I made sure to mention on my Porsche survey that manual transmission was one of the reasons I chose this car

 

That's not "quantifiable". And not even true. lmao

 

It is literally in the definition of engagement.

 

Literally every car you see driving down the road is “in gear”.

 

You're more engaged with the car whether you like to be or not. You have to pay more attention to how you're managing engine rpm/torque as well as being conscious of driving smoothly, not stalling on hills, not lugging the engine, etc. It's infinitely more engaging than pressing the accelerator and having the transmission disappear into the background. Also, with the 992, they took away a key part of the PDK shifting experience by removing the +/- functionality from the shift ****. And guess what, they left it in on the GT3 and GT3RS probably because those drivers are more engaged in their driving than the regular pedestrian automatic transmission buyer.

 

not if I’m coasting in neutral 😃

 

This is my first manual with auto blip. I've given up all care of ever heal/toeing elegantly again because its incredibly good and fun and makes my life easy.


Other than the fact its just more fun for me I'm not going to try and defend my purchase of a manual. My new targa is purely a "driving enjoyment" build vs trying to maximizing performance.

 

I tend to think of maximizing performance as part of "driving enjoyment".

 

I get it. Never said that my enjoyment was the same as others. Been a few cars for me since i've had a manual so being able to drop the targa top and row my own gears was an important part of this particular order for me.

BTW as an owner of a 5 day old 992.1 I'm in the camp that the 992.2 cars with the hybrid powertrain will be awesome even if a manual isn't available with the hybrid. I think its too important of an icon for Porsche to screw up so I'm sure it'll kick ***.

 

Hybrids can have manual transmissions. Heck, even Honda made a hybrid with a manual. Hybrid cars have transmissions — dual clutch, torque converters, CVTs, and yes, also 3 pedal manuals.

 

When I was learning to drive stick when I worked as a porter for Toyota as a teenager, we got a used Honda hybrid manual in on trade. That thing was unstallable. Just push the clutch in and it would restart itself lol.

 

Sort of like the Porsche 7MT.

 

Totally !.... it's kind of embarrassing, but nice :-)

 

By that logic, you had better not be driving around with stability control (PSM) on. You should also remove your power steering, power brakes, rear seat, and all sound deadening, assuming that "engagement" is really your goal. You will be FULLY aware of every nuance of your car at that point.

You do realize that there's a manual mode on the regular PDK and that almost all of those things are still applicable, right?

If you're driving the car hard, you're using the paddles not the shift lever in any case. I'm guessing that they went with the lever instead of the Braun razor (aka the 918 shifter) because of the negative feedback from customers and because it looks like a manual until you look closely. Because manuals earn you cool guy points on Rennlist and at PCA meets, and that's what's most important after all.

My hot take is that manuals are the equivalent of automotive fidget spinners for most modern 911 buyers. 😏

 

There's no doubt that the PDK is an amazing DCT.

But, take it from someone who had switched from a manual 997S to a PDK 997 TTS to a DSG (Audi DCT) R8V10 Plus back to a 992 GTS with a MT. There's a reason why I declined a 992 TTS allocation and waited for a 992 GTS allocation just to get the MT.

You can feel "engaged" with the PDK in manual mode with the paddle shifters, but there is just something, IMO, much more involving coordinating your left foot clutch pedal and your right hand (for us with LHD) especially if one's heel-toeing or at least rev-matching downshifts. That said, the "auto-blip" feature and its perfect rev-matched downshifts makes manual heel-toe/rev-matching unnecessary.

I totally respect the PDK, its tech, and its incredible speed. And, the 992 is a hoot to drive with PDK. But, it's way too reductive to call MTs an "automotive fidget spinner" for those that still really enjoy the MT. My 2 cents.