Senna
New member
It's been 3 months and 2500 miles since buying my new 997.2 in March and I thought I'd post some more feedback for those looking at buying PDK equipped cars.
Firstly, in my view Porsche should definitely look at giving us an intermediate setting between normal 'D' (or drive) mode and 'Sports' mode.
As many have already commented, Porsche have overdone it with their eco friendly D mode in that it attempts to hit 7th gear as soon as possible (without labouring the engine of course). Unfortunately driving in D mode with a reasonably light right foot makes the car feel as powerful as a 1.6 Focus. This is ok in town driving most of the time and sure when you put your foot down it changes later (or changes down a gear, from 7th to 6th which to be honest is still no good on most occasions). The problem and end result of D mode is the fact that the car lacks immediate and semi-subtle throttle responses one sometimes needs. The best way to get immediate response (EG for overtaking) aside from old fashioned kick-down (makes me cringe when I day those words) is to give the PDK paddles a few clicks to get it into lower gears. That's not as clear cut as it seems. I've done the following a couple times, travelling at 40-45mph in 7th (that's the gearboxes decision not mine) I commit to a fairly routine and safe overtaking manoeuvre by proceeding with a couple clicks down (not really knowing if the car is in 6th or 7th without resorting to taking my eyes off the road to look at the small square gear display on the dash) and whoops, not enough acceleration because was it turns out I was in 7th and now I'm in 5th (and on the wrong side of the road. Holy 1.6 focus! I need two more clicks now to take me down to 3rd for proper warp drive and safe overtaking.
Of course I could drive the thing in manual and keep messing around with the push pulls as I like to call them, (and this is great on occasion when Fleetwood Mac's Chains is playing via the ipod) but much of the time I really couldn't be bothered and want a more comfortable hassle free journey.
Sports mode is definitely not for me 95% of the time. There is no way this is enjoyable in and around London and what you end up with is a revvy manic mode which in my view is totally useless in busy parts of the country.
I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult for Porsche to come up with a programme that's a good half way house between the two.
One other gripe I have is something that I've never seen mentioned which in all honesty is quite weird as I'm pretty sure the following is the case for all PDK's.
Like many auto's (another cringy word) the car tends to keep nudging forward when D is engaged. The effect of the drivers foot on the brake pedal seems to almost put the gearbox/drive into neutral. Nothing wrong with this, in fact this is optimal for many reasons. Unfortunately, when wanting to set off from traffic lights or worse, join a main road, if your foot comes off the brake pedal and goes onto the accelerator pedal too quickly, the car just revs until THUD the gear engages. Apart from frightening you to death that you broke the car, or people behind you start hooting because 2 seconds have passed since the lights went green, there is also the fact that the oncoming car is almost on top of you before you actually get any drive into the pedal.
I've since learned to cheat by not having my foot fully depressed on the brake pedal. Instead I press the pedal very lightly whereby the car is almost on the verge of nudging forward but not quite. This is not as easy as it sound because the difference between the car going into neutral mode and being in gear is quite literally a few millimetres of brake pedal movement. The system is very clever, I've tried holding the car at traffic lights with the handbrake and this sends it to neutral too. Porsche should really be looking to cut this delay time by some way as as the end result is that it's really disconcerting and on some occasions actaully quite dangerous!
You might be wondering if I regret buying a PDK equipped car? Let me tell you, my next car will also be PDK equipped. Overall the car is a joy to use and I definitely wouldn't sacrifice the comfort and convenience (even with a few niggles) in exhange for a dead leg and dead brain in city driving. Don't get me wrong, I love manuals, been driving them for 30 years, unfortunately there is a hell of a lot more traffic around now than there was 30 years ago. Just check the average speed on you trip computers.
Firstly, in my view Porsche should definitely look at giving us an intermediate setting between normal 'D' (or drive) mode and 'Sports' mode.
As many have already commented, Porsche have overdone it with their eco friendly D mode in that it attempts to hit 7th gear as soon as possible (without labouring the engine of course). Unfortunately driving in D mode with a reasonably light right foot makes the car feel as powerful as a 1.6 Focus. This is ok in town driving most of the time and sure when you put your foot down it changes later (or changes down a gear, from 7th to 6th which to be honest is still no good on most occasions). The problem and end result of D mode is the fact that the car lacks immediate and semi-subtle throttle responses one sometimes needs. The best way to get immediate response (EG for overtaking) aside from old fashioned kick-down (makes me cringe when I day those words) is to give the PDK paddles a few clicks to get it into lower gears. That's not as clear cut as it seems. I've done the following a couple times, travelling at 40-45mph in 7th (that's the gearboxes decision not mine) I commit to a fairly routine and safe overtaking manoeuvre by proceeding with a couple clicks down (not really knowing if the car is in 6th or 7th without resorting to taking my eyes off the road to look at the small square gear display on the dash) and whoops, not enough acceleration because was it turns out I was in 7th and now I'm in 5th (and on the wrong side of the road. Holy 1.6 focus! I need two more clicks now to take me down to 3rd for proper warp drive and safe overtaking.
Of course I could drive the thing in manual and keep messing around with the push pulls as I like to call them, (and this is great on occasion when Fleetwood Mac's Chains is playing via the ipod) but much of the time I really couldn't be bothered and want a more comfortable hassle free journey.
Sports mode is definitely not for me 95% of the time. There is no way this is enjoyable in and around London and what you end up with is a revvy manic mode which in my view is totally useless in busy parts of the country.
I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult for Porsche to come up with a programme that's a good half way house between the two.
One other gripe I have is something that I've never seen mentioned which in all honesty is quite weird as I'm pretty sure the following is the case for all PDK's.
Like many auto's (another cringy word) the car tends to keep nudging forward when D is engaged. The effect of the drivers foot on the brake pedal seems to almost put the gearbox/drive into neutral. Nothing wrong with this, in fact this is optimal for many reasons. Unfortunately, when wanting to set off from traffic lights or worse, join a main road, if your foot comes off the brake pedal and goes onto the accelerator pedal too quickly, the car just revs until THUD the gear engages. Apart from frightening you to death that you broke the car, or people behind you start hooting because 2 seconds have passed since the lights went green, there is also the fact that the oncoming car is almost on top of you before you actually get any drive into the pedal.
I've since learned to cheat by not having my foot fully depressed on the brake pedal. Instead I press the pedal very lightly whereby the car is almost on the verge of nudging forward but not quite. This is not as easy as it sound because the difference between the car going into neutral mode and being in gear is quite literally a few millimetres of brake pedal movement. The system is very clever, I've tried holding the car at traffic lights with the handbrake and this sends it to neutral too. Porsche should really be looking to cut this delay time by some way as as the end result is that it's really disconcerting and on some occasions actaully quite dangerous!
You might be wondering if I regret buying a PDK equipped car? Let me tell you, my next car will also be PDK equipped. Overall the car is a joy to use and I definitely wouldn't sacrifice the comfort and convenience (even with a few niggles) in exhange for a dead leg and dead brain in city driving. Don't get me wrong, I love manuals, been driving them for 30 years, unfortunately there is a hell of a lot more traffic around now than there was 30 years ago. Just check the average speed on you trip computers.
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