Can you really have fun driving a Tiptronic Porsche?

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by rondocap

I think we may have become spoiled with PDK/DSG and how good it has gotten recently. I drove a C55 AMG fairly recently - 5 speed auto. The response was really very bad in manual mode. I was quite surprised..

I have friends that only buy Mercs, a 30+ year tradition but I've yet to drive a a single modern Merc that I thought was remotely worth buying at full boat. That brand is the epitome of a brand having so many models that they can no longer maintain quality to the standards they were once known for. I'm not sure why Porsche gets all the abuse, there are far worse. And I don't if its just me but having a Merc just doesn't get the sort of attention it once did. In that respect Porsche has all other German brands beat....if that's important to the buyer. I just find it interesting that in the midst of all this mind-boggling over-production Porsche has still managed to hold onto a bit of that novelty. I can't remember how many time someone said "wow you have a Porsche". Whereas I've never heard that said to my friends that have Audis, Bimmers, Range Rovers, etc.

I like to tell my friends that if weren't for the Boxster I probably would have moved on away from Porsche long ago. My cars can't just be garage queens, I don't have the space or time for it. I need a car that can be driven year round, isn't going to leave me stranded, nor comes with costly engine rebuilds as a part of standard long haul ownership. The Boxster has checked all those boxes.

[southernstar]

Do your think it would be fun driving a current formula 1 car? Well, for the same reason that Porsche has made only the PDK available in the new GT3 - computers can shift and match revs more quickly and accurately than any human, they don't have manual transmissions either.

Don't get me wrong - I own and prefer a manual transmission. Ultimate lap times/performance don't matter to me and frankly, I have always considered the skill of being able to properly use a manual transmission, including double-clutching downshifts, etc. to be one of the things that defined being a good performance driver. I take pride in my abilities at matching revs and driving a manual transmission smoothly and quickly - that it is I and not a computer that is accurately blipping the throttle on downshifts. And even though this skill is clearly on the way to becoming a 'lost art', I suspect that I will always take pride in it.

I guess it is somewhat akin to the prevalence now of autotune for singers - they no longer need to sing on key as a computer can make the adjustments for them prior to the sound being amplified, or recorded. So, if perfect pitch no longer requires any skill, who cares if anyone has it? Some artists do. And some audiences. I, for one, would far rather listen to a recordning of Frank Sinatra, occasional errors and all, singing a song, than an auto-tuned and computer-corrected Michael Buble singing the same song. IMO, the former is true artistry - flubs and human foibles and all, whereas the latter is a homogenized and sterile imitation of artistry.

Now. does Micheal Buble enjoy singing before thousands of screaming and adoring fans without worrying about singing in tune? Count on it!

Brad