A Nonce

Here is my PDK experience:

Context matters:

• This is my first ever automatic Sports car!
• Previous manual sport-ish car ownership experiences (best to worst): AP1 Honda S2000, 981 GT4, '16 GTI, '09 WRX.
• Other auto experiences in Sporty-cars (AMG GT, MK5 Supra, B9 Audi S4).
• Never experienced the 7MT in the 992.

Why did I specifically seek auto for the 992 purchase? Ultimately I am sure the 7mt manual experience is great but the Porsche PDK is legendary! Also the 8-speed PDK has super short gears!!! (1-6).

I feel that if you get a Porsche sports car you need to try out their PDK at some point. Makes total sense why people opt for for a manual, I get it!

However, I feel that never experiencing a Porsche PDK as a Porsche sports car owner is like going to England and not grabbing some fish and chips! You're missing out!

Look in how much effort Porsche put into the new PDK! From the powertrain slides in https://presskit.porsche.de/workshop...downloads.html

aggie57

Porsche has these 'Experience Center' spread around the globe, the closest to you would be Atlanta (or Silverstone seeing you mention the POMS). Best way to actually try the various options and models.

dudeoverthere

a base 991 in manual is a fun little around town car. it's a bummer it's not available on the 992 base.

PCA1983

" This is my first ever automatic Sports car! "

Let's be clear!

My wife thinks PDK is an Automatic. But she is CLUELESS about cars, and CLUELESS about things like this.

PDK is a Manual transmission with two pedals, and two concentric liquid cooled clutches that are electronically controlled. Over heating these clutches is not possible. You cannot say this about 3 pedal manuals.

So try to keep this in mind.

PDK is not an Automatic transmission by any stretch of engineering terms, altho it can be driven like one - for the CLUELESS.

PDK is a two pedal manual with fingertip shifters. It is not a slush box with fluid clutch. It is the fastest shifting manual transmission on Planet Earth.

ipse dixit

Whoa.

Relax my friend.

I think there is automatic, and then there's automatic.

The PDK is automatic in the sense that it can shift automatically without human intervention (aside from throttle input)

Then there's automatic with a torque converter.

When people, incl. professional reviewers, refer to the PDK as an automatic transmission they are referring to the former, not the latter.

Ull

when the PDK shifts and sends that extra power to the rear wheels

Staffie Guy

The only difference in your bolded analogy is that it costs only a couple of bucks to try fish and chips if you don't like it, while trying a PDK will cost you 150K if you don't like it

RudyP

Tell us you don't understand what automatic means without telling us that you don't know what automatic means...

A Nonce

I think that’s a very good point!

Yeah there definitely is a opportunity cost to trying things out. If my PDK experience wasn’t so good I would probably not feel as enthusiastic about having to give it a shot!

Come to think about it, it’s probably the reason why I haven’t gone EV quite yet. I’m a little hesitant about how I would feel about that decision if I ended up not liking the EV experience.

XrussianX

When you get to these hp figures. I believe the manual trans becomes a counter to that hp. You won’t drive as fast in a MT as you would in a PDK. I know from my own experience. My last car was a 997.2 RS. Probably the greatest manual transmission car ever. It really suits that engine and that chassis. I feel like the 992 has become more GT than we all want to believe. That’s why the pdk trans works so dang good in it. To me MT works best in a car that’s got no compromise in the feedback department. Again the modern cars are too far digital to really capture the magic of the past. Porsche needs to create their own manual/pdk and we all would be forever satisfied 🤙🏼🤙🏼

Staffie Guy

I wonder if it is feasible to create a true manual trans car with a clutch and have the option to disengage and engage PDK. Probably too costly, but that would be great.

RudyP

It's possible - Koenigsegg has done something very similar (it's an auto but replicates clutch pedal and H pattern shifter). But IMO, it's solving a problem that doesn't exist for those who just want a manual. More $$$, more weight and I'd never put it in auto anyway, so a straight manual would be better for me.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/...-for-the-cc850

Fullyield

Thank you for your explanation. But my reply was to a direct statement previously made by PCA 1983. See post#37 which I quoted in my reply to him. As you are neither the OP of this thread, nor a moderator, it is not your decision as to what is, or is not, a relevant response. Having your brand new 992 with less than 1,000 miles on it parked at the dealer for 90 days because of PDK failure effects “engagement” with my PDK in my book. Peace brother.

AtTheGlen

The first sports car I owned that did not have a manual transmission was a 2010 Turbo as PDK was the only transmission available; same for my 2015 Turbo S. As a motorsports fan, I could relate to the instantaneous up/down shifts and even though I never had to replace a clutch, I no longer was doing 3-5, 4-2, etc. shifts (rpm/torque permitting) to preserve the clutch. After that came a 991.2 GT3 and I opted for PDK as I genuinely enjoyed it. In my current 992 TTS I’m driving with paddles 99% of the time. Recently, though, on a PCA regional run up Mt. Baldy (CA) with fast esses, hairpins/switchbacks at speed, I found PDK invaluable so I could concentrate on driving, and as others have said, it’s telepathic, although under some conditions I had to tap the brake to trigger a downshift at speed even in Sport+

But my next 911 will a manual. I’ve driven 911s and other cars on a track, but not my car. I consider my driving spirited, but I don’t ever need the speed advantage of a PDK. I was good at heel-and-toeing and I loved holding a gear on my terms vs. a computer’s. I miss driving a stick and would look for opportunities to drive one (e.g., my sister-in-law’s Forester on family outings). We do have a Cayenne e-hybrid (fantastic) so we have an auto for everyday tasks. Our current 911 is amazing and was available only as a PDK, and I absolutely love driving it. A friend with a MT GT3 told me that he leaves auto-blip on so he can downshift quickly without worrying about rev matching. (When seeing a green, left-turn arrow 200 yards ahead, and you know you can make it, with PDK, it’s easy to click a few rapid downshifts. With auto-blip, you could do the same without fear of a bad rev match.) That said, I hope that, if I turn auto-blip off, I can have as pure a heel-and-toe experience as with my pre-2010 Porsches.

I think if a person is inclined to get a manual for the right reasons (engagement) vs GT3 buyers who have never driven MT but think its cool, then at least try it by driving a pre-owned Porsche at a dealer. If someone has not driven a manual or no longer wants to shift, then the PDK is fantastic and provides engagement in a different way. Like the discussions about PASM vs. Sport-PASM, there is no overall right or wrong answer except for a particular individual. And it’s OK to like both, as I do.

My 1-2 Missed Shift (PDK) Question
When I read this thread and saw all the interest in MT and PDK, I thought I’d risk a mini-hijack here and ask if any of you have had an occasion (apparently in only manual mode) where after a right paddle pull, the car didn’t shift to second? Several people have experienced this on the 992 Turbo/Turbo S forum and there was a report also on the GT3 (7-spd PDK) forum. It appears to occur more often when cold. One poster said that after an M-Engineering PDK tune, the problem went away. Others said it doesn’t happen when turning; others said “only when turning”. I see this occasionally with mine almost always while gradually warming the car up. Some drivers can reproduce it at will. Porsche had told owners that “it’s designed to do that” and reflashing the software is not helping. If you’ve had this experience, you could PM me or comment on the 992 TT/TSS thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/newreply...e=1&p=18444236 I’m going to ask my Service Advisor to see if he an obtain more info, and any additional failure circumstances would be useful. Thanks!

lexbro

It also just happens to be the transmission of choice for F1 cars..I do love manual transmissions-however, as my 992 is a daily driver, I appreciate not having to row the box between traffic lights.