Absolutely nothing wrong with cruising at 2K. It's a six-cylinder engine. Yo can cruise at 1K. Unless you just like to waste fuel.

 

For me, the 981 GT4 / Spyder shifter is near-perfect. My 991.1S felt sloppy, long throws in stock form. First went to the GT4 shifter mod but that was a marginal improvement imo. Next went Numeric Racing and that was much better. Rifle bolt, solid shifts, but clearly feels different compared to any Porsche OEM I’ve driven. Also not as complete a package as the GT4 / Spyder but much better. If comparing 991.1 to 991.2, Stock vs stock, the 991.2 shifter is better in all ways imo. Feels more refined and put together.

 

The 7-spd in my '14 991.1 is phenomenal. The 5-spd in our '08 Base Cayman is also great. The 5-spd in my '88 911 is also great. Shades of differences in all of them with their own character.

 

Similar to other folks, I much preferred the shifter in my 6MT ‘15 cayman GTS, but it wasn’t as different to my ‘16 991 7MT as you’re describing.

Personally I’ve struggled with the notchy second that has synchro trouble before getting up to full operating temp in the 991, and after a couple years and 20k miles I still grab the wrong gear occasionally due to the 7 gates. 981 was telepathic, never had any trouble in the years I owned that one.

 

'15 991.1 4 GTS MT7 w/ 236xxmis: transmission is quite good, allows full use of the GTS hps and the range in all gears gives much flex
on hwys or country roads, shift or down-shift its available always. *the shifter is precise, the GTS indicator is a big help and it feels as good
as a gated shifter. Would consider a short/sport shifter OEM but not sure yet...
NB: just delivered/bought, two ~200 mile runs so far- precise shifting is A-1 (as noted), excellent match to 3.8 N.A.
BTW- transmission has a a wide range that allows sweet sound/torque performance.
Looking to test a GT4 soon

 

I have a 2012 1/2 991.1S and love my manual ... just an awesome car, I am an original owner and find it a real thrill. Also have had quite a few partners next to the 991 including an NSX manual, a 1st gen R8 as well the current 2019 PDK cayman .... I always find the 991 amazing.

 

Since you mentioned you had a 997.1 MT (that is what I own currently), I'm curious what you and others who have experience with both prefer in general, the MT on a 997 or 991? I just bought my 997.1 C2S last year and while I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon, I think I'll be looking at 991's in a few years and have heard mixed reviews regarding the 7-speed MT's in the 991 Carrera's.

I also installed a Numeric shifter on my 997, and it is fantastic.

I've been curious about this as well. With the 7-speed, do you guys find that the 2/3 and 4/5 shifts have a narrower margin for error? I understand that 7th gear has a lock-out feature so you can't accidentally shift from 4th to 7th, but it just seems to me that all the gates would be slightly tighter due to the addition of the 7th gear.

 

-had a '82 911 SC for 18 years with the 915 transmission
-have a '95 993 with the 6-speed manual
-wife has the cayman S 6-speed manual
-have the 2012.5 911.1 S with the 7MT

my 7MT certainly doesn't feel sloppy as others have described.

if it ever starts to feel that way (maybe if the cables stretch or the bushings wear) i'd probably go with the full Numeric kit rather than OEM.

 

The first 1k or so miles I missed a shift albeit I never let the clutch out since I knew it was a possibility on a new car with a stick; however, I have not had that happen in over 6k miles and I do not even think about it. But it was just down shifting and never 4 to 7.

 

All of my missed gears are when ‘overtaking’ or skipping gears, I should have clarified. When you’re in a 6th or 7th gear highway cruise and need to overtake in a 991.1, you almost certainly have to drop 3 or 4 gears to get into the powerband. It’s hard for me to find the right gear in this scenario, muscle memory hasn’t been enough even though it’s my daily driver. There are so many gears that you’ll likely want to skip some of them if you drive the car often in my experience. With the 6MT, I never had this issue.

 

Both feel similar to me - although 7 speed manual is kind of weird

The 911 could have something wrong with it or the Cayman could have had an upgraded one. OEM short shift kit is nice. Numeric is perfection. If you love everything else about the car then look into numeric.

 

It has been years since i sold the 997 and about 3 years between owning 997 and 991 so my memory may be a little inaccurate but...

On 997 i had B&M short throw with metal bushings and it felt very good compared to stock. Overall i thought the clutch and shifts were good and easy to operate. As I mentioned the clutch i liked on 997 better. it wasn't as soft as 991 and clutch engagement point felt on 997 better.
i found i was misshifting the 991 allot for the first year. I did not feel comfortable performing quick downshifts on highway as i was always afraid to pop it in to 2nd or 1st instead of 4 or 3 when downshifting from 7th and always ended up in going in to 6 or 5 instead.
After Numerric with 2mm spring it is phenomenal. the shifts are authoritative and pressie. the spring helps to get it centered and makes it easy to select the intended gear after that. I absolutely love it. Clutch, however, i still prefer on 997. Perhaps if it was me that killed the clutch in just one year, then i will need a new one in the future and at that point i will look to getting HD clutch. It's made to handle more power so i'm assuming it will be a tad grabbier than stock.


Edit: Forgot to mention the lovely 1st gear on the 997. Changing trans fluid to PTX Mobile helped ALLLLLOOOTTT. but still had issues now and then. After a while you get used to it and pop it in 2nd then 1st.
On 991, i actually still had a little trouble with 1st gear, but a very very little. So i got PTX fluid when doing clutch but not sure if that helped. What bugs me on 991 more is an occasional subtle clunk in transmission when shifting in to first from full stop at the light. Some people experienced it, most don't have it. So 991is not w/o its own quirks.

 

OK, good to know! I'm trying to collect data points between the 997 and 991, and this helps. I'm in no rush to sell my 997, but I'm always thinking 3-5 years out, and a 991 C2S is likely in my future.

Agreed with the Mobilube PTX transaxle fluid change. My 997 only had 49k miles on it when I bought it, but I immediately noticed the notchy feeling and difficulty trying to get it into 1st, especially when the transmission is cold. I changed the fluid not long after buying my car and it made a noticeable improvement. It's still not perfect, but definitely better. I'd recommend 30k mile transaxle fluid change intervals for anyone who owns an MT 997.

It sounds like one thing is consistent between the 997 and 991 MT: the Numeric shifter definitely enhances the experience.

 

Yes, stock is fine but could be better.
Well face it, if you want to go to 991 at some point, the manual isn't so bad as to make you shine away from it. Slap Numeric Shifter on it and you're golden.

 

I have no complaints whatsoever with the OEM shifter in my 991.2 albeit I did put a Function First **** on for cosmetic reasons.