Anybody been tracking the Manual vs. PDK in Panorama?? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

jwade · 07-31-2011, 01:35 PM

Been following the last couple issues and read July's final verdict...Pretty funny actually. If you haven't been keeping up, you need to read this one.

Right out of the shoot the quotes from Porsche drivers are great...

"It must be a manual! Automatic transmissions are for old ladies."

"To me, driving an automatic is like eating pureed steak dinner. You're getting the nutrition, but missing the satisfaction."

And on and on the quotes go... Stick wins 2:1 all day long!

Topless · 07-31-2011, 02:32 PM

Been a stick guy all my life but the PDK can simply do it better resulting in consistently faster laps. I'll bow to technology here and choose either PDK of Ferrari flappy paddles with my ego still intact.

ekam · 07-31-2011, 02:57 PM

It's just like watches, quartz watch is much more accurate than the most accurate mechanical watches but you still find people wearing mechanical watches.

It's nostalgia in this digital world.

Lobo1186 · 07-31-2011, 03:21 PM

While it is true that you can get better laps with the paddles, It is also true there will come a time when the car can drive better without you messing things up and you will just be in there for a ride.

Granted paddles are a far cry from that.

Personally I like my car, no stability control, no traction control, no launch control just good old ABS and power steering.

Overdrive · 07-31-2011, 05:33 PM

I like to interact with the car as much as possible, short of pumping the pistons myself by hand,.

To me it's just more enjoyable to be that involved with the car and have more control. It's also more of a personal challenge performance-wise, because you have to condition yourself to performing as flawlessly as possible and with coordination, not just put your foot down and flick a paddle/push a button. If you screw up, it'll cost you, which is how I think it should be. Instead it starts to come down to more machine and less man-and-machine. While those automated manuals and such can be fun and are excellent technological advances, it's really not for me, and I'm on the younger side of the scale. If I were that concerned with turning faster lap times I'd get a car that's dedicated to the track and gets trailered there and back rather than something I'd like to drive there and back home after the track day. I don't care about shifts that happen faster than my airbag can deploy, I want a clutch pedal and manual shifter.

blue2000s · 07-31-2011, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekam

It's just like watches, quartz watch is much more accurate than the most accurate mechanical watches but you still find people wearing mechanical watches.

It's nostalgia in this digital world.

It's far from nostalgia.

blue2000s · 07-31-2011, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overdrive

I like to interact with the car as much as possible, short of pumping the pistons myself by hand,.

To me it's just more enjoyable to be that involved with the car and have more control. It's also more of a personal challenge performance-wise, because you have to condition yourself to performing as flawlessly as possible and with coordination, not just put your foot down and flick a paddle/push a button. If you screw up, it'll cost you, which is how I think it should be. Instead it starts to come down to more machine and less man-and-machine. While those automated manuals and such can be fun and are excellent technological advances, it's really not for me, and I'm on the younger side of the scale. If I were that concerned with turning faster lap times I'd get a car that's dedicated to the track and gets trailered there and back rather than something I'd like to drive there and back home after the track day. I don't care about shifts that happen faster than my airbag can deploy, I want a clutch pedal and manual shifter.

Amen to that. The more mechanical, the better. I like to see there are still alot of Porsche people who demand the manual transmission. I think the new Ferraris and the McLaren are always going to be lacking because of the missing pedal.

Oaktown 986 · 07-31-2011, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lobo1186

While it is true that you can get better laps with the paddles, It is also true there will come a time when the car can drive better without you messing things up and you will just be in there for a ride.

Granted paddles are a far cry from that.

Personally I like my car, no stability control, no traction control, no launch control just good old ABS and power steering.

Absolutely. Automatics make great daily drivers, but nothing beats a downshift on mulholland from 3rd to 2nd. No paddle shifter can beat that feeling as the tail cuts loose dropping a gear as you approach a hairpin s turn above a 1000 ft cliff with no guard rail...

Bobiam · 08-02-2011, 02:26 PM

Any automatic is fine if you NEED to have it. And for my daily driver Forester I'll take the automatic just to cut the labor of driving cities, etc. But this is a roadster. Not shifting it manually would be like hiring a chauffeur and not having to steer it either.

The Panorama article was right on posting the quotes that it did.

thstone · 08-02-2011, 03:08 PM

I'm squarely in the manual camp. Its irrelevant to me if an auto can shift faster, I want to be completely involved in the driving experience and an automatic simply cannot meet that objective.

By the way, the Panorama articles made a few references to women being drawn more to automatics and I am glad to say that my wife not only insists, but demands a manual transmision in every car that she drives. Yeah, and she's pretty too!

sasha055 · 08-02-2011, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thstone

I'm squarely in the manual camp. Its irrelevant to me if an auto can shift faster, I want to be completely involved in the driving experience and an automatic simply cannot meet that objective.

By the way, the Panorama articles made a few references to women being drawn more to automatics and I am glad to say that my wife not only insists, but demands a manual transmision in every car that she drives. Yeah, and she's pretty too!

You know what they say.. never brag about your wife.. women will get jealous and men will want to check it out

But I totally agree. Some cars have to be manual..

blue2000s · 08-02-2011, 03:29 PM

I've driven my friend's PDK C4S. It's a great transmission. Tooling around, you can't
Even feel the shifts. Put the pedal down and it shifts fast. But it's still an automatic and I think it ruins the car as a toy. If I were to buy a car that I intended to run on the track compeditively, PDK would be perfect. But even for a "fun" track day, I still prefer the manual.

Lil bastard · 08-02-2011, 07:55 PM

Last spring, I had the chance to drive identical pairs of Boxsters and 997s back-to-back at the Porsche Sport Driving School at Barber. One was manual, the other PDK.

As mentioned, the PDK is a technological marvel and both a step up and great replacement for the Tiptronic S.

But, it was not only less satisfying than the manual, it was also marginally annoying.

Granted, the adaptive memory hadn't adapted to my driving, but it shifted at what seemed to me to be the wrong times. In one turn, it slightly upset the car.

To me, this only proves that this budding technology still has a way to go. Most likely a refinement of the software and shifting maps.

I can see the day when a clutchless manual has it all over a pure manual. But, I'm not sure that day has yet arrived. If I were buying a new Porsche product today, it would not be w/ PDK. 10 years from now...??

Cheers!

Perfectlap · 08-03-2011, 06:04 AM

I would much rather see Porsche and other sports car builders develop an extremely smooth, accurate and reliable manual. One made of ultra light metals, carbon fiber, etc. one that can last indefinitely, and one with the precision of well-oiled precise bolt action rifle needing minimal upkeep.

The empahiss shoul be on minimalism and precision. This apply to the rest of the car as well. This will be a better driving experience imho 9 times out of 10. The 10th being the guys who actually race these things, a sliver of a sliver.