Today I had the paddle PDK steering wheel retrofitted to my 997.2 S. 

I haven’t had any significant problems with the buttons myself, but the shape and thickness of the original wheel didn’t fit me very well.

The new steering wheel was ordered through Tequipment and what you get is the part without the airbag and the centre cover. These two parts are taken from the old steering wheel. The cost to me was 970 Euro incl. 15% VAT fitted on the car.

My old steering wheel was multifunction and obviously I have sacrificed this convenience.

Although, I haven’t had the chance to drive the car a lot because it was raining heavily and the roads were congested, my initial impressions are very positive.

  • The size, shape and thickness of the new item are perfect IMO. It falls naturally to hand and this enhances driving pleasure and subjective sense of car control significantly. Gone is the odd thickness of the original at unsuitable places like the 9 and 3 o’clock position.
  • If you use the PDK in manual the paddles are handier than buttons. However, I’ve been using D much of the time with the car and overriding with the buttons, so if this is your preference the paddle don’t make much difference. Who knows now with the paddles I could have an incentive to use manual mode more!
  • The paddles fall easily to the fingers and you don't accidentally touch the wiper of indicator stalks that are located behind them.
  • The appearance of the new wheel is many times better than the plasticky, creaky, volcano grey original and enhances the look of the interior. 

    Interestingly in the Carrera when you switch Sport or Sport Plus the information is displayed both on the rev counter and the left spoke of the wheel. On the Turbo the info appears only on the wheel. The Launch Control info appears only on the rev counter and not on the right spoke of the wheel for 09 models. 

    IMO it is a worthwhile modification if only for the shape and feel of the new wheel.

    Some pictures

    pdk 004.jpg

pdk 001.jpgpdk 003.jpg

 


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It's not where you're going, it's how you get there that counts