TTAC Called It: New 911 Offers DSG– Er, PDK Paddleshift

by Robert Farago

Published: June 6th, 2008

ttac called it new 911 offers dsg er pdk paddleshift

Yes, we pat ourselves on the back. Why wouldn't we? As branding guru Al Reis once advised me "Tell 'em who you are, tell 'em that you told 'em and tell 'em again." Or something like that. Anyway, back in April, we reported that Porsche was finally putting DSG into their venerable 911, plus the usual we-need-something-for- existing-owners-to-lust-after power bump. Classic Driver confirms that the refreshed Carerra wil be blessed with a seven-speed double-clutch gearbox. Porsche calls their system Porsche-Doppelkupplung or PDK, which they invented, dammit! ("Porsche points out that its engineers developed the principle for motorsport some 25 years ago.") The updated car also also gets direct injection, debuted (to not much effect) on the Cayenne GTS. "The 3.6-litre Carrera models are up 20bhp to 345bhp, while the 3.8-litre Carrera S has jumped 30bhp, and now develops an impressive 385bhp." AND they're cleaner, more economical and .2 seconds faster from zero to 62mph. One thing we didn't foresee: new LED lights fore and aft. Now, when this PDK thing hits the Boxster S, we'll see just how fast I can drive backwards– if you know what I mean.

Robert Farago

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4 of 11 comments

INeon on Jun 06, 2008

Is that Ford corporate switch-gear in that image? Sure looks it.

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Nick2ny on Jun 06, 2008

wasn't porsche the first to develop dual clutch gear boxes back in the day for their group C cars. I remember reading something about the 962's having them. I think they gave up because it was too heavy or unreliable, not sure though.

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JJ on Jun 07, 2008
what do you mean? I think it's a reference to the fact that the Boxster looks exactly the same front and back... On another note, I agree with the person who said the switchgear doesn't look that good (the tiptronic never did either by the way, but that was irrelevant since it wasn't a consideration for the driving enthousiast in the first place) and I've also noticed that there are no paddles behind the wheel, just two buttons on top of it. Now where's the fun in that? All the appeal of an 'F1-style' gearbox to me is that you can shift 'F1-style' (because the paddle shifting was first introduced in 1990 or 91 on the Ferrari F1 car), not by pushing some random button that might as well be for changing the radio station. Quite a shame because, since it's a Porsche, the gearbox itself will no doubt be technical perfection. Already reason enough for me to prefer the manuelle getriebe.

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Meocuchad on Jun 09, 2008

@ ethermal: I believe there is still a true manual option on these upcoming models. You know.. for people who actually know how to drive a car. ;)

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