Very awesome review, thanks.

 

Thanks. Does it rev match on the manual downshift?

 

I'm sure it must. Even the new PDK C2S w/ SC rev matches.

 

Ahhh....ok. Good to know. Thanks.

I've yet to drive a pdk car.

 

Great write up. Totally agree GT2/GT3 should be manual only.

 

Great day, lots of fun at Silverstone Porsche Center today for a free 997.2 Turbo experience day.





It was a frosty start to the morning but the sunshine soon brought the temperature up to a lofty 3 degC.



Once arrived and checked into the Center we started with a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea whilst watching the previous session participants hammer around the handling circuit. We were then split into 2 groups of 6 and given the tour of the building along with a short briefing.





Then followed 30 mins on the experience center track ‘rides’, after which was 30 mins playing with launch control over the back of the Silverstone circuit (not actually on the circuit itself). Then back for a ride in a Panamera Turbo with an instructor (going huge speeds and power-sliding around the handling tracks) followed by a spot of lunch. End to end about 3 hours worth of indulgence.



So I started the day in a manual facelift Turbo with PTV, taking it around the handling circuit with my instructor. The gen2 car is certainly a little tighter than the gen1 Turbo, and a little more eager on the power front - but not a huge leap over the gen1 car, perhaps only a couple of percent. Sadly on the water rides (kick plate and ice hill) you couldn’t tell any difference between how tail happy the new car is vs the old one. 15 mins in and we all played musical chairs with the cars; now over to a PDK Turbo.



I was mightily impressed with the 2 modes of Sport and Sport Plus. The Plus mode really holds the revs right up to the limiter, even when you are not accelerating. Another cool PDK trick is you can actually change up gears just by blipping the throttle. The car certainly feels more eager to accelerate with PDK in SPorts Plus and if anything you seem to feel more thrust after it changes up – I suppose the peak torque is lower in the rev range so this is not that surprising. Forgetting about the gears really lets you concentrate on the balance of the car and you can certainly make faster progress than in the manual.

The real delight of the day though was the launch control session. Completely irrelevant on real world roads but great fun on the track none the less! You put the car into Sports Plus mode, left foot brake, then stamp on the throttle. If you do this too slow then LC won’t come up on the steering wheel. When Launch Control appears you let go of the brake and catapult forwards. I have some footage I just uploaded to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFgkyCkIQss

We also did some slalom’s through cones to see the PVT in action (although it felt about the same as a gen1 car to me here). I thought the noise of the car is much improved. Not aftermarket levels of noise but still much more how a supercar should sound. It still doesn't make up for a lack of a proper sports exhaust option though.

So all in all, a 997.2 PDK with flappy-paddles is certainly a car to lust after. I think if you are a 997.1 owner then PDK and the improved 3.0 PCM are very tempting options to upgrade to. I myself would spec all the performance goodies plus lightweight wheels and bucket seats if I were to get the new car. Probably with the new aerokit in blue, such as:



Now you guys won’t believe me without some independent testing, but even after all the fun today, I still maintain that my aftermarket mod’ed 997.1 Turbo is superior in almost every respect compared to a 997.2 Turbo (even with PDK). IMHO it has better looking wheels, it goes faster (my 2nd gear G-force is definitely more than PDK 1st gear launches), it sounds better, it handles better (less roll, less squat, sharper steering response, less under-steer, etc), and I think I am just a 'manual transmission in a sportscar' type of a guy. So even if someone gave me a facelift Turbo to garage next to mine, I am sorry to say that it would never get driven. I’d always head straight for the gen1 mod’ed car keys 10/10 times; it’s just so much more involving. So the 991 Turbo will be the next car I consider swapping to.

Just to clarify I would personally rate the cars as follows:

997.1 Turbo (tiptronic) = 15/20
997.1 Turbo (manual) = 16/20
997.2 Turbo (manual) = 17/20
997.2 Turbo (PDK) = 18/20
My modified 997.1 Turbo (manual) = 19/20

My car would be 20/20 if it was better looking (I find the rear 1/4 view including the spoiler not pretty at all) and weighed a few hundred kg less.



Great day out though!!!

 

Nice write up Alex. I tried a 997.2 PDK turbo for a couple of hours at the weekend courtesy of Porsche Silverstone and thought it was sensational. I own an LP640 Coupe and a 560 Spyder and it seemed far more rapid than either Lambo. PDK is the difference, no loss of boost betwen shifts with seamless progress. I timed the turbo at 6.6 0-100 versus 8.4 0-100 for my G, albeit with roof down and no LC.

Downside is no growl, just the jet engine whooosh of the TT. On balance, I would take the P car and may chop the G for a turbo S cab.

 

Thanks for the review and pics Alex

Just to pick you up on one point. Don't know if you saw that clip of the PDK tt doing an acceleration run with the data showing at the bottom ? It indicated longitudinal Gs and in 1st gear it was at the 1+ G level - it is pretty unlikely you will manage 1 G in second gear, I know my car won't !

 

Perhaps it wasn't so much G yesterday because of the low temperatures and a little damp?! ie. was hard to not get some wheels spin off the line.

Also, perhaps the perspective is a transitional thing. So the sudden difference between not accelerating and full acceleration, when standing still you are going to lose some of that transition in wheel spin and inertia. When already moving at say a constant 20mph and floor it in 2nd gear the slingshot 'seems' greater. At least to me.

 

Hmm I would like to get to grips with this car... I think I need to make a call to the Porsche Centre...!