MerlinsGarage

20 years from now when you take your grandkid out into the garage and uncover your '14 C2S he will exclaim " WOW is that a shift-it-yourself transmission?".

..................Just smile and take him for a ride. .

rglbegl

ricster

I guess they need to follow the money. And all the new buyers either can't drive manual, or have the same mindset as the Apple computer crowd where they must look cool in front of everyone else, no matter the cost.
Yes Porsche, learn from Apple . .... put out the same item every year, but tell everyone it is new and cool and if they don't have it, they are old and outdated so everyone should laugh at them. Works great for taking money from the vain hipsters as well as the wannabe trendies.
Don't mind the enthusiasts you alienated, they will move on to other cars, never buying a new car from Porsche again. But that is okay, those new Hipsters you are catering to will buy buy buy as long as you tell them that "This is the way of the future, you are smart and cool if you own it

YES! Exactly what I was told by one of the Porsche engineers. He said only 3% are die-hard stick guys the rest will adopt to the new technology that is being offered. Then said most can't drive stick anyway....trust me he isn't that far off from the truth, you should see the wannabee drivers I get who say they can drive.

If the business model made sense, I would open up a "real sports car" center and only cater to manual shift cars. Call it Man-ual only

fantom

Because all he'll be used to is the fantastic new technologically in advanced transportation that starts, steers, brakes, stops, watches out, parks, and follows his voice command GPS directions. He justs sits in the back seat and works on his iPad2035.

The fully automated car just does everything so much better than he could do it himself, fun and enjoyment must be found somewhere else.

Actually driving a car....you gotta be kidding, that's soooo last century

doubleurx

So let me get this right, all of us new buyers of the GT3 only fall into two groups:

1. we can't drive a manual
2. we must love Apple.

Man I love how absolutely stupid this thread has become.....pure entertainment.

Well I'm off to destroy my manual cars. I've decided to just stop using the clutch so I can prep for my new GT3.

MerlinsGarage

Sigh.................

rglbegl

Only the Syth speak in absolutes

mrstep

While Apple has been pretty busy not-innovating since Jobs died, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't hold out what they did with the Apple II, Mac, LaserWriter, Newton, various generations of all-in-one-iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad as "we'll sell you the same thing and tell you it's new every year". Whether (or what) they'll do now is an open question, but there's a reason so many tech folks ended up getting off of Windows and onto Mac laptops and/or still running Windows but on Apple hardware.

I would actually say it's the up-selling and pricing they both excel at. Give you a good base product, but give you options that sound really tempting and quickly drive up the price and model you're looking at. Do you want an iPad mini (Cayman)? Sure, let me just add a few things... Wait, maybe a iPad Air (991) isn't such a bad idea after all if I'm already in that range...

Anyway, just saying that I don't have my Apple products because Apple markets them, I happen to have done enough hardware self-builds and Windows installs/re-installs to appreciate that their stuff actually is a really good all-around package that works stably and well, generally with usability that's far ahead of the competition. (Or at least was in the past, we'll see going forward...)

I'm not a PDK fan, but I don't think that Porsche should stop pushing forward there either. Losing races and losing buyers just to satisfy purists isn't a really great business plan either, I just hope they don't drop the purists (like dropping the Mac Pro entirely would have been the Apple equivalent).

doubleurx

The force is strong in this one, however I fear the dark side.

bccars

Yep same thing here. I have 991 with Pdk. Can't drive for **** obviously. Totally numb and mindless yuppie too that swallows everything Stuttgart forces down my throat. My car does everything for me, I only have to steer, and what a drag that is !

golftime

Time will certainly tell. That said, you might want to look at the current prices of air cooled P-cars - they have never been higher. And few saw that coming. If you talk to an air-cooled dealer he will tell you the trade-ins often include 997s and 991s from drivers who are unhappy with (too) much of the new technology, and the direction which Porsche is going (are you listening Porsche?), and they want to return to the traditional Porsche driving experience.

DCTs are fast. But producing a car with a faster time around the Nurburgring is no longer the only criteria. Look at the time logged by the new Camaro if you want an example. Speed alone is not what most Porsche owners are looking for. It is what distinguishes most Porsche owners from many other cars. There will always be a faster car somewhere.

PDK is without a doubt the single most significant technology change resulting in a reduction in driver involvement in the last few years. And it is only possible because it is so good at what it does, and there in lies the rub. I don't begrudge anyone driving a PDK, and may end up in one some day for medical reasons (bad knees). And it will most definitely be faster than I can shift my manual. But I will never agree that it enhances the overall driving experience.

rglbegl

OMG, Subaru boy got the joke.

reidry

I am buying one.

I have driven manuals all my life and I can heel toe.

I can't stand apple. Android all the way.

Ryan

chuck911

This right here is why we got the cliche, "can't see the forest for the trees."

What, from time immemorial, has been one of the most keenly desired automotive traits? Is it not power? Power without hesitation? Power on demand? Is this not the reason Porsche developed Vario-cam? To broaden the power band, that full power be more readily available under a wider range of conditions? They didn't do this? Pretty sure they did. Only thing is, I don't remember any faction of Luddites rising up to lament the "more involving" single-lobe cam with its narrow peaky power curve.

Or fuel injection. Electronic ignition. A whole long line of technological innovations, every one of which has as its core objective the provision of more power, faster, under a wider range of conditions.

Now PDK. The salient feature of PDK is its ability to make all that power available to the driver, virtually instantly and with near-perfect flexibility of control. Period. Full stop.

Its the fricken Holy Grail of automotive design. Yet a few people can't stop talking about the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow.

rglbegl

Tell that to the people who drive a 944 because it has a near perfect weight distribution, not because it has more HP than anyone else.
How about the person in the old British roadster. Certainly power is not what they they are aiming for in an enjoyable drive

It is completely true that most manufacturers have been in a HP war since day 1. (Which is why Japan had to limit their cars for years. Gov't mandated max HP rating) And most buyers love power, but it is not the only reason people like certain cars.

And a Monty Python reference gets you a thumbs up