Sport Plus. See picture.

 

I can respect that. I am a long retired factory driver and I prefer minimal aids when i drive on the track and on the street. (This Spyder will never hit the track, so as long as it can be turned off, its cool.)

 

I can see hap people have different ideas of what it what…I was reading Spyder content like I was cramming for an exam and I was not 100% sure...which is why I asked the experts on the forum!

 

I think it all depends on what car we are talking about.

There is no denying in that there is more skill involved in heel-and-toe downshifts with a manual gearbox when driving/racing on track and going for fast laptimes, compared to pushing a lever or pulling a paddle behind the steering wheel. So in that account I understand his "frustration" (I also think that a manual gearbox should never be equipped with auto blip. If you want faster shifts done for you get an automatic or a PDK, or learn how to drive.)

However, at a certain point it no longer makes sense to have a manual gearbox. As cars get faster (and especially can brake later and harder) you suddenly come to a point where you simply can't do the downshifting 6-5-4-3-2 with heel and toe revmatching fast enough compared to the stopping power of the car. I think equipping a 991 Cup car with a manual gearbox and standard 3 pedal action would simply not work because of the braking power of that machine. You'll end up skipping gears to get your shift done in time, so what's the use in that?

 

Going from 6th gear to 2nd in a downhill hard braking corner with the auto-blip while racing is really MUCH faster and much easier to outbrake another car without it. Having said that, for street purpose it's a matter of personal preference. I my case as a DD car, my Boxster S (and soon the Spyder) is always in Sport Plus mode. Much more relax to let the auto-blip take care of rev matching in traffic. I don't really care about fast shifts but I would never have a PDK in an open top car... On the other hand, I understand someone could prefer to do all the work all the time.

 

This made me laugh:
http://www.bmwblog.com/2015/07/11/po...rom-it/#460335

 

May be funny, but absolutely true, the engineers totally missed the mark but the Mazda crew got it spot on.

 

I prefer the simple life, which is why I raced vintage last. My car even had carburetors

 

Ha ha ha. Damn, that was funny. Completely unbiased opinion.

 

This article can lead to buyer's remorse! I had my current Spyder made super simple and light….no AC, radio, LI battery, PCCB, etc. I have about 6 ***** in the entire car.

As a contrast, I sat in my dad's Cayenne and counted 86 *****, switches or other controls...without sub menus in the display. The car should come with a flight simulator session for crying out loud.

The engine is what sold me on the change on the new Spyder….

 

Great article.

Would love to see the links to all those reviews where the journos were "underwhelmed".

 

First real video review!

http://media.smh.com.au/cars/car-rev...w-6680936.html

 

He seemed quite underwhelmed.. But jokes aside, you'd think you'd not dress in clothes more appropriate for reprinting your garage when doing a world press video review no?

 

Awesomeness! Damn it looks beautiful.
We can add that to the list of "underwhelmed" reviews for that BMW blogger. Hahahaha
Edit : you beat me to the joke Calexio and lol on his clothes!

 

Autoblog review:
http://www.autoblog.com/2015/07/13/2...-review-video/