Marine Blue

One of the reasons I also picked manual is the unkown future maintenance and parts availability.

The other reason I picked manual.

I wasn't impressed with how the M3 with SMG worked which may have affected my decision. I realize PDK is light years better than the previous generation SMG, something I have yet to determine.

MY DD is a 6spd also and there are definitely days when I wish I didn't have to shift, especially when stuck in traffic. For a DD I would definitely prefer PDK, just makes more sense to have your cake and eat it too!

petee1997

If I had to do it over again, my choice would be PDK. This is my 6th and final 911 and I will have to live with it. Hopefully one of my grandchildren will have learned to drive a MT by the time I am ready to give it away.

gravedgr

Interesting you put it that way, as the PDK vs. manual poll in the Panorama indicates that more than 2/3 of 911 owners/respondants either prefer or own a manual.

No HTwo O

Hi Grandpa, it's me, Billy!

winkingchef

Log me as a young guy (30's) who prefers manual.

I've driven Boxster Spyder, Cayman R and various 911's in PDK form on a track at the latest "Porsche Driving Experience". I found the whole experience somewhat underwhelming.

To be fair, I wasn't used to the system, but I couldn't help feeling that the smooth shifting was taking something away from the experience. For me, part of the fun of racing around a track is doing those beautiful blips on downshift - it feels so good when you nail them. I love the "dance on the pedals" as I go around tight bends. Even after nearly 20 years driving a manual, I feel like I am still learning some of the subtleties and that is gratifying.

To be clear, I'm not hating on others' choices. Just stating reasons for my own in the hopes that the product people hear from a (hopefully) future multiple time Porsche customer. Please keep MT an option for those of us who want it.

Alan Smithee

For some, a manual transmission is infinitely more fun. And for some, the fun factor is the reason why we have Porsches.

I find PDK just as boring as any other automatic transmission, regardless of the technology involved.

triode

+1. Not denigrating those who choose PDK, just because it doesn't stir my soul; to each his own.

GSIRM3

Agreed.

rodsky

Thats sorta backwards logic. Porsche is making less 6MT's simply because less people want them. They can sell less. If everyone wanted a 6MT, trust me they would be making them. You order one, you get one - simple.

If only 20-30% people want 6MT's when time comes to sell your highly depreciated asset, a much smaller population of people will even consider it. I dont see how that makes it more valuable.

How many people are buying typewriters today? But if you want to really have one, maybe you'll pay a premium for one over a MAC.

rodsky

This is my 4th 911 and first PDK. Dont need to depress a clutch pedal to stir my soul. I can manually shift gears with the lever or paddle. I just dont depress the clutch. Not sure i would go back to a 6MT.

sandwedge

With that I think I will take issue. A hard run from standstill to 60 in a PDK car with sport chrono and an exhaust to match, in sport plus, is hell unleashed compared to the same exercise in a tip car. Except for a tip turbo perhaps. For the record, I used to be in the "automatics are for people who don't like to drive camp" but I'm having a lot of fun with this. I'm probably in manual mode 80% of the time. Pop it in auto when my mind is somewhere else or in grill to bumper traffic.

Mike in CA

Manuals have been in 911's for 47 years; PDK's for 3. There's a much larger imbedded base of MT owners and people vote in a poll like that for what they have and know. A better measure, especially for the purposes of this discussion, is what the current choice of the market is, and I think that is fairly clear.

CarGuy21

Huge 2nd and well said.

simsgw

I agree also. Lots of things we can say about technical merit but they don't matter. A bullet train is also more modern transport solution than any car, but I wouldn't choose one as the way to cross Europe unless I was pressed for time.

I don't object to people enjoying their PDK's. That's what our cars are about, but the only performance measure that I felt mitigated against a PDK for us is that I never met an automatic algorithm that could pick when to shift for comfort as well as I can. From comments of so many owners, I am willing to grant that Porsche may have resolved that as well as the speed-on-track issue. That's great and not really surprising from Porsche. But it doesn't change my answer.

You see the complexities of shifting are part of the joy of operating a car. A car that destroys that joy with clumsiness would be one I'd buy with an automatic if I considered the car at all. The Acura TL of a few years ago made me feel that way. The new one may be different, but that was definitely a car that needed an automatic.

On the other hand, even a car with a great manual transmission can offer a great self-shifter alongside. I don't begrudge that choice to people who no longer find joy in executing a perfect manual shift. Hell, I even enjoyed this one in the middle of a Sigalert on the San Diego freeway, but my left leg did mention that was a case where a PDK would have been welcome.

I give you joy of your PDK's, though I don't want one.

Incidentally, a small quibble. You can't do a manual shift in a PDK car and you really should quit calling it that. All you can do is pick the time when the system shifts for you. That isn't even slightly a "manual shift." I also grant there's elegance in picking just the right time to order that shift be made, but it still isn't a shift done by the driver. Just a choice you could have made as easily from a remote location if pressed. A quibble, as I said. At most times certainly, but it is relevant when comparing the joie d'vivre of the choices.

Gary

Ynot

So true, it's the reason why I'm not driving AMG's. It's the performance and the 6speed manual that made me jump to a Porsche. If PDK was the only option. I would probably be driving something else right now.