Picked Up a 987, for the week... - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

rick3000 · 06-07-2012, 07:21 PM

I was rear ended last month and finally got around to taking my car in for repairs. They where going to lend me a sedan. However, the manager at Enterprise was shocked that they considered a sedan adequate replacement for my Porsche, so I ended up in a black Cayman PDK. I'm not complaining. I've been driving it all afternoon, at the insurance companies expense!

It's a very nice car, but I can't help but feel like my 986 'feels' better. It feels lighter and more nimble in my opinion, I personally prefer the complete lack of digital touch screens, as much as bluetooth phone calls are nice.

The 7 speed PDK is also lacking, it's a funny gearbox and it never seems to know what gear to be in. The shifting is occasionally clunky, and the paddle shifters while nice seem to have a learning curve, it's a very different from a manual, but did make the traffic more bearable.

But at the end of the day, I can't wait to get my 986 back. But this also sealed the deal that when I need a new car, it will be another Porsche. All the signature traits are there (plus cupholders

), it just needs to be a manual!

Has anyone else driven both, what did you think? Any tips for dealing with the PDK in traffic?

Best,
-Rick

thstone · 06-07-2012, 08:21 PM

I had the exact same feeling when I drove a 2011 Cayman R. It was a really nice car but the PDK didn't impress me at all and I couldn't wait to get back into my 986 with the manual trans.

Ghostrider 310 · 06-08-2012, 01:53 AM

Yeah PDK sucks! The way it puts power down smoothly and you never ever have a shaky shift, provides a range of choices for driving fun with sport plus, terrible product! The limited slip was a bad addition too, thing rockets off the line or out of corners. Ease of parking in small spots without using a grabby clutch, gosh I miss the bucking and re clutching each ten feet in traffic jams, trying to roll smooth for an unknown length of miles, good times. I will agree the 986 feels nimble but the 987 platform feels like it was chiseled from one solid block. I won't bother contrasting the acceleration differences, I never had to worry about blasting way into triple digits accidentally in ANY 986. IMO if any tranny is a "no sale" its the tiptronic, I loved my 986 and I loved shifting too but the car I ended up with is in every way more car than my 986.

Johnny Danger · 06-08-2012, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

Yeah PDK sucks! The way it puts power down smoothly and you never ever have a shaky shift, provides a range of choices for driving fun with sport plus, terrible product! The limited slip was a bad addition too, thing rockets off the line or out of corners. Ease of parking in small spots without using a grabby clutch, gosh I miss the bucking and re clutching each ten feet in traffic jams, trying to roll smooth for an unknown length of miles, good times. I will agree the 986 feels nimble but the 987 platform feels like it was chiseled from one solid block. I won't bother contrasting the acceleration differences, I never had to worry about blasting way into triple digits accidentally in ANY 986. IMO if any tranny is a "no sale" its the tiptronic, I loved my 986 and I loved shifting too but the car I ended up with is in every way more car than my 986.

How then do you feel about a motorized top ?

rick3000 · 06-08-2012, 04:19 AM

Just my opinion about the car, mostly the transmission, not trying to upset anyone. I never said it wasn't a great car, I just prefer the all manual simplicity of the 986.

If the trans in this car was performing how you describe it it would be great, but compared to this particular 987 I very much prefer the manual, much more control, power when and where you want it. Glad to hear your 987 is performing top notch and you're enjoying it!

Ghostrider 310 · 06-08-2012, 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Danger

How then do you feel about a motorized top ?

Bikini all the way. Nothing to break in mechanized transport, easily replicated at any boat shop, lightweight (12 lbs) and effective in every way except noise reduction. I'll bet most of you have the top down more than 60% of the time anyhow, which again makes the simple solution attractive to me. I took no offense just trying to be humorous about the things I don't miss from shifting. As for my ride, I love it if anything I wish I could wind it up more without going warp 6.

vijen6 · 06-08-2012, 07:00 AM

Personally I think shifting is what makes the car fun to drive .. IMO few things are better than taking a corner at speed with a perfect rev match downshift .. of course my car isn't a daily driver.

thstone · 06-08-2012, 08:35 AM

I don't think that anyone was saying that the PDK sucks. The PDK has several distinct advanages over a manual and Ghost hit the highlights of that list in his post.

However in my experience the PDK isn't perfect either. No matter how hard manufactuers try, they still haven't quite matched the shift feel of a manual. Slamming into the next gear in 0.0000001 sec's has nothing to do with the feel of the shift. There is something about the way that a manual clutch engages that the PDK can not quite match (yet).

Second on my list is the imperfect shift algorithms. I still find times where the PDK isn't in the gear that I would have chosen if I was shifting manually. Of course, there is a distinct possibility that the PDK has selected a BETTER gear (or the proper gear, however you want to say it), but to me, that's besides the point. I am the driver and I want the gear that I want whether its right or wrong. And if its wrong then I want to learn to be able to select the right gear to improve my driving skills.

Without going on and on, the point is that if the PDK does it all for me, even if it did it perfectly, then that leaves me unsatisfied. To my way of thinking (which could be wrong of stupid headed), then I might as well buy a Google car and let it not only do the shifting perfectly but the steering, braking, and throttle too (which I am sure that a computer can do better than I can).

The PDK is light years ahead of the Tip and I'm sure that whatever comes next after the PDK will be light years ahead of the PDK. Technology is sure to continue to march on and someday it will exactly match the feel of a manual and shift where I think it should shift and a myriad of other things, but I don't want the car to drive itself, I want to learn to drive the car myself.

ekam · 06-08-2012, 08:57 AM

Can't we just switch our discussion to the lack of dip stick on the 987? That's just as important as the 3rd pedal you know.

A real man's car has got to have a dip stick.

Ghostrider 310 · 06-08-2012, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekam

Can't we just switch our discussion to the lack of dip stick on the 987? That's just as important as the 3rd pedal you know.

A real man's car has got to have a dip stick.

You mean like the contorted affair the 986 uses? By the time it was done navigating the path to reading it was still tremendously unclear what the oil level was.

XSBoxster · 06-08-2012, 10:34 AM

Funny thing. I just had a rear collision too. Sounds like a good opportunity to get a rental replacement car with PDK just to tell the difference ....

rick3000 · 06-08-2012, 10:38 AM

It's definitely worth a test drive, I can see why people like the PDK, I'm just too much of a control freak, I want the gear I want, when I want it! As much I am not a fan of the transmission, they just called me to say that I was rear ended with so much force that the aluminum bar that runs under the bumper was cracked and the bumper shock was bent and it will be at least a week. I'm not complaining, anyone know if you can take a rental car to an autocross?

LightngSVT · 06-09-2012, 07:02 AM

Im not an owner yet, but I've alwasy been a huge fan of manual transmission's. I got to take out a new Boxster S w/PDK for an unsupervised test drive and I have to say I ended up liking it (I though for sure I'd hate it). It seems to be executed very well, but Im still looking for a manual.

blue2000s · 06-09-2012, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick3000

I was rear ended last month and finally got around to taking my car in for repairs. They where going to lend me a sedan. However, the manager at Enterprise was shocked that they considered a sedan adequate replacement for my Porsche, so I ended up in a black Cayman PDK. I'm not complaining. I've been driving it all afternoon, at the insurance companies expense!

It's a very nice car, but I can't help but feel like my 986 'feels' better. It feels lighter and more nimble in my opinion, I personally prefer the complete lack of digital touch screens, as much as bluetooth phone calls are nice.

The 7 speed PDK is also lacking, it's a funny gearbox and it never seems to know what gear to be in. The shifting is occasionally clunky, and the paddle shifters while nice seem to have a learning curve, it's a very different from a manual, but did make the traffic more bearable.

But at the end of the day, I can't wait to get my 986 back. But this also sealed the deal that when I need a new car, it will be another Porsche. All the signature traits are there (plus cupholders

), it just needs to be a manual!

Has anyone else driven both, what did you think? Any tips for dealing with the PDK in traffic?

Best,
-Rick

My buddy has a 2010 C4S PDK. 385 horsepower, AWD, sport plus suspension, he threw everything in he could. There isn't anything about it that I preferred to my 986. Just not as much fun.