My wife has an Audi TT with a dual clutch and there is no chance I can get through the gears that fast with a manual. Will still miss the clutch though.

Ferrari, Maserati and others have already dropped the manual gearbox.

Link:
http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2013/2/20/Pors...l-Soon-7713024/

Yep....the new PDK is sounding the death knell of the manual.

Doesn't bother me at all, when's the last time you longed for a manual trans in a traffic jam or the last time an F1 car or LMP used a manual?

I will miss the art of the heal/toe and matching revs to make smooth shifts. CAD took the art out of drafting... so goes the art of shifting....

The only thing that sucks more than getting old? !!!!!!!!! PROGRESS!!!!!!!!

I think they will keep the manual. Some people don't want all the extra things on a car that can and will lead to higher maintenance costs. But this isn't just an automatic, right? You still get to shift? I think that is OK, because you still feel in control of the car, not that the car is driving you.

http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news..._pdk_interview/

I think the new 7 speed transmission is overkill. Over the years Porsche has gone from 4 to 5 and then to 6. Now that the new 991 has 7 forward gears, I have to think what is the purpose? All my 911's were 6-speed and I thought it was at the limit. Now with 7 is just seems ludicrous. I think it would feel like this:

It is there for efficiency... Have you ever driven a 991? It is just a taller 6th.

Having an older car with a Manual Gearbox is like having an extra Security Device - nobody in the future will know how to shift!

Very few Porsches sold today are equipped with a manual. Of all the cars we are updating now and have inbound we only have one manual scheduled which is a new 981S.

The PDK sucks to work around when we take 3.4 liter engines out to 4.2 L engines :-) We finally figured it out though.

I did during a launch event. I understand the purpose...it's just with 7 gears there is a lot of "rowing".

How many people who buy a new Porsche are more interested in being seen in it rather than actually driving it? The new gearboxes might be more efficient but for me at least a manual gear box is a lot more fun. I'll probably never buy a new Porshe anyway. I just enjoy older ones more. Maybe it's because I just turned 60. (About 6 years ago).

So the right hand will be the "pinky wave" hand now? Just getting it straight.

More like the lipstick and mascara hand.

Looks like they're heading towards continuously variable transmissions to get the best efficiency/power.

I sure as he&& long for a manual in a traffic jam. My wifes car coasts endlessly when I take my foot off the gas - no modulation of speed at all. My idea of proper highway driving is to use the brake as little as possible. I can modulate my speed very easy in Chicago or Seattle with a manual box, and am jerking everyone's heads with the automatics. So I for one will miss it. An analogous question: when you use the computer, how often do you find that what the software company thinks is the way things should go is the way you want it to be? You can put down your hundred grand and get the MacCar. After all, Google is working fast to have you not drive the car at all.

Just another way to ensure the average guy can't work on his own car

The only reason I use my brakes in S&G traffic, is so the A$$ hole behind me notices that I am slowing down! I like the back of my sweet ride to be unmolested! getting harder to find a manual these days, some dealers don't even stock them even if one is offered! others charge MORE for a manual tranny!

These cars have been well beyond that for a long time now. Just keeping up with the technology is a challenge even for us. Figuring out ways around it is a bigger challenge.

But taking a brand new car apart (with 12 miles on it) to make the engine 800ccs larger is crazy anyway :-)

a battery change isn't even a DIY unless you have a PIWIS/ PST2 or Autologic tool at your disposal.

SUVs, 4 doors, the suits and ties won some time ago. It’s kind of hard to care about no more manuals now…

Americans don't like to drive, but they like to brag about owning an expensive, fast car, and they expect to be entertained - look how many car ads focus on the electronic entertainment aspect of the car.

I also had to chuckle when taking my son to his driving school orientation a few years ago. The question of manual trannys came up - the instructors highly recommended against letting any of the students drive one until they had at least two years of experience because shifting is too distracting, and kids need to learn to "drive" first.

Then again, after 30 hours of classroom instruction, six hours of driving, and classes canceled twice for snow, not a single word was spoken about driving in snow! Oh, let's see you drop the auto in second to to help prevent wheel spin in the snow (yes, I know some autos can do this, but the vast majority of the rental car fleet I've driven over the years can't).

I'll stick with manual steering, manual brakes, cable clutch and throttle, etc.

It's official, Porsche is no longer a sports car company. It is now a luxury car company.

Konrad

I learned to drive on a manual Chevy four speed, and still love and prefer a manual.
However, for a family car with multiple Drivers, Wife, Daughter, etc. the manual was a problem. I have a Jetta with Tiptonic which I use the u shift position 90% of the time and I like it, don't love it but really like it in heavy traffic, grid lock and city traffic. I can see the next step being the way Porsche is going, and it is race proven to be the way to win, so be it. I'll still looking for a manual in my next car, most likely a used, not new ride.

I guess I'm lucky when it comes to family transportation - wife and kids have manuals, the big family mobile was recently replaced with a Suby Legacy GT wagon with a 5 speed - no more slugamatics

As soon as I got it home, on went this sticker

Click to view attachment

My feeling is a Manual Tranny keeps you engaged & in-tune with the Driving Process!

My DD is a manual trans. I get people at working asking how I can stand driving in traffic with it. I'll suffer the stop and go traffic just to enjoy blasting down the onramp or one twisty section of my drive.
The manufacturers would prefer one transmission choice and they hype up the fact that the race cars use manumatics. Then the owners get to talk about how their car shifts it's own gears in blah-blah milliseconds. I find them boring and when the newness wears off you end up driving in "D"
My opinion is that it is a money thing. The manufacturers get to sell more cars to people who can't drive them and then save money by offering less options.

No matter what POS you might be driving if it has a manual gearbox, it can be a riot to drive, from VW Bugs, Honda 500s (70's), through to modern small cars, beating the hell out of a car through the gears is entertaining, and the less insulated from the experience the better-if you enjoy driving.

Whereas all cars with crappy old school automatics (that shift when they want to), want to step out into the fast lane, 1-1000, 2-1000 and then and only then is there acceleration---scary.

PDK is probably brilliant in contrast, just like having a stick without the hastle (?) of having to use the clutch, I suppose. But shifting isn't a pain, it is part of the pleasure. And unfortunately, most cars aren't getting a PDK type automatic yet, better than the old auoboxes but not better than a stick. But the other manufacturers are abandoning the stick and with their departure manuals will die ultimately.

For the 5-10% of us that love driving on Sunday morning before the world wakes up and are home before they do, we would buy or might at least long for a new 911, Boxster or Cayman if it was light and raw like a 914. Unfortunately, we aren't (despite the commercials) who Porsche is marketing to.

One day soon they lose our interest, or did they lose it when the 911 became bloated and featureless from the outside (1990, 2000, 2013)? Or the entry price abandoned reasonable for your third car. How they will continue to draw interest overtime when they don't make a car the kids can think about owning before they are 50 is beyond me.

I wish they would bring out a VW-Porsche at "entry level" prices, keep it simple and light (think of a Lotus Elise w/o the high tech assemble/fiberglass) reasonable (they were never cheap), manual box, no navigation-my phone has that, 2-4 airbags instead of 12, less is better, but until then I'll keep looking back to the Porsches from the 80's and beyond.

Drive an old Porsche and you'll always have a smile on your face, even in rush hour. Manual tranmissions and those that love to drive them may be a dying breed , but we'll die happy.

Cheers

You know what rpm range your engine needs to be in, and plan accordingly.