Re: 997 facelift more info
Quote:
DaveC said:
PDK was bound to be compromised when Porsche decided to make it a substitute for the Tiptronic. I has presumed, erroneously, that PDK would be a third transmission choice priced higher than the Tip, as an enthusiast alternative similar to the Ferrari F1. Once PDK became the new Tiptronic, design compromises were inevitable since the intended audience is far more diverse. Frankly the styling changes are minimal and certainly would not justify the potentially formidible financial losses to move from mk I to mk II.
I think you're on the mark here. Others have pointed out that the user interface logic of PDK is consistent with the Tip, so Porsche may have gone for a strategy to keep the existing Tip owners rather than attracting new ones who want a pure performance tool. We have to see how it drives of course...
But it occurs to me that the 911/S range are still their bread and butter models - if P wanted to be really brave for the harder core models like GT3, it could offer a performance tuned model of PDK -- without an automatic mode (and with real paddles?). That would send a message that they understand all the possible users for their cars.
