My Carrera  2S is now 4 month old and I have done 7000 km. (  BTW , I still have not found a buyer for my C4S.1 , and my price in under market price !!!!!   )

Here are my impressions about PDK.

The minus :

1. The choice of putting the puddles on the steering wheel was wrong (except for the former tip drivers). There should of been the option to have paddles on the steering wheel column (like on the Ferrari) the more I drive the car, the more obvious this becomes. At the beginning I was fine with this setting, having the gear selectors so ' close' to my hands felt good.  Now I think it is wrong for a sporty car. It is too much like a joy stick. I also sometimes do not know in what gear I am and have to look on the dash board. This tells the lack of involvment it gets too.

I have been caught in situations with my hands on the wrong place on the steering wheel and wanting to change gear. Impossible!

The feeling is less involving and less sporty with this setting.

There are too many different choices.

2. Pushing on the gear stick to go up a gear, pulling to go down is definitely counter intuitive.

I had a very open mind about this at the beginning, thinking I was going to get used to it as I had never had this type of gear box before , but , after 4 month of using it, I  so often still have to concentrate to do the right move !!!  And, in fast reaction moments, when it is the instinct that takes over, I have, a few times, downshifted when I wanted to up shift!!!!!!!! That is not good!!!  I do not use the gear lever anymore for this reason.

3. The normal mode is absolutely boring and only good for congested traffic, or wanting to use the least petrol possible, or when my wife is in the passenger seat. She does not want to vomit anymore when I drive in this mode  

4. I hate the 7th gear

5. I hate the feeling when putting the car in reverse gear

6. The gear box has been stuck 3 times in neutral, in the morning, when it was very cold.

The pluses:

1. Accelerating full blast in sports mode gives so much pleasure! The speed of the gear changes is so impressive, the acceleration is strong, and I feel I have a Turbo

2. The overall speed change is so good that I can control the car better in twisties

3. I definitely use less petrol, as I end up driving in normal mode more then what I would like to.

4. When on ' automatic' the selection of the gears is perfect. BUT, I do prefer to change the gears myself, even if letting the car do the job would be more efficient, I put the setting in manual most of the time.

5. I am now learning to brake with my left foot (have done it now for the last 10 days) and that opens some new driving techniques, that I can't wait to try on a track.

 

I have not driven the car on a track yet, and I need to do it in order to have my final opinion in this PDK.

 

For now I am only 40% happy with it. I do feel this type of gearbox is the future and I do not regret (just just) to have chosen it, but Porsche has kept this setting far too ' tip' oriented. The puddles on the steering wheel are definitely a wrong choice for a sporty driver, as is the push/pull choice on the gear stick.


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 997.2 C2S, PDK, -20mm