Autoweek Review of the 997 PDK
#1
07-22-2008, 09:22 AM
Autoweek Review of the 997 PDK SPECS
ON SALE: September
BASE PRICE: $75,600
DRIVETRAIN: 3.6-liter, 345-hp, 288-lb-ft H6; rwd, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 3125 lb
0-60 MPH: 4.7 sec (mfr)
FUEL ECONOMY (EPA): 24 mpg (est)
If you encounter the perfect automobile, let us know. Meantime, if you seek a high-performance road car that embodies enthusiast values and rationality, with a wash-and-wear quality suited for just about any climate, locale or purpose, we highly recommend the Porsche 911 Carrera. The 911 has balanced performance, enthusiasm and good sense, better and for longer than any car that comes to mind.
The 911 (code name 997) is so generally satisfying you'll wonder what Porsche might do to raise the bar. Drive the 2009 Carrera or Carrera S, and you'll know. Identified internally as 997 Gen II, the '09s have new powertrains and subtle updates throughout. True to the times, Porsche is pitching efficiency, and it claims that the new Carreras are the most fuel-efficient cars in their performance class. They are also more powerful, quicker and as sweetly agreeable as ever to drive.
Gen II starts with a new engine: Porsche's familiar water-cooled boxer six with essentially the same displacement (3.6 liters, 3.8 in the Carrera S) but new bore and stroke dimensions. The engine begins with 40 percent fewer cast parts (separate bearing bridges have been eliminated, for example) for faster assembly and fewer sealing surfaces. It's about 24 pounds lighter overall, with less reciprocating mass and higher maximum speed (7500 rpm). Porsche says that efficiencies have been squeezed from nearly every component. The bearings generate less friction, the accessories suck less power, and the dry-sump lubrication has been refined. A variable-demand oil pump delivers more pressure at higher g loads, but it also cuts peak power demand by 3 hp and reduces fuel consumption by 2 percent.
The highlight, though, is direct fuel injection. An engine-driven fuel pump force-feeds gasoline into the boxer's combustion chambers at up to 1750 psi, on the business side of the intake valves. The cooling effect of direct injection allows for a once-crazy compression ratio of 12.5:1, improving the ratio of fuel to air in the combustion process, thus delivering more power from less fuel. Direct injection also creates synergies with Porsche's VarioCam valve timing and lift. It allows multiple fuel pulses during an engine stroke, even if the valves are closed. Various injection strategies lower emissions during cold starts, for example, or increase response (and torque) when a driver floors the pedal while trundling along at 2500 rpm.
The bottom line with the new engine is an increase of 20 hp in the 3.6-liter Carrera, to 345, and 30 in the Carrera S, to 385. Peak torque increases 15 lb-ft, to 288 and 310, respectively. Yet the peaks are generated using less fuel than in the previous engines, and they move the Carreras three-quarters of the way toward Porsche's promised 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions for each of its vehicles by 2012.
Part two of Gen II is the demise of Porsche's trademark Tiptronic torque-converter automatic transmission. Tiptronic gives way to PDK (Porsche Doppelkupplung, or double clutch): an automated manual seven-speed, similar in concept to Audi's DSG but developed independently during six years with transmission manufacturer ZF.
PDK has two wet clutches, packaged concentrically at the flywheel, feeding one solid input shaft fitted inside another hollow one. One shaft "preloads" the next gear, up or down, before the other clutch or shaft releases the gear. Pre-load selection considers virtually all vehicle data, and the transmission can skip gears, but the salient point is simple: The engine, in effect, is never decoupled from the rest of the powertrain, so little energy is wasted. Shifts are also 60 percent quicker than those in the Tiptronic, and the seventh gear is a tall overdrive that reduces rpm more than 30 percent at 40 mph. PDK will be offered with launch control that allows brake-torque-style starts at 6500 rpm.
PDK delivers better acceleration and better fuel economy than the conventional six-speed manual. Porsche reports a reduction in 0-to-60-mph times for all 2009 Carreras versus their '08 counterparts, but in all variants, PDK with launch control shaves 0.2 second compared with the conventional manual (4.3 seconds for a Carrera coupe with PDK, 4.1 for a Carrera S, with top speeds of 178 and 188 mph, respectively).
And while fuel economy improves 7.8 percent with the Carrera S manual, thanks to efficiencies in the engine, it improves 14.8 percent with PDK. EPA mileage ratings aren't available, but the European rating for the Carrera S with PDK extrapolates to 24 mpg.
Based on the projections, the new Carreras will deliver better mileage than a 2009 Chevrolet Corvette LS3 or Mazda RX-8 and substantially better mileage than a 2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Audi R8, BMW M3 coupe or Ferrari F430. Whatever the EPA ratings, Porsche's claim is direct: No competitor can accelerate as quickly as the new Carreras without consuming more fuel.
If you get an opportunity to hammer an '09, you won't immediately give a rat's you-know-what about efficiencies. Direct fuel injection simply reinforces the Porsche boxer's credentials as one of the sweetest, most wholesomely satisfying engines extant. If anything, the range of satisfaction is broader, with a bit more torque flowing from the bottom and even better, steadier breathing up top, with more eagerness to build revs. No worries about engine or road speed--step on it, and it's there when you want it. The DI boxer is more responsive to the throttle but not in a twitchy, overly sensitive fashion. This engine personifies that no-fuss quality that makes the Carrera one of the best daily-driving hypo machines anywhere.
PDK certainly helps. We much prefer it to Tiptronic, because it better suits the balance that defines the 911--that intangible mix of single-minded enthusiasm and multifaceted satisfaction. PDK can be as smooth and docile as Tiptronic in lazy, commuter-grade driving, but it's more responsive--more decisive--when the driver keeps the right foot planted. PDK picks the right gear, up or down, about 98 percent of the time, like a veteran driving instructor who's taught at the same track for years. In manual operation, full-throttle or abrupt-lift shifts are smooth, quick and aggressive in the Ferrari F1-style.
Beyond that, all of the elements of 911 sweetness remain. There's more lateral grip than most can use short of track day, without the cheek clenching or short breaths some 1.0-g sports cars instigate. There's consistently accurate trajectory, with steering that just seems more organic than that generated by other variable-ratio racks that have proliferated in recent years. There's impressive structural integrity and enough isolation and suspension compliance that few will rue their choice of transport on decaying urban roadways. It all comes packaged in a car that has evolved well in most of the right ways.
Inside, Porsche Communi-cations Management gets a larger, touch-screen LCD that's easier to fiddle with and an integrated 40-gigabyte hard drive with USB media storage. A TV tuner is optional for your new Carrera. Outside, ribbons of Audi-style LEDs edge the headlight clusters as DRLs. Bixenon main beams are standard. The new Carrera shares its predecessor's 0.29 coefficient of drag, despite a new front bumper with larger intakes and larger, dual-strut side mirrors.
The rear-drive Carreras go on sale on Sept. 8 in the United States. Porsche expects PDK to increase the take rate for automatics from about a third to 50 percent worldwide, though the U.S market will continue to buy more conventional manuals than the rest of the world. Sales of other 997 911s, such as the Targa and the Turbo, will continue until Gen II variants roll out.
Pricing shows increases of less than 3 percent: Carrera, $75,600; Carrera cabriolet and Carrera S, $86,200; Carrera S cabriolet, $96,800. How sweet do you want it to be?
ON SALE: September
BASE PRICE: $75,600
DRIVETRAIN: 3.6-liter, 345-hp, 288-lb-ft H6; rwd, six-speed manual
CURB WEIGHT: 3125 lb
0-60 MPH: 4.7 sec (mfr)
FUEL ECONOMY (EPA): 24 mpg (est)
If you encounter the perfect automobile, let us know. Meantime, if you seek a high-performance road car that embodies enthusiast values and rationality, with a wash-and-wear quality suited for just about any climate, locale or purpose, we highly recommend the Porsche 911 Carrera. The 911 has balanced performance, enthusiasm and good sense, better and for longer than any car that comes to mind.
The 911 (code name 997) is so generally satisfying you'll wonder what Porsche might do to raise the bar. Drive the 2009 Carrera or Carrera S, and you'll know. Identified internally as 997 Gen II, the '09s have new powertrains and subtle updates throughout. True to the times, Porsche is pitching efficiency, and it claims that the new Carreras are the most fuel-efficient cars in their performance class. They are also more powerful, quicker and as sweetly agreeable as ever to drive.
Gen II starts with a new engine: Porsche's familiar water-cooled boxer six with essentially the same displacement (3.6 liters, 3.8 in the Carrera S) but new bore and stroke dimensions. The engine begins with 40 percent fewer cast parts (separate bearing bridges have been eliminated, for example) for faster assembly and fewer sealing surfaces. It's about 24 pounds lighter overall, with less reciprocating mass and higher maximum speed (7500 rpm). Porsche says that efficiencies have been squeezed from nearly every component. The bearings generate less friction, the accessories suck less power, and the dry-sump lubrication has been refined. A variable-demand oil pump delivers more pressure at higher g loads, but it also cuts peak power demand by 3 hp and reduces fuel consumption by 2 percent.
The highlight, though, is direct fuel injection. An engine-driven fuel pump force-feeds gasoline into the boxer's combustion chambers at up to 1750 psi, on the business side of the intake valves. The cooling effect of direct injection allows for a once-crazy compression ratio of 12.5:1, improving the ratio of fuel to air in the combustion process, thus delivering more power from less fuel. Direct injection also creates synergies with Porsche's VarioCam valve timing and lift. It allows multiple fuel pulses during an engine stroke, even if the valves are closed. Various injection strategies lower emissions during cold starts, for example, or increase response (and torque) when a driver floors the pedal while trundling along at 2500 rpm.
The bottom line with the new engine is an increase of 20 hp in the 3.6-liter Carrera, to 345, and 30 in the Carrera S, to 385. Peak torque increases 15 lb-ft, to 288 and 310, respectively. Yet the peaks are generated using less fuel than in the previous engines, and they move the Carreras three-quarters of the way toward Porsche's promised 20 percent reduction in CO2 emissions for each of its vehicles by 2012.
Part two of Gen II is the demise of Porsche's trademark Tiptronic torque-converter automatic transmission. Tiptronic gives way to PDK (Porsche Doppelkupplung, or double clutch): an automated manual seven-speed, similar in concept to Audi's DSG but developed independently during six years with transmission manufacturer ZF.
PDK has two wet clutches, packaged concentrically at the flywheel, feeding one solid input shaft fitted inside another hollow one. One shaft "preloads" the next gear, up or down, before the other clutch or shaft releases the gear. Pre-load selection considers virtually all vehicle data, and the transmission can skip gears, but the salient point is simple: The engine, in effect, is never decoupled from the rest of the powertrain, so little energy is wasted. Shifts are also 60 percent quicker than those in the Tiptronic, and the seventh gear is a tall overdrive that reduces rpm more than 30 percent at 40 mph. PDK will be offered with launch control that allows brake-torque-style starts at 6500 rpm.
PDK delivers better acceleration and better fuel economy than the conventional six-speed manual. Porsche reports a reduction in 0-to-60-mph times for all 2009 Carreras versus their '08 counterparts, but in all variants, PDK with launch control shaves 0.2 second compared with the conventional manual (4.3 seconds for a Carrera coupe with PDK, 4.1 for a Carrera S, with top speeds of 178 and 188 mph, respectively).
And while fuel economy improves 7.8 percent with the Carrera S manual, thanks to efficiencies in the engine, it improves 14.8 percent with PDK. EPA mileage ratings aren't available, but the European rating for the Carrera S with PDK extrapolates to 24 mpg.
Based on the projections, the new Carreras will deliver better mileage than a 2009 Chevrolet Corvette LS3 or Mazda RX-8 and substantially better mileage than a 2008 Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Audi R8, BMW M3 coupe or Ferrari F430. Whatever the EPA ratings, Porsche's claim is direct: No competitor can accelerate as quickly as the new Carreras without consuming more fuel.
If you get an opportunity to hammer an '09, you won't immediately give a rat's you-know-what about efficiencies. Direct fuel injection simply reinforces the Porsche boxer's credentials as one of the sweetest, most wholesomely satisfying engines extant. If anything, the range of satisfaction is broader, with a bit more torque flowing from the bottom and even better, steadier breathing up top, with more eagerness to build revs. No worries about engine or road speed--step on it, and it's there when you want it. The DI boxer is more responsive to the throttle but not in a twitchy, overly sensitive fashion. This engine personifies that no-fuss quality that makes the Carrera one of the best daily-driving hypo machines anywhere.
PDK certainly helps. We much prefer it to Tiptronic, because it better suits the balance that defines the 911--that intangible mix of single-minded enthusiasm and multifaceted satisfaction. PDK can be as smooth and docile as Tiptronic in lazy, commuter-grade driving, but it's more responsive--more decisive--when the driver keeps the right foot planted. PDK picks the right gear, up or down, about 98 percent of the time, like a veteran driving instructor who's taught at the same track for years. In manual operation, full-throttle or abrupt-lift shifts are smooth, quick and aggressive in the Ferrari F1-style.
Beyond that, all of the elements of 911 sweetness remain. There's more lateral grip than most can use short of track day, without the cheek clenching or short breaths some 1.0-g sports cars instigate. There's consistently accurate trajectory, with steering that just seems more organic than that generated by other variable-ratio racks that have proliferated in recent years. There's impressive structural integrity and enough isolation and suspension compliance that few will rue their choice of transport on decaying urban roadways. It all comes packaged in a car that has evolved well in most of the right ways.
Inside, Porsche Communi-cations Management gets a larger, touch-screen LCD that's easier to fiddle with and an integrated 40-gigabyte hard drive with USB media storage. A TV tuner is optional for your new Carrera. Outside, ribbons of Audi-style LEDs edge the headlight clusters as DRLs. Bixenon main beams are standard. The new Carrera shares its predecessor's 0.29 coefficient of drag, despite a new front bumper with larger intakes and larger, dual-strut side mirrors.
The rear-drive Carreras go on sale on Sept. 8 in the United States. Porsche expects PDK to increase the take rate for automatics from about a third to 50 percent worldwide, though the U.S market will continue to buy more conventional manuals than the rest of the world. Sales of other 997 911s, such as the Targa and the Turbo, will continue until Gen II variants roll out.
Pricing shows increases of less than 3 percent: Carrera, $75,600; Carrera cabriolet and Carrera S, $86,200; Carrera S cabriolet, $96,800. How sweet do you want it to be?
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