Hi John.
This one had flappy paddles after being told it was the original PDK buttons.
What can I say, Launch Control is epic!
PDK with Flappy Paddles - Works for me and not a mooo in sight.
Buy this without Sport Plus and you're missing a treat.
This one was in white with an aero kit on it along with those centre locking nut arrangements on the wheels.
Although I am a traditionalist at heart and do prefer the Manual I concede that PDK with Flappies is actually pretty good.
What I did like is if you drive it in manual mode and sport enabled, it never touched 7th gear and it cannot be selected. The ride was fairly hard also in sport mode which pleased me to be honest.
Things I did notice.
The PCM 3 module looked a bit cheap (cheaper than the Gen I thought), however the Sat Nav was leaps and bounds above PCM 2.1. Mind you, I got a demo from the co driver but wasn't really paying attention if you know what I mean as we were, well lets say I couldn't take my eyes off the road.
With the Flappy Paddles on they were quite close to the indicator/headlight stalks and I caught them a couple of times, no biggie though.
The Adaptive Sports seats (albeit you can get them in the Gen I) were very nice and certainly very supportive. However, I prefer being able to adjust the seat forward and backward by hand rather than wait for the electrics to do their thing. Too much fannying around.
It felt very secure, even on greasy wet roads which will certainly increase confidence albeit I will say, and it's been said before, it didn't feel as involved as the 2WD derivative. Bit of a daft thing to say given the time I was in it, but just initial thoughts. I'm sure in time that would change. My co driver did say something about only 2% drive being applied to the front wheels at certain times but if I'm honest I might of misheard him.
The steering wheel I like a lot, felt very good quality albeit perhaps a tad too luxurious for a sports car.
Generally the cabin was pretty much the same in terms of quality of finish although the Turbo felt heavier and more solid than my C2S.
Switch gear operated a bit smoother than in mine if I recall correctly which might make you think twice about whether you've engaged it properly but that was probably me in something different if you know what I mean and not used to it.
I know this sounds stupid, and it's probably in the way it delivers the power, but the Turbo never really made me think it was that quick in the 70mph region, but once you were on it at proper speeds it certainly took off, enough to put a smile of my face which was encouraging, but in such away you wouldn't be criticised for letting the speed creep in without really knowing. Definate License loser.
I've never driven the 996 Turbo but from what my passenger was saying the 997 is more supercharged acceleration where the 996 has a certain point on the rev counter where it propels you into oblivion. Can't comment on that but the 997 certainly eats the tarmac made easier by the car being white and everyone just got out of the way. So something to consider for the future. White, just works.
Downshifts were incredible but they were different depending on whether you were in Sport or Sport Plus. It did blip on the downshift also, but because the engine/exhaust note isn't loud, it's a little difficult to hear at times. The smoothness of flat Shifting was dependent on the Sport mode also, but which ever you choose it's incredible particularly when in sport plus and you get the 0.2s shifts. , you don't get a big kick in the ars*
I tried tricking the gearbox but it was faultless albeit I didn't really get time to really get used to it. Only had 45 minutes as I've said.
I had a go at changing gear without actually trying to feel the change and did it quite easily. Incredible piece of engineering yet sort of posessed by the devil if you know what I mean.
Thumbs up really. If it were the same price as the GT3 it would be too difficult to make a decision either way...
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