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I posted this in the Race and DE section when someone asked about PDK:
Originally Posted by naroescape
While I'm not arguing that PDK is faster shifting than a person, part of the enjoyment of driving and racing, for me, is the interactivity I have with the car. And shifting manually is part of that interactivity. And until some pays me to race and I NEED that extra split second to win, I will trade the speed of shifting for the enjoyment.
Having some physicians wife drive a 911 with PDK is not all that unusual today. It was 15 years ago.
Funny-ism from the mid-late '80s when I had shop #1 going in Phoenix--the physician owned 930s (often modified) were more likely to either be dropped off or picked up by a wife/girlfriend/mistress (?!?!). Can't ever remember running into women who didn't enjoy, at least part time, shifting a manual. And glad they were out there, because some of those 911 owning women led to memorable times.
Funny-ism from the mid-late '80s when I had shop #1 going in Phoenix--the physician owned 930s (often modified) were more likely to either be dropped off or picked up by a wife/girlfriend/mistress (?!?!). Can't ever remember running into women who didn't enjoy, at least part time, shifting a manual. And glad they were out there, because some of those 911 owning women led to memorable times.
Yeah, I remember the 80s a bit as well. I always wanted a 930. (sigh ...)
But, today the doctor's x-wives/GFs/yada,yada are all driving Cayennes, Audis, BMWs and Vettes. Mostly automatics.
Matter of fact, I've bought my X some of each. And, all were/are automatic shifters.
well said. Couldn't agree more. except I grew up in the eighties/nineties. But my wife was capable of driving our '82 930, and my 951. Her current daily is a manual Civic.
Originally Posted by Baggerdude
Duh ... I would never have known that. I'm grew up in the 60s and can't figure out how to program my smart phone either.
Here's the deal for me ... I drove the V10 BMW M5s for a while. Pretty lame IMO. Paddle shift and all that. The Porsche PDK has evolved. It's better. I understand. I don't want one ... unless it's a rental.
I like my sports cars to be manual shifters. Yes, there is A/C, electric sliding seats, sliding roofs, GPS and a whole slew of crap that was not available on the MG-TGs. I understand.
But, I want to shift for myself.
My feelings are that Porsche ... like others .. want to increase market share and satisfy the EU bureaucratic demands on mileage/emissions. Automatic transmissions are ripe for this. For example, my GF can't drive my stick Turbo. When I was a kid, everyone could drive a "3 on the tree". That is not true today. For several reasons.
Having some physicians wife drive a 911 with PDK is not all that unusual today. It was 15 years ago. And, I remember the arguments for and against Tiptronic tranny's when they came out, too. Same/same arguments today.
Frankly, I don't care if PDKs are faster. Who's driving them 'faster'? My dentist's wife? I doubt it.
Other's will disagree. But, I want a manual. And, Porsche makes a pretty nice manual transmission IMO.
I taught my wife how to drive a stick on my '78 Alfa Spider when we started dating way back then. In the 33 years we've been together all of our Porsches, from our first 944 to our current 997.2 C4S have been her daily drivers and all have had manual transmissions. In fact, the only automatic she ever drove regularly was a minivan that became a necessity when we had our third child (couldn't fit 3 child seats across the back seat of the Volvo wagon).
Thanks for posting that video. Agreed that the car sounds fantastic. Want one, but will have to wait as my little old 2007 just passed 20k miles ... only a baby!
My 2 cents on the PDK/Manual is I would love to try out the PDK and have the utmost respect for Porsche to design and implement such an impressive bit of kit, but would miss my manual something awful after a week or three. I'm such a luddite.
Speaking of old fashioned, we had to order my wife's Audi Avant from Ingolstadt as she insisted on the manual tranny and there weren't any to speak of in the U.S. She gets big "thumbs up" when bringing it in for routine maintenance as the techs never, ever see one with a six-speed.
Last edited by DHC; Dec 30, 2011 at 11:47 AM.
Reason: Needed clarifying text.
Heck, I might try PDK for a couple years if it was $500 more than the manual. But, I'm not interested in a paddle/finger shifter for that much coin.
And, I'd really miss shifting for myself, too.
The cost is actually more like $6,000 if you include the cost of sport chrono. I think the cost/profit is one reason Porsche and dealers push PDK so hard. It is basically the same transmission as the DCT in the M3, which is much less.
Congtrats to Porsche for not only permitting a manual option, but offering an improved manual option.
Let's keep rowing the oars !! Isn't that why we drove these cars ??
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