Your two 60's cars would count toward making you an enthusiast (at least you use to be). I am not sure your actually own a Porsche, but a Bentley doesn't qualify as enthusiast motoring to me. It's more like an armchair with a lot of horsepower.
As to whether the people who keep their Porsches in Manual mode; I thought it might be human nature to relax after a time with the PDK and just let it do the shifting since it's so efficient. After a time, if you get use to that, you can actually forget how satisfying it is to manually shift.
I had a GT3 in '04 and put 19,000 miles on it in a year. Loved it but I was swayed by the oozing sexuality of the Stradale. I got rid of the GT3 and bought a 360CS. The car was a beaut and fast as the devil. It was a monster on the track and it performed as well or better than my GT3. After a time I didn't feel as good driving it as I originally did. As it turned out, My son had a GT3. I borrowed his car one day and drove the canyons in Santa Monica and Malibu and had a blast. I knew then that I had to get get another Porsche and get back to the stick . I wanted to get a 599 manual but I was talked out of it by the dealer. He said the car would never feel right. So I bought another GT3. It was a blast all over again. I took the car to Sebring and had a bang up time. Unfortunately Ferrari no longer offers anything in stick, so that marque was out for me.
So to get back to you and your insulting remarks after foot in mouth, etc. One of my points was, in all these posts , to find out how many "enthusiasts" did what I did. Traded the manual for the "auto-manual", and was lulled into using it in auto mode more and more often until they felt they had given up some of the fun they use to have driving a manual.
I had no choice in the Strad, it did not have an auto setting. I had to paddle shift it all the time. Even so, it wasn't as satisfying.

Owning a new Ferrari F355 Spider and a new R8 V10 Spyder, both with gated, manual 6-speeds also qualifies me as an enthusiast. Not necessarily a Porsche enthusiast quite yet because mine is only on paper and scheduled to be built in July. I fully expect to become a Porsche enthusiast, though.

Since when do you have to only love sportscars to be a car enthusiast? I haven't owned a true sportscar yet (glad it's on order now), but I'm very sure that I am a bigger car enthusiast then a lot of people here.
Car enthusiast means to me that you love cars in general. Sportscars are only a part of that. I love the sound of a big old american V8 in an old mustang or a hemi. Those vehicles aren't even close to be a true sportscar. But they are part of automotive history and if you love that, that's what makes you a car enthusiast. But that's just my opinion....

Suzy991

Suzy,

It seems that some Porschefiles think that there is no other car worth driving and that the owners/drivers of those other cars are all posers, not real enthusiasts. They discount the value of an SL63, M6, ZR1, SRT, XKR, etc as all having fatal flaws the most egregious of which is that they aren't "true" sports cars. Not to mention that some cars are GTs and can bring a great deal of joy to their enthusiastic owners, and not raw sports cars, but these are also marginalized by the "true" Porschefile's narrow viewpoint.

They aren't only negative toward all other marques but also critical of other Porsches. Caymans and Boxsters aren't "real Porsches" I've read on this forum more than once. Cabriolets are for posers, not for serious enthusiasts because one would prefer a coupe on the track to the open top car. The subset of these Porschefiles are those who track their cars and look down their noses at those who don't. And, of course, drivers of PDK Porsches are also diminished and marginalized by this elite group of people who think they are responsible for Porsche being the success it has become because they have bought and driven many 911s over the decades and therefore expect Porsche to repay them by only catering to their whims and desires, even if it is to the exclusion of a wider demographic. That ain't happening because Porsche is a business and they are in the business of making money. And if they can attract more buyers by giving them a roomier, more comfortable interior and ride while still making their cars faster, more trackable and better handling than their predecessors, and can attract a wider audience thereby, you can bet that's the direction they will keep taking even if it upsets the purists.

Totally agree.

I really adore Porsche and all of its cars and heritage the company has, but my view goes beyond the length of my nose. (Lucky me... I would hurt my nose against every wall in the house if I hadn't build-in bumpers).
Everyone has of course the right to have his or her own opinion. I have mine too, but I'm always open for other opinions regardless if I agree with that opinion or not. I can learn from every opinion that's different from mine. Too bad some Porschefiles have such a narrow viewpoint.

Suzy991

Lrattner,

I would only offer my Dad's advice that I, too often, ignored "quit while you are behind"!. We take your point, and, in a phrase that no politician ever wants to hear, "that is a very brave position you are taking."

My 997CS Cab ( I am already wearing a skirt in some circles for driving a cab - but I have great legs!) was manual. My 2006 Mustang GT cab is manual (there is that skirt thing again - and American muscle - obviously not a "real" sports car guy). My 991 has PDK and I love it. I am only in manual mode when I hit one of the buttons on my multi-function steering wheel (what? No paddles? To quote Homer, no not the Greek one, " Doog") so that I can downshift to floor it to pass or go get on the highway. I love how the engine screams.

If that makes me not an enthusiast in some books, and not a real car guy in other books, I can live very comfortably with that. I don't read those books anyway. I designed the car for me and I am the only one who has to like how I drive it (well, and the police).

But please keep contributing! JMO!

Highway
95% Auto

City and Inspiring Roads
50% Auto
50% Manual

So true. It's a testament to the 911's versatility that it attract such a wide variaty of drivers. And we can only embrace that. Porsche would be bankrupt if they'd only listen to the purists, and then we'd have no 911 at all !

I don't mind Porsche offering PDK at all. I would just like the option to order a manual on all the sports cars, including the GT3.

And the new Turbo. I'm sick that I'll never be able to order a brand new turbo with a manual.

How do we text, check and respond to email, face time, drink coffee, shave, put on make up etc etc going at 120 without pdk? . Yes, people do all kind of crazy things while driving.

No doubt we all love our 911 here, at the end of the day, its main purpose is still a transportation that take us from point A to point B. But a very fun transportation. As long as it put a smile on your face, it really does not matter you own stick or pdk.

If I can still get in and out of any sport car down the road, any auto or dual clutch will be one huge reason that I do not have to drive a boat like sedan.

When I had it ---- 100%

Pure entertainment.

Thanks!

One of the biggest issues with offering manual with the new cars and the advanced electronics with computers is the ability to actually make the car function properly. I tried to order a 599 Ferrari and the dealer told me it would be a big mistake (when the were still making manuals for them). He told me he had a client that insisted on manual for it and when it got the car, he found it almost impossible to drive. He had it for a week and traded it for a F-1.
That may be the real issue and those who like to feel really connected through a manual will have to resort to getting older cars to scratch the manual itch.

I think you have a point there. But to be honest, the Ferrari F1 transmission is very, very good for track use or fast, inspired driving, but on the other hand a pain in the *** when it comes to drive in traffic or at slow speeds in the city. It's as unrefined as it can get. (In a 360 that is, don't know if the newer cars are better in that area)
If I wanted a Ferrari, I think I also would prefer a manual.

That said, such a powerfull car is not as easy to drive with a manual as for example a BMW 5 series or whatever "normal" car.
You have to know what you're doing, otherwise it can be difficult and you'll end up with expensive repairs. The margin between doing it the right way and ruin the whole clutch/transmission is much, much smaller, because of the higher requirements to the transmission that come with such powerful engines. Here in Europe, almost everyone can operate a MT, but that does not mean that they can drive a MT sportscar.

In that point of view I get your whole opinion that it is not suited for everyone to drive powerful sportscars with MT and that only "experienced" drivers can drive a car like that. But experienced drivers do not necessarily have to be older men. I've done several racing schools and I've driven manuals, race cars with sequential, automatics/dual clutch, all on tracks. Every transmission has its good and bad things. But there's a lot more than only a transmission than can make you feel good in a car. It's the whole feel of the car. How it communicates with you thru the steering wheel, how the car makes you feel.
If it brings a smile to your face, the car does the job. No matter if it is a manual or a PDK or whatever it is.

Recently I drove an Abarth 695 (fiat 500). And it put a big smile on my face. Not because it was that fast, but it was fun to drive. Exhaust sound was amazing and addictive. And yes.... It was a manual...

Suzy991