992 S PDK or Manual? - Page 2 - 911/Carrera GT - PistonHeads UK

Good evening. Going to pull the trigger on a 992 S soon.....will have to be nearly new due to Porsche not making any at the moment! (weird world, hey?) I'd usually order a manual, but OPC reckons PDK is definitely the way to go with the 992. I am not convinced..... There doesn't seem to be many manual 992s's on the market....am I being an old fart for wanting a manual?

Manual... purer driving experience and lighter... PDK might have a miniscule advantage for circuit racing, with several upward gear-changes on a straight... but with Porsche gearing, there aren't too many gear-changes when accelerating along normal roads.

I think it depends on your driving environment. I have both manual and PDK cars. A lot of my driving is in traffic and I much prefer the PDK for that purpose. Also like it for track, lightning fast. However, for a drive on back roads or lightly travelled roads the manual is more fun.

RDMcG said: I think it depends on your driving environment. I have both manual and PDK cars. A lot of my driving is in traffic and I much prefer the PDK for that purpose. Also like it for track, lightning fast. However, for a drive on back roads or lightly travelled roads the manual is more fun. Hmmmm.....as I thought. I currently have a manual 981 Cayman which I adore whizzing around the Suffolk B roads.....it's such a shame there are hardly any manual 992's on the market....OPC's always hate stocking them for some reason !

I'm usually a big 3 pedal manual person, but I recently drove my BILs 991.2 Carrera S and I thought that the PDK was amazing in it.

Pdk or manual depends a lot on your driving locations. City/town the pdk is by far the best , however as with any car with 400+ bhp driving “swiftly”? on a UK B road also best with two hands on the wheel . So pdk wins all round for me. Good luck with choice.

Polome said: Pdk or manual depends a lot on your driving locations. City/town the pdk is by far the best , however as with any car with 400+ bhp driving “swiftly”? on a UK B road also best with two hands on the wheel . So pdk wins all round for me. Good luck with choice. I have a similar mindset to you on this as well. A fast car suits a fast gearbox I reckon. Obviously not a Porsche, but I hadn't driven my manual 370Z for 6 months up until recently, and I was shocked at how much momentum you lose when you change gear. Obviously you get the extra interaction with it, but I was shocked at old fashioned it felt(nothing wrong with that of course) in comparison to the DCT that I'd been used to in the M4.

Pdk or manual depends a lot on your driving locations. City/town the pdk is by far the best , however as with any car with 400+ bhp driving “swiftly”? on a UK B road also best with two hands on the wheel . So pdk wins all round for me. Good luck with choice.

I had a 991.2GTS in PDK and wouldn't have it any other way as you could change gear manually with the stick. I also had a 992S PDK and I hated the PDK on it with the silly shaver and inability to use it to change gear manually. The PDK in the 992 is also a whopping 35kg heavier than the Manual and only 20Kg heavier in the 991.2. Manual all the way for me on the 992S.

I have a 992 C2S with PDK and if you want to change gear yourself quite simply do not get a PDK. That may sound a bit obvious but both of the other dual clutch boxed cars I’ve owned (E92 M3 and F82 M4) you could happily use them in manual using the paddles which were of a useable size and the stick (backwards/forwards for up/down) which I preferred as I’m a bit old fashioned. The selector stick on the 992 can’t manually select cogs and the paddles are far too small (short) to be effectively usable as I can only really get bottom two fingers on them whilst griping wheel properly. Combine this with the fact it’s 8 speed and 3rd will hit over a ton and you’ll find using manual mode is pointless. The only time I now use the paddles is to force the box into 8th at 70mph after a burst of acceleration in Sport mode as I find it holds onto the low gears for too long. I do hear however that the long gearing of the manuals mean you’ll only really use up to 3rd gear when driving spiritedly (or even 2nd) meaning that the need for manually changing is virtually negated anyway. As a side the PDK is a fantastic box for what it is, great around town and for daily use and in Sport+ does a brilliant job of gear selection for you when pushing on (check out Harry M’s YouTube video with reference to this). Just don’t expect to be able to get the best of both worlds from it. Hope that’s of use. Edited by 9k rpm on Tuesday 9th May 13:45

Never listen to the OPC. They tried to talk me into a PDK 991.1 GTS and told me a manual would lose 20% over the ownership period. The opposite turned out to be true!!

If you are more interested in driver involvement you want a manual. If you are more interested in residuals you want a PDK. I recently swapped in a 992 GTS manual and got hammered. Interestingly the dealer priced it at least £5,000 behind similar PDK cars and sold it in two days.

My longstanding OPC DP did tell me that their sales now substantially favoured Auto/PDK. However, he said that this was mainly due to their customer demographic changing, a great many of whom have never owned a Manual, an increasing number of whom aren’t licensed to drive a Manual, and some who want a car their wive can drive easily. But, he did say that many of their long term, enthusiastic customers remain firmly loyal to Manual.

Would you not be tempted to keep the manual 981 and add a PDK 991.1 ? Imagine a gts or even a turbo of that era alongside the cayman might cost less in total than a 992?

OP - Buy the car that you want now, the spec, colour, man/auto - not what the dealer thinks you want, or you think the next owner wants. You're only here once.

Couldn’t agree more, dealer was pressuring to go PDK & glass sunroof etc, resisted and glad I did. What’s the point in spending all that money, and waiting all that time, to spec something that someone else might want?

Speaking as the secondhand buyer, definitely go for the one you want as opposed to the one you're being told you should want by the Dealer. I've just bought a 991.2 GTS. I actively sought out a non sunroof manual and have little doubt I've paid a premium for it as they are so few and far between.

Thank you all so much for your thoughts. My OPC has sourced a 992 Carrera non S. Obvs it's only available in PDK, but it's my perfect spec. I am being loaned a 992 with PDK this Monday for the day. I shall whizz around all day and see what I think. The last auto I had was back in 2004 when I bought a brand new Mk1 Audi TT 3.2 DSG. I am hoping they've come on since then!! I shall let you all know how I get on!

I was so disappointed by the quality of the nearly new 992's I looked at, I have decided to go brand new. I have paid a deposit to get me on the list for a 992 'T' manual.....now for the long wait.....

FrankCayman I’m really intrigued by what you mean by poor quality of used 992s. Can you explain a bit more? Poor condition? Poor paintwork? Poor presentation? Keen for your thoughts? Thanks

FrankCayman said: Good evening. Going to pull the trigger on a 992 S soon.....will have to be nearly new due to Porsche not making any at the moment! (weird world, hey?) I'd usually order a manual, but OPC reckons PDK is definitely the way to go with the 992. I am not convinced..... There doesn't seem to be many manual 992s's on the market....am I being an old fart for wanting a manual? Go for manual Your car will be highly sought after on the second hand market too.

Gary C said: Go for manual Your car will be highly sought after on the second hand market too. see my earlier post Gary....I agree

FrankCayman said: Gary C said: Go for manual Your car will be highly sought after on the second hand market too. see my earlier post Gary....I agree Missed the later ones Good choice

Mach said: Speaking as the secondhand buyer, definitely go for the one you want as opposed to the one you're being told you should want by the Dealer. I've just bought a 991.2 GTS. I actively sought out a non sunroof manual and have little doubt I've paid a premium for it as they are so few and far between. The driver's choice.

Similar to the Ferrari market, when manual was available, the last time being the 430. When new the list price for the manual was cheaper. Now look at the asking prices for used ones.

Manual are in fashion at mo as there are a load of old farts feeling nostalgic. It won't last forever, newer buyers won't have ever driven one. Buy at the peak and maybe in 10 years there will be a big price correction would be my concern

Nuttbelle said: Manual are in fashion at mo as there are a load of old farts feeling nostalgic. It won't last forever, newer buyers won't have ever driven one. Buy at the peak and maybe in 10 years there will be a big price correction would be my concern I suppose you have a point Lots of young t ts who don't know how to drive properly .

Nuttbelle said: Manual are in fashion at mo as there are a load of old farts feeling nostalgic. It won't last forever, newer buyers won't have ever driven one. Buy at the peak and maybe in 10 years there will be a big price correction would be my concern I'm not sure it's nostalgia, more a case of having had years of driving both types and while still having that choice right now, the preferred option is manual.

Guybrush said: Nuttbelle said: Manual are in fashion at mo as there are a load of old farts feeling nostalgic. It won't last forever, newer buyers won't have ever driven one. Buy at the peak and maybe in 10 years there will be a big price correction would be my concern I'm not sure it's nostalgia, more a case of having had years of driving both types and while still having that choice right now, the preferred option is manual. The above is a definitely a factor. It's why prices of some older machinery is definitely softening eg in the bike world Vincent Black Shadows have peaked, as many of the generation who grew up wanting them are dying off. Bit depressing. In 20-30 years time my daughter will probably pay someone to take my GT3 away

Guybrush said: Similar to the Ferrari market, when manual was available, the last time being the 430. When new the list price for the manual was cheaper. Now look at the asking prices for used ones. Mainly because the alternative auto gearboxes of that era were pretty crap compared to today's DCTs and even standard torque converter autos like the ZF boxes in Astons. Manual boxes haven't really had much innovation over the last 20 years but auto boxes have moved on significantly

I took delivery of my new 992 GTS manual (no sunroof) a few weeks back. The gear box is sweet - light clutch, beautiful gear action. It's such a shame so few people spec their cars this way but I have no regretted it for a second. If you're not commuting for hours in traffic on a daily basis, 100% go manual.