visitador

Lots of people here love the manual but they want someone else to be the sucker and buy it new. You manual advocates better buy them new or one day a 911 may go the way of the Audi TT

jsykes

I have been driving manual transmission cars for about 30 years, ever since I learned to drive on a manual '79 Ford Fiesta.

When I went looking for my 981 Cayman (didnt vote in the poll as to respect its a 991 forum) I was up to go with either transmission if the rest of the car was the right deal. I ended up with a PDK car and its the first time in 30 years of driving I havent had a manual car.

To me, I think it depends a bit on how you use the car. In my case, the car was to become my new daily driver. I dont have the means to have it as a weekend only fun car, if I did, it would have absolutely been a MT car. But since I daily it, the PDK offers so much versatility that it cant be beat. If I just want a lazy commute to work, or if sitting in traffic, I have the ease of a smooth auto. If I want to take it out on the weekend, I can use the paddles and have about 90% of the fun and be just as involved by choosing my own gears. So it gives a lot of flexibility, while still be able to have a lot of fun with the car. To me its not about being lazy or not a good driver, but about being convenient in a car used every day. At this point, I dont really miss the MT at all.

On top of that, the huge beneficial side affect is the great fuel economy when I want it. I traveled from NoVA to Raleigh, NC and got nearly 34mpg out of the 3.4 S engine. Can get nearly 26mpg on my mixed daily commute. I could never touch that with the MT car. I didnt buy this car for fuel economy, but hey, it never hurts when owning a Porsche on a budget.

RichAA

Not sure about the first statement, but I agree with the second. We already get a de-robot PDK as it is.

ps great avatar. I was always more of a Racer X fan myself. Speed's so emotional.

subshooter

Both of my modern Porsches are manuals - both spec'd new.......but the CPO guys aren't going to like me. I'm keeping them both forever.

NoGaBiker

I voted PDK since that's what my 991 GTS was. But it's a misleading vote because I traded the 991 more because of the PDK than anything else. If it had been a 7M I'd likely still have it.

Dude174

I'd have kept my .1 had it not been pdk

NoGaBiker

Ha! I'm finally right! That took long enough.

Papa Fittig

I think this is a fair statement

_BK

The vote is almost exactly 50:50 as I write this (103 AT, 101 MT). I have the 7MT and I'd never trade it for a PDK. However, I have to admit I wish it was just a normal 6-speed gearbox. Of course you don't have to use 7th (and I rarely do) -- that isn't my complaint. What I don't like is the spacing of the shift pattern seems too close or something, making it easy to select the wrong gear. Maybe because they had to add another fork in the pattern for 7th, I'm not sure. I'm used to it now, but when I first got my car, I shifted 5-4 when I wanted 5-6 more than once. I'm now in the habit of letting the gearshift return to center then pushing right and pulling down for 6th, rather than just pulling straight down from 5th. A doofy thing I do on all cars now because of the 911.

.2PDK

I agree here, you get used to it...

visitador

Yup. Racer X is all raw power and his car sounds like a big block V8. Speed racer is more finessed, like our 911

Dan Nagy

Yep, just added my MT vote. I was surprised to see this (haven't logged in for some time due to heavy schedule).

I just drove mine about 1500 miles over TG - the MT is such a pure pleasure to drive.

Dewinator

People tend to say PDK is better for traffic, but I sort of prefer a MT. At least you kind of have something to do vs like nothing but stare at the car in front of you.

Obviously this would probably be different in SF where you’re not only in 24/7 gridlock but also on a giant hill but... I can’t stand SF anyway regardless of whatever car I’m driving at the time.

Restore

I've driven manuals for 30 years and still think I enjoy it. But, coming to the 7MT recently I've never missed shifts before this. I think the fact that "7" adds an extra lane and the 3-4 lane is not as spring-loaded as it is on another brand it makes downshifting more complicated. I am constantly looking at the gear selector display to see where I am or where I am going. The 7-5 or 7-4 down shift, or 5-7 upshift does not get executed 100% of the time. Yes, I can be blamed or told to go one gear to another or not use 7 but skipping gears is possible on other cars, especially if it has a torque-monster engine which the 911 doesn't have. My opinion (not well founded I admit) is that Porsche basically had one transmission engineered with 7 speeds for fuel economy and has had it made in two different versions. If they bothered to specifically engineer a manual it could have been a 6-speed like on the Boxster and Cayman with a wider gear ratio and still ended with a decent over-drive. I can't see them not correcting this in the future.

AlBinVA

[QUOTE=Restore;14640522]I've driven manuals for 30 years and still think I enjoy it. But, coming to the 7MT recently I've never missed shifts before this. I think the fact that "7" adds an extra lane and the 3-4 lane is not as spring-loaded as it is on another brand it makes downshifting more complicated. I am constantly looking at the gear selector display to see where I am or where I am going. The 7-5 or 7-4 down shift, or 5-7 upshift does not get executed 100% of the time. Yes, I can be blamed or told to go one gear to another or not use 7 but skipping gears is possible on other cars, especially if it has a torque-monster engine which the 911 doesn't have. My opinion (not well founded I admit) is that Porsche basically had one transmission engineered with 7 speeds for fuel economy and has had it made in two different versions. If they bothered to specifically engineer a manual it could have been a 6-speed like on the Boxster and Cayman with a wider gear ratio and still ended with a decent over-drive. I can't see them not correcting this in the future.[/QUOTE

Here is my disclaimer, the following description is representative my personal experiences and may not be shared by others.

Some good observations here and similar to mine. As a long time manual guy, I did not find this shifter as intuitive as others in my past experience. This isn't the type that you can "slap" around and feel 100% confident that even if you are a wee bit off, it would result in the shift as intended. My experience is that the shifter need to be guided rather than slapped. There is an old analogy of holding a bird (or shift **** in this case) just tight enough to contain it, while not hurting it that I find appropriate here. Another issue I had was the OEM shift **** itself. I did not like the feel at all and one of the first things I did was change it out with a Function First ****. This **** fits my hand so much better and helped me gain confidence in my shifts as well. I have found that with seat time and miles behind me, I have gained the confidence that my shifts will be accurate.

I have also developed driving habits after 9,000 miles that takes the thinking out of the shifting. My car is a DD and most of my around town driving is in 3rd or 4th gear. This is the sweet spot for me as this is where most of the fun in owning a MT car is derived. On the highway, I will use 4th or 5th when the traffic is heavy to moderately heavy such that the need for instant response is needed. As the traffic thins out, I move to 6th. If it s wide open, I use 7th. The downshifts in the 7 to 6 to 5 to 4 gears does require some feel and concentration. When I feel the urge to have some fun and the conditions allow for spirited driving/shifting, I find myself concentrating more on two things. Because this car accelerates so quickly, my eyes are glued to the tach because 1st gear reaches redline in what feels like a second or two and 2nd gear is only 3-4 seconds behind that. Don't criticize me for the accuracy of my times, just trying to make the point that is happens very quickly and requires my full attention. The 1st to 2nd shift as you might expect is very intuitive. The second thing that requires my concentration is the 2nd to 3rd shift where that "guiding" hand is needed. When hitting 4th gear, you better have an open road devoid of the police because you are now in reckless driving territory and speeds not befitting a public highway.

Should the shift gates be an intuitive or learned experience is a matter for debate as to whether Porsche provided us with a proper MT.