So this isn't a macho thing but I really never drive in regular/normal mode. I have the module that makes your car start in the last mode it was in when you shut it down so both of my cars start in sport mode. I know some of the purest will yell that the car isn't warm enough to be in sport mode right away but I dont get aggressive until I see oil temps +150. So whats all this rambling about? I was seeing terrible mileage on this new to me Turbo S, I know this is not a Prius but was coming in at around 16mpg so I wanted to try Normal mode to see if that changed things. First the PDK runs through the gears way to fast, 5 gear @ 35mph but whats scary was the glide mode when you take your foot off the gas. Im so used the engine slowing down the car for like 6 years I almost rolled into another car yesterday, smacked the carbons and my *** came out of the seat lol. I know I dont have to worry about wear on the carbons but I feel the normal mode would use your breaks more because of that glide mode. Do you guys use normal mode much ??

 

I coded Auto Start/Stop to be default off in normal mode, I *think* that A S S being off also disables the glide feature so I have never experienced that.

To your question on using normal. I always cold start in normal/auto until I get to 190 F oil temp, then I spend all the time from then on in Sport/Manual mode. For me 150 F would be a bit too early to call it warm enough to get aggressive (for me that means using the entire RPM range), and I have noticed that the PDK seems to come up to temp behind the engine oil .. based on the "feel/sound" of the shifts, mostly downshifts, when coming to stops, so the 190 F + makes me personally more comfortable getting "aggressive"

I am sure we each have our own way, but I am fine with the early shifts in normal (and even encourage it) until I get the oil to my target temp . . . as long as it is not lugging the motor, which rarely happens unless there are uphill sections ... which is rare in my area.

 

I use NORMAL mode on every drive until I see at least 194ºF on the oil (not coolant) temp. You're right that you can start out in SPORT mode and take it easy to do that, but it won't happen as quickly, and there are also other advantages of starting out in NORMAL.

The advantages are in NORMAL mode, the car is programmed to heat the oil up faster and hotter to burn off condensation. You'll notice that oil temps run hotter (up to 225ºF) in NORMAL, but when you switch to SPORT, the oil coolers open up and the oil temps drop about 20º very quickly, which of course is great if you're pushing the engine hard, as one is more inclined to do in SPORT and SPORT+ modes.

Why does it run hotter in NORMAL? Oil coolers are restricted to ensure that any condensation in the oil from the car sitting cold is burned off completely and to get the oil to operating temp faster. It's also to get the cats hotter faster. Those are good things.

Porsche engineers are very smart, and they do things a certain way for a reason.

 

Normal/lame mode is invented by Porsche to satisfy some questiinable EPA rules/regulations.
it has nothing to do with necessities of the car...

To take care of the car - dont get aggresive untill the engine is warm. But that doesn't mean you have to suffer terrible gear selections or dead gas pedal mapping for 15 minutes.

Install our memory module and always have your sports car as it should be - sporty. We sold gazillion of those in last 10 years, and never heard of any problems from people who always drive in sport mode

https://t-design9.com/memory_module_porsche.html

 

I have used your modules in 3 cars and have been happy with all of them. I was the 1st one to use it in a 971 Panamera.
I rarely see 6k shifts around my town so I dont need to worry about oil temps early on.

 

How hard is it to press a button?

 

 

All in good fun, but that just happens to be one of my pet peeves. I couldn't care less what mode a vehicle starts in. However, I know a lot of folks go ga-ga over these types of gadgets. I'm also one of those people that much prefers to shift my own gears with a 3rd pedal, but I have another car for that.

I like NORMAL mode for the reasons I described above, and I'm glad it is the default mode, even though I almost always switch to SPORT at some point during a drive. I also drive the PDK in manual mode 95% of the time, and the first thing I do when the Turbo S is in D is to move the shifter to the left, but keep the revs between 2-3K until oil is up to operating temp. That happens much faster in NORMAL mode, so you can start playing sooner.

That will also resolve your coasting scares in NORMAL mode.

 

I usually let the car warm up a bit in normal mode before switching to sport. I don’t have a target temperature. I also haven’t found normal mode to be scary, I just dislike it for the other reasons mentioned above.

 

One reason to prefer a .1: *** defaults to last state. My *** button has been used exactly once, at Zuffenhausen and never again.

I don’t find Normal mode that onerous in the TT. If, in a .1 at least, normal mode is shifting super early then just add some lead to your shoe.

Now, my 718 is always in Sport+ engine mode. And shifts are when I shift.

 

I only ever use manual paddles to shift in normal mode and always keep the revs up at over 2,500 rpm or more.
I find the car slows down more in normal mode when I take my foot off the accelerator which makes sense because the engine idle is lower in normal mode.

 

First of all, it's many buttons. Spor/+, that weird A/S/S, PSE, auto-blip. Our module remebers them all.

And of course it's not hard to press. Unless you forgot to, and ruined your autocross run. Or feel stupid for having to do it every single time you start your car. Because some beurocrat in EPA desided so. Seats? They remember position! Radio? Sure, same station is on. Headlights? On automatically! Convinient and makes sense, no? We do the same for those sacred Drive Mode, As.../s, and PSE buttons.

 

 

I run 100 octane all the time, so I drive in the normal mode until I want things to get exciting - or to **** off the BMERS with their fake pops and bangs.

 

I get up to 194 before turning on Sport, which here in Texas is pretty easy to do lol.
My A.S.S. rarely turns on, since even in the 'winter' I have the A/C running so the car rarely turns off, even if I don't depress the button. It would be nice to have it defeated but I know it's for enviro rules which overseas are just going to keep getting worse. Not good signs for our beloved 911s.