2014 Turbo, PDK only!

HardDrive · 05-02-2013, 06:25 PM

Bring on the grousing from the air-cooled mafia.....

New Details on the Upcoming 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo | Edmunds.com

enzo1 · 05-02-2013, 07:49 PM

thats going to be a beast

speeder · speeder's Garage

As much as I love my 911s with 3 pedals, you just have not lived until you've driven a true modern super car with state-of-the-art paddle shifters. You better have seriously good reflexes if you want mess with this car.

shinrai · 05-03-2013, 03:43 AM

Speeder is correct.
I recently went for a ride in a 997T PDK with work done to it. It changed my opinion on the whole PDK thing. It is so fast you cannot even process what´s coming at you.

Jim Richards · 05-03-2013, 04:00 AM

This air-cooled guy lusts for that PDK turbo.

javadog · 05-03-2013, 04:03 AM

F'ing bastards. I hate the PDK.

JR

onewhippedpuppy · 05-03-2013, 04:11 AM

Sounds like a beast. I have zero doubt that the PDK is faster than a manual, probably quite a bit more so. But more fun? I doubt it. After the F1 gearbox in my Maserati, I'm not buying another automated manual gearbox. Not that Porsche cares about me, I'm not buying any $100k+ cars anytime soon.

MFAFF · 05-03-2013, 04:24 AM

A beast indeed...

I think 'fun' is not a word associated with driving any modern fast car fast.......the sheer performance ability of these machines means the 'fun' part of the driving is only reached on a track.. and the aim there is normally to be as fast as possible...fun doesn't give you bragging rights afterwards.

If fun is the primary goal then an older or lower powered car may provide far more of it day to day on the road than one of these.....

Now if someone could give me a car to try out for the next few months I'd happily devote a serious amonut of time to the research......

Shuie · 05-03-2013, 04:28 AM

Beast. Agreed 100%.

It will probably be another 10yrs before I can afford to buy one of these used, but I wouldn't want anything else in this car. I probably wouldn't be able keep it out of the ditch if it had a manual gearbox anyway. These new cars are amazing. It's hard to believe that they are drivable, or that anyone with the money can walk into a dealership and buy one to drive on the street.

Jim Richards · 05-03-2013, 04:34 AM

Sure, operating a clutch and stick shift is ingrained in us, but, if a better (and faster) way to keep an engine in its power band is available, why not embrace it? IMO, the fun isn't in the shifting. I love to make the suspension and engine work as intended. Rowing through gears is a distraction, especially if you mess up a shift.

dtw · 05-03-2013, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Sure, operating a clutch and stick shift is ingrained in us, but, if a better (and faster) way to keep an engine in its power band is available, why not embrace it? IMO, the fun isn't in the shifting. I love to make the suspension and engine work as intended. Rowing through gears is a distraction, especially if you mess up a shift.

You may be right. I've been a stick shift purist all my life, but a while back I got behind the wheel of a 996tt. No idea what was done to it, but it was modified. The car was so fast, so capable, that shifting became much more of a distraction than an enjoyable part of the driving experience. I'm ready to try a PDK on a car like this.

This new car looks promising. The 997tt front end is just awful, too busy. The front of this one looks to be much cleaner.

berettafan · 05-03-2013, 05:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Sure, operating a clutch and stick shift is ingrained in us, but, if a better (and faster) way to keep an engine in its power band is available, why not embrace it? IMO, the fun isn't in the shifting. I love to make the suspension and engine work as intended. Rowing through gears is a distraction, especially if you mess up a shift.

I am slowly coming to this opinion as well. A client of mine showed up with a new 550 with the sport package and paddle shifters. Felt so right. Didn't drive it but by the time I stepped out of the car I was so taken by it I found my self rationalizing an $850/mo lease/payment.

Heck if there was a lightweight and reasonably priced clutchless/no stick system avail. to be retrofitted to an early 911 I'd put it on the list.

Shuie · 05:08 AM

They are big. I was shocked at how much bigger they seem next to a 996/997. I still love my old lightweight slower smaller air cooled cars w/manual gearboxes, but I would probably sell them to buy one of these new cars if the money was even.

javadog · 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Richards

Sure, operating a clutch and stick shift is ingrained in us, but, if a better (and faster) way to keep an engine in its power band is available, why not embrace it?

Keeping an engine in it's power band is all about the spread of the gear ratios and has nothing much to do with whether it's shifted by you, or a servo. The problem with PDK is that Porsche uses it to increase the fuel mileage. In the normal mode, upshifts are done at ridiculously low rpm levels. Drive a PDK off of a stoplight and it sounds like a 4 cylinder minivan with a rod knock. It upshifts faster than my Audi sedans. Yeah, you can run it in sport mode, or shift manually, but I still hate the things. I don't really care if it shaves a tenth or two off of the 0-60 times.

JR

BReif61 · 05-03-2013, 05:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shuie

They are big. I was shocked at how much bigger they seem next to a 996/997. I still love my old lightweight slower smaller air cooled cars w/manual gearboxes, but I would probably sell them to buy one of these new cars if the money was even.

There was a 991 parked next to a 997 at the swap meet in Hershey, and I must say you are 110% correct. It looked massive.

I wonder if the increased size is part of the reason they introduced the rear-steer?

speeder · speeder's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by BReif61

There was a 991 parked next to a 997 at the swap meet in Hershey, and I must say you are 110% correct. It looked massive.

I wonder if the increased size is part of the reason they introduced the rear-steer?

Definitely not. I've seen plenty of 991s on the street, both moving and parked and I haven't noticed this difference in size. Not doubting that it's physically larger, but doubting that it's a big difference.

speeder · speeder's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by javadog

Keeping an engine in it's power band is all about the spread of the gear ratios and has nothing much to do with whether it's shifted by you, or a servo. The problem with PDK is that Porsche uses it to increase the fuel mileage. In the normal mode, upshifts are done at ridiculously low rpm levels. Drive a PDK off of a stoplight and it sounds like a 4 cylinder minivan with a rod knock. It upshifts faster than my Audi sedans. Yeah, you can run it in sport mode, or shift manually, but I still hate the things. I don't really care if it shaves a tenth or two off of the 0-60 times.

JR

Have to say, that's a weird reason to hate them. The way they sound pulling away from a red light in suburbia?? Have you ever heard some cock knocker trying to drive a stick in traffic? Sounds like a wounded ferret. Though I do know what you mean and don't like the "quick shift" sound either. From a practical standpoint, it's great--a system that minimizes fuel consumption during slow driving.

As you well know, Ferrari has offered either a manual or F1 paddle shift in its sports models for many years now. Owners, (and I assume the resale market), prefer the F1 by an overwhelming margin...I'm guessing 20:1 or greater. It took me a while to wrap my head around them but now I would only want a newer Ferrari with F1. Bottom line is that you should reserve judgement until you drive a 991 with PDK. They are beyond belief.

VincentVega · 05-03-2013, 06:45 AM

Wheelbase increase changes the looks a bit, for me at least.

Love the ultimate capabilities of the new cars, really amazing stuff. Thing is, the older I get the less I care about speed. I love challenge of mastering a downshift, getting the suspension to take a set or finding the perfect braking point.

Being far from perfect I rarely accomplish said tasks but when I do, or even get close, it sucks me in to try it again. I loved my limited track time with the 991, it was video game, laugh out loud fun, but not what I'm looking for right now.

willtel · 05-03-2013, 06:45 AM

Press photos are out and the UK configurator is up.

javadog · 05-03-2013, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

Have to say, that's a weird reason to hate them. The way they sound pulling away from a red light in suburbia??

It's not the way they sound that bugs me the most, although I think all the watercooled motors sound like junk in comparison to the aircooled ones, it's the fact that 100 feet from a dead stop the thing's in 4th gear and turning less than 2000 revs. I don't drive a sports car like a diesel truck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

As you well know, Ferrari has offered either a manual or F1 paddle shift in its sports models for many years now. Owners, (and I assume the resale market), prefer the F1 by an overwhelming margin...

Having owned Ferraris and been in the Ferrari Club for years, I'm familiar with the average Ferrari owner. Not all of them are bad guys but a bunch of them have no business owning a car like that. My wife decided at one point, after the last time we hosted a FCA club gathering, to not allow them back in our house. Ever...

I've also experienced the clutchless abomination that BMW introduced years ago, the various Maseratis (the early Quattroporte was a real turd) and others.

Not for me, thanks. I drive an Audi S8 that has an auto trans, when I want to relax a bit. Thanksfully, Audi gave that car transmission programming that makes sense, not something that squeezes every last meter out of an ounce of gas. You'd have to drive something like that back-to-back with a PDK to appreciate where I'm coming from.

JR