I've got 2 complaints about the 7-speed box. First, 7th gear is mega tall (duh) which is great for high speed MPG but you really have to be moving to use it without bogging. The car is a real dog in 7th below say 80mph. 100mph is 2500rpm. In real life this means that you often need to shift out of 7th when you get into traffic or slower road conditions. Which brings me to complaint #2 - the downshift from 7th is awkward. You have to be deliberate to move from 7th to 6th or 5th. The 5-6 gate is in between 7th and 3-4 so you kinda have to move it left but not too much and feel for the 5-6 gate. Or you just go to 4th but then you've got a lot of revs and will want to shift up again soon. It's just awkward. I find I'll get into 6th and just leave it there because I don't want to hassle with 7th for the little bit of time I might be able to keep it there. If you are fortunate enough to drive somewhere with low traffic high-speed open highways this is less of an issue.

The 6-speed pattern is naturally symmetric and easy to use. No guessing where the gate is. Full right for 5-6. Neutral centered for 3-4. Full left for 1-2. I think that's why Porsche went with the 6-speed in the .2 T. The GT shift linkage is just icing on the cake.

 

One thing that some may not know is that 7th gear is mechanically locked out unless you are in 5th or 6th. Because of it, 5th and 6th are essentially the full right side (coming from lower gears).

• From gears 1,2,3,4: full right up or full right down goes to 5th or 6th (no worry of hitting 7th because it's locked out)
• From gears 5 or 6: full right up goes to 7th
• From gear 7: you can pop it out and go full right up or full right down to 5th or 6th (IIRC, the act of popping it out of 7th automatically locks you out of 7th until you land on 5th or 6th) first

 

Um, the .1 7th (.76) gear is specifically an overdrive for improved mpg and less cabin noise, whereas 6th gear (.78) allows the car to reach its top speed (a stock car will never get to redline in 7th due to wind drag, though perhaps one with a tune might)

So yep its tall for a reason, and should be only used to maximize mpg. If you want to maximize speed then 6 is the top gear.

The .2 T 6 speed merely omits the taller 7th gear, the other 6 ratios are identical.

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en_US/2...let-37701.html

It’s not a bug, it’s a feature….

 

I took delivery a week ago on a CPO 2021 C4S with 7MT- AMAZING transmission. Smooth, direct, great gearing ratios. The comments about 7 being very tall are accurate- but IMHO that is the equivalent of saying that the water is very wet- is intended to be tall- for exactly the reasons others have mentioned: highway cruising MPG and reduced cabin noise. Also, as mentioned, the current 6MT is exactly the same other than the omission of the OD gear. Bottom line- you don't have to shift into it but I like having it there.

What an amazing car and transmission. My last Porsche manual was the 6MT on my 997.1 C4S. NO COMPARISON.

Now to consider upgrading the shifter to the sexy wood one!

 

Put your order in an sportshifers.com of the sexy wood one/. It's going to take the better part of three months and if you don't like it when it gets here (you will) an easy resale due to the long wait times. Get one medium weighted, that extra weight really makes a difference in the feel of the shifts.

 

I have been tempted but I have ZERO mechanical ability and wonder how hard it will be to install and who can do it for me.....and, of course, at what cost!

 

To give credit to both Porsche and Sport Shifters, it's designed incredibly well and will take you very little effort and time to swap. Plenty of youtube tutorial vids out there.

 

As above, watch a YouTube video. Now that I've done it once, I can have my current one off in under 2 minutes. It's literally that easy.

 

….and that’s the beauty of DIY’ing.

 

what exactly do you mean by “tightens up the free space in the box”?

 

Your car must be different to mine; 7th is perfectly fine cruising at 70mph on the freeway, and shifting from 7th to 6th is no issue at all. My take on it is that Porsche went to a 6-speed in the .2 T purely for marketing reasons, and it’s worked.

 

+1

Mine is perfectly fine. I totally agree about the marketing aspect as well.

 

What I've found helps going to the higher gears and coming down sequentially is the placement of the hand on the shifter and the slight pressure.
At least with the numeric (and fairly certain stock shifter too, although I had it for 1500 miles or so, 9k miles ago), the urge to get back to centre is high. A slight pressure towards the direction you want helps slot the gear in. I also have the 2mm spring, so that definitely attributes to the amount of force required.

 

Amazing that on this thread we have people who love manual transmissions debating and arguing over which manual transmission is better: 6 speed or 7 speed. It’s not nearly as bad as the MT vs. PDK debate, but somewhat comical nonetheless. I’m just thankful Porsche still offers a manual transmission.

 

The PDK also has 7 vs 8 gears on GT and non GT boxes. I don't know if the gear ratios there has ever come up for discussion