JRBucks

I'm looking at moving up to a GTS or Turbo, or Turbo S, but they are mostly PDK's in the GTS and all the Turbo S are PDK leaving a few .1 Turbo 6-spds as an option. I love rowing my own but have driven a PDK and it is pretty darn good but it's not the same as a manual. My question is when you went PDK did you end up missing your manual?

ShaunP

It depends on how you use the car, if it's an occassional weekend car, you're probably going to miss it. If you're driving it every day the PDK is real nice. FWIW, I came from a PDK 991.2S, have a 997.2S manual, and thinking of going into a 991.2 GTS w/PDK if i can find one.

9INE97

I went from manual to pdk and am loving the pdk. I miss the manual every now and then but think I would miss the pdk if I went back to a manual. The quick shifting up and down in manual sport mode is a blast.

nbzxdk

I second this opinion. I went from a PDK 997.2 to a 6-spd 997.2. Love them both. But I prefer the 6-spd for weekends (plus I don't do track days).

If the OP needs to drive the car daily especially in frequent stop and go traffic, personally I'd go with a PDK.

ATX_Native

My $0.02.

PDK/DSG is amazing.

I was one of the first adopters of DSG on a GTI.

Bought my MK5 GTI new in February 2006, a week after they hit dealers.

10 mos later I traded it for a manual, I was able to find a guy had a manual and just had knee surgery.

From my experience, there is no substitute for a manual if you like the engagement of a manual.

While technically impressive, a DSG or PDK will stay in auto most of the time and the act of shifting is not the same.

If you love rowing gears, wait for a manual.

My thread from back then:

Bored with my DSG

Quadcammer

I never personally purchased a PDK car, but I've had a 997.1TT and my mother has a 997.2 C4s PDK. I'm sure the PDK is great when driving super hard or on track, but around town, its a sharp-shifting automatic. For me it removed so much engagement, I'd rather drive my 200k mile E46 328i 5 speed sedan than that car. I'm a manual diehard, but for a street car, give me a stick all day, every day, and twice on sunday.

groovzilla

Until I am confined to a hospital bed, for me, Manual Transmission is the only way to go
I can understand how traffic/commuting makes a PDK decision happen.
I'd imagine I would greatly miss the engagement of driving MT.

ATX_Native

This is my thought as well.

When I am 80 and can no longer row gears, I don’t want to regret passing on manual cars for the past 35 years.

Also, so happy my wife can drive a manual.

911-997

If you are asking this question, then you probably will miss the 6spd manual transmission.

I had 997.2 C2S with PDK and the reason I sold it is because it was a PDK.

speedracerf4i

Yes, you'll most likely miss the manual.

I daily a manual BMW and have the manual C4S for the weekend. Wife has the PDK Macan S which I find it nice to drive. But even though I drive a stick everyday, I'd still look forward to drive the C4S on the weekend even just to buy groceries.
I was an early adopter of BMW's SMG and had an E60 545i SMG new in 2005. Drove it for 3 months and passed it on to my wife. I then bought a used E36 318ti 5 speed in which I still daily today.

I have a lot of friends who like me, started out driving manuals when they were young, and are now in their 50's, looking to rekindle their early driving emotions with a manual car. People are creature of habit.

ADias

You entered a religious war. I use either at will and find the PDK outstanding. Lack of involvement? It depends on one's mental interface - the PDK is a sequential shifter so shift at will, I do. Lacks a clutch pedal - is that important? I think not. I rarely use the PDK in full auto mode BTW, even in traffic I use manual shifting most of the time.

With a cool head and outside the religious shift wars - a manual transmission with a clutch pedal only existed because mechanically actuating the clutch was not possible 100 years ago.

850tgul

You, sir, have won at life. The thought of my wife driving a manual is laughable at best.

STALKER99

997.2 PDK is awful. 991 and up PDK is entirely different beast.

my 991.1 C4S pdk only stayed in my garage for a year….you see where I’m going with this.

If you a manual guy, you might not click with PDK in older car.

speedracerf4i

I agree that we shouldn't get religious about manual vs PDK. I think the OP is asking a question about "emotion", and not about which is better; Manual vs PDK, so we should not go there. The OP seems to be a manual guy worried about missing driving the manual once he buys a PDK car. In order to respond to OP's question relevantly, the prerequisite is that you should own, or once owned a manual firstly, and then went with, or have experience with PDK afterwards.

monochrom3

My personal experience as a 40-something with a kiddo:

• Prefer PDK (DSG in the case of my Golf) for daily/traffic
• Prefer manual for fun/weekend road driving
• Slight preference for PDK on track. I’d be happy with either (current track car is PDK) but don’t miss the manual