Manual or PDK for a Gen 2?

Axlesnap · 1 Oct 2016

As others have said, it's a personal choice. I went manual as I wanted my first 911 experience to be as 'traditional' as possible; so it was coupe not convertible, rear wheel not four wheel drive and manual not pdk. Mine is a daily and was given a pdk equipped Cayman when the 997 was being serviced so I've had experience of a pdk box. Have to say I'm still pleased I went for a manual, I can see the advantages of pdk but the enjoyment I get from from the manual and the additional connection I feel it provides still shade it for the time being.

That said, I could easily see a pdk equipped 4s appearing in the garage when I look for something new. Definitely try both if possible and if you go pdk make sure you have paddles, the rocker style buttons on the wheel seriously detract from the experience. :driving: :thumb:

Boxsey · 3 Oct 2016

After 9 years of a manual 911 I now have a PDK Cayman R. The CR is for the same purpose - weekends and track days. I love driving the PDK as much as the previous manual (Nb. PDK on CRs come with paddles as standard).

I drive the PDK on the paddles 90% of the time. (Just use auto for traffic and motorways).

There's no autoblip but you can blip the throttle yourself in sync with a paddle downshift. You can also heel n toe downshifts when you're on it (I use the rolling side foot method but you have to use the right side of the brake pedal because it's about twice the width of a normal pedal).

No need to watch the gear indicator number when paddle shifting. The engine noise and rev counter provides enough information for you to know if you're in the right gear or not.

You can flick down two or possibly even three gears as quick as any one can do a block shift in a manual. I can't see why anyone would want to go down more than two gears at a time. If you're cruising in 5th in a PDK and drop to 3rd you'll be bang in the power band. Going from 5th to 2nd would put you close to the limiter so there would be no point.

I've never changed down to first gear by mistake. When coming to any sort of stop I just let the PDK do the last of the gear changes i.e. when in manual mode coming up to red lights I won't do any down changes once I'm braking. The PDK will go down the gears and select 1st just as the car comes to a stop.

pothole · 5 Oct 2016

Boxsey said:
After 9 years of a manual 911 I now have a PDK Cayman R. <snip>
There's no autoblip<snip>

Incorrect and a pretty extraordinary thing to think if you own a PDK car! I can assure you there is auto blip on every single PDK Porsche and all other major dual-clutch boxes on the market.

Some do theatrical 'over' blips and this may be what makes you think it isn't blipping -that it doesn't do ridiculous OTT overblips for the sake of driving theatre. But it's blipping all the same on every downshifts. There's absolutely no point in H&T'ing a PDK car, it's already rev matching your downshifts.

Just think about what would actually happen with the box slamming in the shifts as it does without blipping the throttle. It would be locking the rear axle on every downshift.

Boxsey · 5 Oct 2016

pothole said:
Some do theatrical 'over' blips and this may be what makes you think it isn't blipping -that it doesn't do ridiculous OTT overblips for the sake of driving theatre. But it's blipping all the same on every downshifts. There's absolutely no point in H&T'ing a PDK car, it's already rev matching your downshifts.

I had presumed that the OP was indeed asking about the new style of theatrical blipping rather than straight forward rev matching that the PDK takes care of. And indeed the H&T is done just for fun rather than necessity (that's why I indicated that you 'can' do it which does not mean anyone has to do it).

Robertb · 5 Oct 2016

I've trained my 10 yr old to shift the gearlever for me. All I do is push the clutch and say what gear I want.

Best of both worlds. :thumb:

manicatel · 20 Oct 2016

Each to their own, as you may have gathered, but....
After several Porsches, all manual by choice (944s2, 968, 964c2, Boxster, BoxsterS), my 987 gen2 is my first auto.
The PDK really is absolutely excellent. Relaxed when you're just pootling in town, but SOoo good when you get the chance to use sport & sport+ mode. And yes, you do get blips on the down shift in sports mode.
I'm sure if my car was manual I'd still love it, but the PDK is an extremely well sorted piece of engineering.
Matt.

MJA911 · 20 Oct 2016

+1 my Porsche history is 996 tip, 997 man, 993 man, 997 PDK and love a good manual when in the mood, but the engineering of the PDK is enjoyable in its own right, experimenting with the various modes and flipping the paddles just for the hell of it brightens up many a dull commute for me :thumb:

tim993 · 21 Oct 2016

Porsche PDK is better at being an auto than most auto 'boxes I've driven. I wonder how many folk really do drive them in manual mode for much of the time? I do, but it's kind of rare!

Manual or PDK for a Gen 2?

Axlesnap

Silverstone

Boxsey

Mugello

pothole

Spa-Francorchamps

Boxsey

Mugello

Robertb

Yas Marina

manicatel

Trainee

MJA911

Singapore

tim993

Zandvoort

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