Sulaiman

Hello all

I have been always a Manual guy just loved it and enjoy being in control of the drive


but this PDK thingy is making me think and think

I don't have a track near me

I don't drag ----> only red light fun
I love cruising

all the thing making me go in one direction which is manual ... this sound easy right ??? Wrong

this would be so easy if I'm going to get 991 CS4 the problem is I'm waiting for the Turbo to come out

and from what i can see in YouTube and some stories here and there Turbo +PDK = Killer fast


need some opinion from you guys


thanks

Terrence

PDK shifts faster, shifts smoother, has launch control, better fuel economy, better in traffic, etc.
I just ordered a manual.

David in Talent

I think it comes down to how you are going to use the car. If its an everyday driver and you happen to live in traffic, then PDK might be the logical choice. PDK would also be the logical choice if you track your car often. For a week-end car or a second or third car, the manual might be the logical choice for driver involvement and for the joy of shifting. Either way, you cannot go wrong whether its PDK or M/T. Get what YOU are most comfortable with and what you feel might give you the most enjoyment most of the time. I am leaning towards the M/T.

ScorpionT

It really comes down to the individual. Ive always driven manuals, and when I tested a 991 PDK... I was bored. Some people love the PDK, not me. On the track or even in traffic a manual is the only choice for me. Drive both and decide which is best for you.

simsgw

You may have answered your own question here, but let me add some supporting observations. In a race car as powerful as a TT, we set them up with gearing that has first gear suitable for the slowest corner, that makes the first-to-second shift point come at 3-5 seconds from a standing start and 80 to 100 mph. (My Formula Ford did 0-80 in four seconds. In first gear.) But we never start from a standstill again until the next race or test session. We never get below 60 or so.

Now picture yourself in a Twin-Turbo, geared to reach what in first? Maybe forty mph? We don't know yet, but we can guess that the 991 Turbo will have 550 to 600 horsepower. I look forward to finding out, but not with a manual. With that much power and never getting over a hundred mph, things happen very very fast. At Big Willow, soi-disant "The Fastest Track in the West", I might be able to spare enough attention from shifting to put in a respectable time because -- like my Formula Ford -- the Turbo never would get below 50-60 mph so I'd never need first and rarely second. Out there, a manual is plausible. On public roads, not so much.

Mind you, I'm speaking of cars with very high power-to-weight ratios. A 3.4 Coupe would be delightful with a manual. A 3.8 C2S is acceptable with a manual if you're proficient, but unless I drove it like a lower-powered car a Turbo with a manual on public roads would be ... a waste of a good transmission. It would be like trying to use a Bugatti Veyron for Autocross competition.

Just one opinion of course, but since you asked.

Gary

Sulaiman

thanks guys for your reply

and Gary couldn't agree more .......



any more feed back ,, opinion suggestion ,, i think PDK and manual options is the biggest car changer thing

correct me if im wrong

draxa

I owned two 997S (.1 and .2) which I drove for seven years before taking delivery of the 991S with PDK. The dealer was terrific; he gave me a PDK for a weekend last year because he knew I was in two minds about this - and, frankly, anyone who has come from a manual 997S will know what a perfect all-round car and 'box that is. A very hard act to follow.

I drove that demo for two days and was still not certain - but after some reflection, took a punt on the PDK.

I collected my new car early December and almost immediately went on holiday for three weeks leaving the car with my neighbour to pootle around in. Since my return, weather has been snow/ice/rain so hardly conducive to spirited driving - notwithstanding the restraint required with a new car.

Just hit 1000 miles this week and started to stretch it out a bit.

To get back to the point, though; the discussions around PDK vs MT are manifest on this site going right back to whenever......everyone has an opinion and frankly, they are all correct. From their perspective. There actually is no definitive good/bad here although there may on occasion be disappointment. These are Porsche 911 cars, dammit, and they are absolutely prone to evolution model-to-model. Would we want it any other way?

In the few miles I have covered so far there are aspects of a manual that I miss. If you are a long-time manual driver (as was I) no doubt at all a part of your brain is wired to 'know' what gear you are in at all times, not because of the revs/power (although that too) but because the action of your arm changing gears feeds in to your mind as a component to being 'as one' with the car. Forgive the Zen here, I can't think of a better expression. You don't need to think what gear you are in - you just know.

With PDK that contribution to 'driving' which your arm makes to your brain disappears. Even when changing with paddles. And the ratios which this 7-speed is set up with are so exquisitely chosen that one gear blurs seamlessly into another. So I find myself looking at the gear-readout or actually counting gears. Now, this, like so many other things, this awareness of gears - and, therefore, exactly where your car 'is' at any given stage - is doubtless going to become a learned skill over time. I am certain of that. Even after this short period I'm getting better at it. But it's different to a MT. Not worse; just different.

And on the plus side, this PDK is just so mag-bloody-nificent! Changes up or down are simply staggeringly good, way better than anything I could do. I find myself actually driving the car in a more spirited fashion because changes are so simple. The blip on the down-change is, well, you know what it is. And being able to change mid-corner is wonderful too; particularly here in UK where we have a lot of fast roundabouts. And did I mention how simple it is to stick in 'D' and let you Mum drive it? I like this 'box already and I know in six months I will absolutely love it.

My first experience with a twin-clutch gearbox was about ten years back when I drove an Audi TT DSG. I came away from that drive and told anyone who would listen that soon, all cars would be like that. I maintain that still.

So, OP, my advice is test drive both; if you can, borrow each for a day or more. You won't be sad whatever you pick - these are magnificent cars, obsessively developed by very clever people. They don't get much wrong.

hakaida702

Some reasons why I went with a pdk.

I have spine problems in my neck which leads to a lot of neck and shoulder pain. I can be watching tv and suffering from a lot of pain. Shifting a manual car would really make my pain worse.

Most of my driving is in the city or on the freeway. The only scenic roads here are monitored so only slow cruising speeds are allowed on them. Stick would be much more fun if there were better places to drive around here and if it wasn't monitored by the popo.

My car was a midlife crisis present to myself as I have always wanted a Porsche since I was 11. In 10 to 20 years, I certainly would not want to drive stick even if I could. PDK ensures that I can enjoy this car for as long as I wish to keep it.

PDK around town is really smooth and good for a night out on the town. No jerky shifts while out with the girlfriend.

Rainier_991

I chose PDK.
First sports car I own with an automatic gear box.
No, that sounds wrong. This is not an automatic gear box.
There is a little racing driver living in that box, I'm sure of it.
That makes it a manual gearbox with a little racing driver shifting for you. And he's good. In fact, when I flip the stick to manual to make the little racing driver take a hike, I can distinctly hear him laugh every time I touch that paddle.
I hate him.
He's just so much better than I will ever be.
So, most of the time I leave him to it, I just ignore him, pretend he does not exist. I will completely deny that I now have more fun driving as I can spend more time and concentration actually driving and steering with both hands.
Then, on occasion (like about an hour ago), I take my MT Miata out for an errand, my left foot does not know what to do, my shifting is clunky until I get back in the groove and I miss the little fella that lives in the box of the 911...
OK, there I said it. I love the little guy...

Rainier

Sulaiman

Rainier_991::: I can distinctly hear him laugh every time I touch that paddle.
I hate him

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

thats the best way to discripte PDK

the Stige Inside ur box

Sulaiman

@Draxa
i did test the manual coz my brother got 991Cs

and i did try the PDK from dealer but only 10 min drive

before i i drove the PDK i was 100% mT now im 60-40 %

@hakaida702 i do have a lower back problem as well ... but maybe not that bad .. thanks god

jumper5836

I test drove 4 PDK cars around the track for 2 laps back to back and then jumped into their only manual car there that day, a C4S. After about 15 seconds I said to myself now this is a car. PDK may be faster but I am not being paid to win races. With so much money on the line I couldn't go with PDK and loose that feeling. If PDK were an option for the Cayenne. I'd probably go with it. Bumper to bumper traffic is a pain, luckily I don't have to deal with that type of traffic very often.

Quadcammer

manual all day every day.

If i wanted flappy paddles, I'd just get out the xbox.

chuckbdc

I went with PDK because after four Porsches over 40 years, (with manual gearboxes that ranged from the almost rediculous (early 911s) to sublime (Boxter S), I found it best suited the whole experience of "991S involvement" This 911 has moved on from earlier ones, and so have I.

I particularly like the sound, feel and emotion of popping off shifts like a modern race car whenever I feel like it, with no penalty in smoothness anywhere. I appreciate the huge functional gain it adds to the evolved suspension and structure, in that it facilitates attention to the skills of braking and car placement that elevate performance at the track or on the street from earlier 911s.

I get daily benefits of high performance fuel economy at times when high kinetic performance is less interesting. And of equal importance I appreciate the hassle free, relaxing driving experience that makes me drive the car on every occassion that I don't need to stuff people and things into my sedan (which with 100 less horsepower gets worse mileage).

In short, PDK has totally flipped the sporty/practical equation- out the window.

kes7u

I understand that EVERYTHING is better with a PDK from a performance and efficiency standpoint. No argument here.

I'm ordering mine with a manual. My car is strictly for fun, and I just have more fun rowing through the gears. Nothing more, nothing less.

Kevin