I'm heading to Utah in the Morning to flog the new 997 at Miller Motorsports Park. I've got a TON of seat time in the GT3 and Scuderia and will be VERY curious to see how the new motor and PDK compares with those cars, respectively.

There's been a TON of generic stuff written about the car and I know of a few 997 quirks that I'm eager to see whether or not have been "addressed".

What do you guys want to know about the car?

Anything you want to see in-depth?

Are there any questions that have not been answered?

Let me know and I'll try to get answers, pictures, video for you...

 

Wow that sounds great thanks for offering. I really want to know more about the PDK. 1-are the shifter buttons that bad? 2- how is shifting in all three settings? 3- how does it drive when crusing? is it like a regular auto or does it feel like a clutchless manual? and finally 4- how does the DFI engine sound compared to the previous generation car?

Thanks again I really look forward to your feed back

 

Looking forward to your review bud!

 

Me, too. I'll get to the bottom of it!

I'll post up some pics tomorrow after the drive. The full "review" will be on an upcoming episode of Garage 419...

 

The first pic from Utah... I'm psyched to drive tomorrow.

Full report to follow.

 

Looking forward to it thanks again

 

I test drove the car and the PDK is very smooth... like an auto..... Not sure about the paddles but it will take some time to get use to it.... I notice that when the car is fully stopped and you take your foot off the brake to accelerate the whole car shudders in a very cool way......Sound is great....

 

PDK is really amazing. It's docile in the "normal" mode and shifts like lighting in Sport Plus with PASM activated. We drove an array of cars manual, PDK, with and without PASM & Sport Chrono and the different characteristics of the car is outstanding.

Some brief thoughts:

- The car screams at high speeds. Downshifting from 7th to 2nd on the freeway -- even in "normal" mode is blindingly fast without any dramatic discomfort.

- In normal mode at VERY low speeds around Park City and in some traffic on the freeway, you don't realize that you're driving a dual clutch setup. It feels like an automatic. No hesitation. No vague shifting with excessive time spent inbetween gears. I'm most impressed by that.

- On the track with PASM on, Sport Chrono on, and in Sport-Plus mode, the car shifts blindingly fast without the kick-in-the-ass like BMW's SMG, Audi's R-Tronic, or Lamborghini's Egear. Frankly, it's not as fast as the F1 shifting in the Scuderia, but it has that same net effect of just CONSTANT acceleration.

I spent a LOT of time with the Michael Niko, who we were told was one of the people on the engineering team for the PDK. Hearing him talk about the PDK is amazing. The cooling system. The clutch design. The different drive shafts in the gear box... The stat they seem to be most proud of is this:

It takes .3 seconds to shift from 6th to 2nd in Sport-Plus.

Admittedly the system takes some getting used to. The button under the pedal and the steering-wheel switches give you new options on driving techniques (and I may have hit it unintentionally once or twice early in the day) but my next 911 most certainly WILL be PDK equipped!

Video to follow on Garage 419 soon...

 

I'm really liking mine Emile... Good luck and have fun~

 

Emile --

Did you drive a car with the -20mm Sport PASM option? If so, did you spend any time on public roads with it? I am trying to determine just how much more stiff it feels on a long drive than the standard PASM set-up. I want to be sure that my girlfriend will be comfortable on a long roadtrip.

Any thoughts would be welcome.

Michael