Steve 96C4S

I've come to embrace my PDK car now. It took about 18 months but I'm just loving not shifting anymore in our bumper to bumper backed up (jacked up) traffic here in Washington DC and it's surrounding gridlocked suburbs.

I've been driving my car as much as possible lately now that the weather has turned for the better and the snow/ice is gone till the late fall. It's pretty awesome to just floor the car, stomp on that gas pedal and hold on for dear freakin' life. The speed of this car is rifrickulous. I didn't even realize till today that I've been driving it for 6 months without ever even putting it in Sport mode and it's still fast as a bat out of hell.

There's pretty much nothing that can beat this car in terms of speed, for the cars I see on the road in my area. Maybe a Tesla, maybe some other souped up cars, but not many. I've never owned a car that's one of the fastest things out there. I wanted a fast car, I owned cars that were supposed to be fairly fast, but this one is sick fast (sick in a great way).

NO MORE GUILT! I drive fast, safe fast, within the relative speed limits, wherever and whenever I can now. Not having to shift is starting to feel cool. I can focus more on just aiming this bullet and flying. LOVE IT.

This comes from "Mr Shifter", the guy that would never get an automatic/slush box/boring sports car without a 3rd pedal. Screw that. I'm 56 and super enjoying the laziness aspect of just driving, shiftless.

My niece loves the car too. Maybe one day I'll let her drive it. Since it's an automatic, she could, in theory drive it. In theory. I let her drive my MB S63 once, in a very controlled large parking lot when she was first learning, but this car? Ummm, I'll have to see. She really wants to, though.



What's the best thing about PDK... if you have one, for you???

jazzwu

Nice glad you're enjoying your turbo s like the way it's meant to be driven!

I love pdk because of ease of use, holds boost during shifts and between gears, shifts real fast, and wins more races versus a manual :-)

Dennis C

I'm glad to hear that you're happy with PDK. I like PDK very much, and I really believe that the technology is great. I've only owned a PDK car now for about 6 months, and I still find myself missing my 6MT occasionally. Do you drive in manual mode very often? I had a nice drive through a curvy, deserted canyon early on Saturday morning in manual mode. I switched the car into Sport mode, and it was fun!

Steve 96C4S

Sounds like fun! I never, ever drive in manual mode. There's just no need to for me. But if the mood ever strikes me, like, if I'm in the mountains, I will report back here for sure.

We all drive and own our cars for different reasons. One of the reasons I bought this car is that I love the way it looks. Plain and simple. I'm going to look seriously at a 991 Turbo S at some point soon, a used one, but I doubt there will be a compelling reason to pony up massive amounts of extra money to switch cars when I LOVE the way my car looks. If the 991 Turbo S drives that much better, well, it just couldn't. It can't drive that much better since better is a relative term.

My car is a go cart. A wonderful, cost effective go cart since I owe nothing on it. The 991 Turbo S will take a lot of money out of my pocket, something that isn't that appealing right now.

And, did I happen to mention how beautiful I think the 997 Turbo S is? If not, I could write pages and pages more about that aspect.

4ocious

Great post but I don't know "yet" how it feels. I took my car to Porsche over the weekend for a post PPI. I complained that my car appeared to have no boost and the acceleration was benign and linear in normal mode. I wasn't impressed. It seems someone in the past decided to remove the hoses and clamps that control my turbo airflow which prevent the turbo's from building boost pressure. According to Porsche this is very unusual and they don't even stock the parts to fix it. They must be special ordered from Germany. But the good new is I'm still under warranty, it will be fixed at no cost and as my SA said, it will absolutely transform your car. But until it's fixed I was warned to "go fast" because it will case the turbo's to grenade!

cjcam930

I have never driven a PDK car (yet) but am increasingly getting interested in it. I'm 50 and having ankle probs which are aggravated by sporty driving and racing of 3-pedal cars. In fact I'm post-op in a cast now, unable to drive at all. Yuck, but it's a relief having the potential option to go PDK.

Terry Adams

I went Tip 8 years ago with my first of two hip replacements.

Took our 20 year old Grand daughter on her first Porsche drive. She liked it so much she barely wanted to turn around to go home. We got far out in the country side, on a road with a dead end. After she turned it around I said "Hit it". And boy, did she know how to floor the gas!

I've said before here, a good exhaust slays the turbo lag dragon.

TT Surgeon

I had a 2011tts, sorry found it incredibly boring to drive, (55 here). It's the fastest car I ever had, no doubt, all very (too) 3controlled. Now a 930 driven in anger is a car that will literally scare the crap out of you. If that's what you want. Personally, I gotta row gears.

saudio

I guess everyone has their own idea of what a fun drive is. I love changing gears, I feel like I'm part of the process. But I've never driven a PDK so I guess I should test drive one.

I did have a tiptronic Boxter as a loaner for a week. Hated it. Just hated it.

993MAN

I might own a PDK one day, but right now the 6 speed is very good, I mean, really really good.
The last car I had was that 360 with F1. That was very cool for sure, especially hitting it hard.
In theory it was a manual less the stick but with little robots changing the gears, but it still had an A for auto. Just not the same. I'm just over 50 BTW.

bondjockey

Yesterday I went to a client event at the Porsche track in Atlanta (Porsche Driving Experience) and drove a new carrera s with pdk among other models. It is amazing technology, sport, sport plus, launch control etc, but it didn't connect with me. It was a little too easy. I was happy to hop in my old school turbo at the end of the day and row gears home.

AudiOn19s

We've owned our Turbo S for about a year now coming out of a 6 speed 997.1 TT and I'm still in the same frame of mind when it comes to the PDK. I'm not a huge fan of it, it is a little boring but I feel deep down it's the right transmission to be in that car hence I've come to terms with it.

My wife loves it, even doing HPDE events she never really mastered a manual and it's her car before it's mine.

I am thankful to be in a position that on the days I want to go row gears I take the GT3 out of the garage and go have a blast.

I would not own a PDK car if it was our only "fun" car.

Ibanezgod

I would agree with OP, i did love the TTS with PDK when I drove one. My dream garage would be to have my M Roadster manual back and a TTS. I do feel that is likely the best transmission for the car. Not knocking my TT 6speed, love it, but 1st gear is annoying without PDK and it disappears almost before you have time to shift.

Yogi911

I agree that pdk is better suited to the turbo cars because of how they spool.

I also agree i dont think it could be my only fun car. A N/A with manual is good for supplement. Unfortunately my stable is backwards but thats the way it worked out financially.

My fav thing about pdk is just how fast it shifts. It is crazy how fast it can downshift.

Dennis C

I agree. A 997 turbo launch will hit redline in about one second in first gear, as I recall.