I had ordered a CS coupe, tomorrow my dealer will tell me if it is still possible to make some changes. Most of them are concerning leather color, but science he told me that if in Germany still allows changes, I could do any other. My original choice was PDK, but I've been thinking about it and In not sure if I should change to Manual Transmission. This car will be a second car, just for the weekends and road trips w wife and future daughter. What are your opinions regarding fun, performance, etc? Thanks for helping me out solve this important dilemma.

 

The search function will reveal the long arguments about which choice is "better." Your preferences are key and no one here can tell you which one will make you and your family happier. My 991 is my second Porsche. My '08 Cayman S was a manual and I enjoyed the involvement of the manual (no PDK in '08). My wife enjoyed riding with me, but was intimidated by the manual and stalled the car occasionally. She didn't really like to drive the car and a Porsche is best experienced by driving it.

I got the 991 with PDK and now I have to share the car with my wife because she loves driving it. The PDK is somewhat less involving but in traffic the car is easier to drive and the experience is still delightful when the opportunity arises for some 'spirited' driving. The tradeoff is worth it for us and we have joined the majority of buyers who purchase with PDK.

Good luck with your choice.

 

Sounds to me like with your intended use you could save yourself some money with the MT.

ChuckJ

 

Go testdrive both and decide what's best for YOU !
For me it's PDK hands down.

 

I've been driving 911s daily for almost 25 years now ... I would never have considered getting anything other than a MT ... until I drove the PDK in the 991. I own one now and am really enjoying it. You can be as involved with it as you want to be, but it is nice if you are stuck in traffic or navigating a parking lot to just kick it back into auto. Plus now my wife can drive if it I break a leg or something

If you can still make a change, get down to the dealer and take out a demo with the PDK and wring it out a little. See what you think.

 

First Porsche for me but drove MT BMWs and auto Mercedes before. Test drove both but PDK was easy decision for me. Good luck!

 

^What he said.

 

PDK is lots of fun when you want it to be and nice when you don't want it to be. If you are being aggressive and in manual sport plus mode it shift really aggressively/hard and blindingly fast. I went shopping thinking manual and PDK won the day.

Launch control is something you don't do every day but when you do it is sure to bring a smile.

 

Agree with Chuck.
Second car, weekend jaunts, get a MT for a little more variation from your daily driver.

Neither is better, just different...

 

Very personal choice and quite frankly I wish I could have one of each. Clearly this is not reasonable. If I didn't live in the NJ/NY metro area and congestion was not an issue, I'm pretty sure I would get the MT. I had a 997 TT MT and would many times not take the car as I knew during certain times of the year the traffic could be brutal and would take the truck. With the 991 PDK I drive it as much as I want and not worry about having to deal with the MT in traffic. As an example, I live 16 miles from work but it could take 1 hr plus to get home on bad days. That's a lot of clutch work.

IMO the connection to the car with the MT cannot be duplicated in terms of "feeling" the car. Do I love my PDK? Hell yeah. Would I love the MT? Hell yeah! Again, wish I could have one of each.

For my personal situation I went with PDK but could easily have the MT. Would prob drive a bit less with MT so I opted for PDK.

 

With all what have been said in the above posts...for me it's 7MT all the way. PDK is faster...true, PDK is easier in traffic...true for those who may have to actually think about shifting when driving.. If you were going to track the car and time ( even 100ths of a sec) were important...PDK is better. BUT, if you are driving for the pleasure of motoring, feeling in touch with the car as if it were part of you then the 7MT should be the choice. Just my .02.

 

The PDK was a huge reason for my choosing a Porsche. MT's are a blast, except in traffic. I live in Dallas. PDK for me.

 

As a proud MT owner, I am surprised to read so many posts about the hesitance to use a clutch in daily traffic.

Granted, when I test drove a MT with a 100 miles of the clock the clutch was extremely stiff.
When I finally picked up my DD MT the clutch pedal was also very stiff. However, several thousand miles later it's much softer no different from all the other MT's I've owned.

Is my clutch so much softer than others?

 

This is very personal to your feeling - test drive both and make your decision.

For me, it was a dilemma but in the end I chose the MT. Even with the traffic in the DC metro region, it is great to drive. I do love the rev-matching in Sport Plus mode - I am not a natural heel and toe person. In addition, the rev-matching does support a smoother drive.

Saying all that, I would also love the PDK. I will save that for the turbo or GT3.

Happy hunting!!!

 

I test drove a Cayman S w/ PDK, and it convinced me not to buy the PDK. It's a lot better (and faster) than the garden-variety automatic, but it's still an auto.

YMMV.

As noted above, you should drive both and get whatever you like best. That said, the observations in the various threads seem to come down to this:

> For a daily commute in city traffic, PDK. (unless you don't mind clutch wear)
> For a daily commute on back roads, MT. (unless you spend a lot of that time on a cell phone and prefer less-active driving)
> For weekend back-road blasting, MT.
> For track days - whichever you're more comfortable with.
> For drag racing, PDK. No contest.
> For bench racing and bragging rights, PDK.