling of the entire sports car buying population, including a statistically valid cross section of buyers from all countries, I suspect the results would skew even more heavily toward PDK.
Some may disagree with that assumption; so be it. The bottom line is that Porsche is currently selling significantly more PDK cars world wide than MT cars. For good or ill, that's the only poll that really counts, and the only real measure of whether Porsche's gearbox choice is a swing and a miss or not.
Meine Herren und Damen Ich wünsche Ihnen guten Abend!
06-16-2013, 10:21 PM
#137
Rennlist Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: sydney
Posts: 6,222
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
most buyers don't pre-order their cars. they just walk in, have a coffee and part with their money.
the majority are there to buy a porsche; they don't really care which one.
06-17-2013, 12:57 AM
#138
If it wasn't for all the Cayennes, Panameras and other PDK cars that Porsche sells (and has sold) there probably wouldn't be a 911 anymore...certainly not a GT3
06-17-2013, 02:14 AM
#139
Race Director
You're saying that Porsche is building and Porsche dealers are ordering cars equipped with transmissions that they know their customers don't want but will buy anyway because they're people who earned their money being stupid and don't really care what they end up with? Sorry, jimmy, but that's just ridiculous. I hope you're not trying to make a living in sales, mate.
06-17-2013, 03:02 AM
#140
Rennlist Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: sydney
Posts: 6,222
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
generally across the ranges, most people want pdk.
that is the default, go-to transmission, that VAG do mega volume buys on.
the dealer then charges $8k extra or whatever it is, plus all the sport chrono wizardry on top of that
it's the tranny that requires minimal servicing during warranty period, unlike manuals with their prehistoric clutches and pressure plate rebuilds. out of warranty is when it needs attention and it may need to be replaced rather than rebuilt, at the customer's cost.
the old-school enthusiast, on the other hand, can order a manual.
that is all good and well, provided you want a carrera.
if you want a gt3 in manual, you can't have it.
that is the long-standing argument here; NO CHOICE.
CHOICE would make everybody happy.
porsche want to sell more pdks; less cost to them to buy/implement/service.
if benchmark car is seen to be pdk, then new people will automatically think that their next
carrera or turbo should be pdk too.
all the marketing is pdk biased.
all the journos praise pdk (harris keeps it semi-real otherwise he will be lambasted world-wide)
pdk is the future, and the demise of manual is imminent.
nothing wrong with pdk for normal intent (read, cruising), but for tracking, those who have considerable tracking experience will find it hard to believe that it will stand up to the continual abuse.
at the same time, porsche uses racetrack imagery in all it's gt3 advertising, yet voids the warranty should you track.
it's propaganda packaged beautifully.
that is the default, go-to transmission, that VAG do mega volume buys on.
the dealer then charges $8k extra or whatever it is, plus all the sport chrono wizardry on top of that
it's the tranny that requires minimal servicing during warranty period, unlike manuals with their prehistoric clutches and pressure plate rebuilds. out of warranty is when it needs attention and it may need to be replaced rather than rebuilt, at the customer's cost.
the old-school enthusiast, on the other hand, can order a manual.
that is all good and well, provided you want a carrera.
if you want a gt3 in manual, you can't have it.
that is the long-standing argument here; NO CHOICE.
CHOICE would make everybody happy.
porsche want to sell more pdks; less cost to them to buy/implement/service.
if benchmark car is seen to be pdk, then new people will automatically think that their next
carrera or turbo should be pdk too.
all the marketing is pdk biased.
all the journos praise pdk (harris keeps it semi-real otherwise he will be lambasted world-wide)
pdk is the future, and the demise of manual is imminent.
nothing wrong with pdk for normal intent (read, cruising), but for tracking, those who have considerable tracking experience will find it hard to believe that it will stand up to the continual abuse.
at the same time, porsche uses racetrack imagery in all it's gt3 advertising, yet voids the warranty should you track.
it's propaganda packaged beautifully.
06-17-2013, 04:20 AM
#141
Track Day
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 22
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I race a '00 996 R (manual) and a '08 997 cup (sequential) here in Asia. My daily drive is a freaking Nissan GT-R instead of a Porsche Turbo S because I can't afford the 300% import & sales tax over road cars.
Manual is fun on the track, or suburban twisty roads driving. Sequential dog engagement is very fast and without revv matching requires skill to master. And I just cannot imagine my daily drive GT-R with a six speed manual.
So for me it is simple. 991 Turbo S PDK, 991 GT3 PDK, 991 GT3R paddle shift sequential.
Manual is fun on the track, or suburban twisty roads driving. Sequential dog engagement is very fast and without revv matching requires skill to master. And I just cannot imagine my daily drive GT-R with a six speed manual.
So for me it is simple. 991 Turbo S PDK, 991 GT3 PDK, 991 GT3R paddle shift sequential.
10-05-2013, 01:01 PM
#143
Race Car
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: With A Manual Transmission
Posts: 4,728
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes
on
2 Posts
You're saying that Porsche is building and Porsche dealers are ordering cars equipped with transmissions that they know their customers don't want but will buy anyway because they're people who earned their money being stupid and don't really care what they end up with? Sorry, jimmy, but that's just ridiculous. I hope you're not trying to make a living in sales, mate.
