Hey everyone.

I'm just wondering who has driven the 991 with the 7-speed manual, and what you thought of it? I've driven the Carrera S with the PDK, and the C7 with the manual, and loved them both. I'm curious if there's any feedback on Porsche's?

 

Been driving the manual for over one year, still love it.

 

I tried it in a 991S, a Boxster S & and Cayman S on the track at Porsche Performance Driving School and wasn't thrilled with it. Wasn't as crisp and certain-feeling as I was expecting (my last high-performance manual was an Audi R8 V10 with their old-school, gated 6-speed which I absolutely loved because you never wondered if you were in the right gear whereas with the Porsche M7 I was often a bit uncertain). I found the PDK to be better and was able to concentrate on finding the correct line and when to brake and when to accelerate rather than be distracted by the uncertainty if I'd grabbed 5th instead of 3rd. I haven't tried it in normal, everyday driving so it might be just fine. My driving instructor told me that I needed to use a lighter touch (coming off the R8 I was accustomed to slapping the shifter into the gates with a loud and pleasing clang of metal-on-metal), so I'm sure I'd develop some finesse were I to give the Porsche 7M more time, which is something you probably should do before making such a big decision. You can probably rent a 991 M7 for a day and see how much you like it. I think Hertz now offers them in certain markets.

 

The 991 &MT is the best Porsche manual I have ever driven.

 

Been driving the 7-speed since September '12 - also finest manual I've driven. I like the snick snack mechanical feedback from the shifter a lot, reminds me of the positive feel from a mechanical keyboard. I love mine

(via 6SpeedOnline iOS)

 

Absolutely love mine coming from a 997.1 C2S 6 spd. I would say that if you are heavy track user or stuck in traffic a lot then go with PDK. I love love my 7spd MT!

 

I liked it a lot actually. Felt plenty crisp/precise and had enough feel in terms of the pedal.

 

It's fantastic! Shifts are satisfying. I'm so glad I got it.

 

Incredible!!

 

I thought the 7spd was great. But I much prefer the PDK for my needs. It's great to have options of auto or manual shifting in the city traffic and it's pure magic on the track.

 

I have the 7MT and love it. There is absolutely nothing I can point to and criticize. The clutch pedal is perfectly weighted, the shifter position is optimal, and shifts are crisp, short, and precise.

I daily drive my 7MT 991 in LA traffic and still don't regret my decision to pass on multiple PDK cars, even with the heavy discounts they were offering. I spent weeks looking for a 7MT car that matched my options list, and I'm glad I did!

Further, I've tracked the car and enjoyed the hell out of it. Sure, PDK would be "faster," but those thoughts disappear when you perfectly downshift a couple of times into a corner and smile like an idiot. The level of driver involvement did it for me.

 

When I was looking around to buy my 991 last year, I wanted to testdrive the 7MT and PDK back to back to make an informed decision. Turns out in my country it is next to impossible to find a 991 with a MT. Not at the dealer, not even at the importer which has an "experience center" that has a fleet of cars to show off and test almost all available options. Apparently you can count the cars sold with MT on two hands over here, so they just don't bother with stocking them because nobody asks for them, and they are not able to sell them afterwards.
I didn't really like that situation because it creates a self fulfilling prophesy.

 

I am fortunate to own a 50th Anniversary 7MT and a 991 GT3 - I have been driving them both a bit in the last month - Love, LOVE the MT - a little weird getting used to the blip and finding 7th gear (sometimes going down to 6th or phantom 6th - which would be 8th :-) to see where I am). The linkage is direct and smooth - the detents are positive - Different than my 4.0 (which was different than my 99.72 GT3RS) in terms of being a bit less notchy (which I actually like) but a fabulous transmission. The GT3 is matched extraordinarily with the PDK (designed for it like my Scuderia) but would have opted for the MT there and hope to with the new 991 GT3RS....

 

To Recap:

50th Anniversary
991 GT3
997 GT3 RS 4.0
997.2 GT3 RS

 

Bought a manual last year. Best Manual ever....(just ignore 7th gear)

Every time I drive my wife's Audi in tiptronic mode and use the paddle shifters, I am thankful that I bought the manual. I am sure PDK is great (and I liked it during a test drive), I just feel that I connect better with a manual. Even in stop and go traffic.

Let the manual die. It will make my car worth more when I finally sell it in 20 years.