I was recently speaking with SCM contributor Miles Collier about gearboxes.
To him, the “efficiency” of a gearbox is less important than the “degree of engagement” it engenders.
In our lifetimes, automatic gearboxes have gone from primitive units operated by hydraulic-pressure — I’m thinking of the two-speed Chevy Powerglide — to the latest computer-controlled dual-clutch transmissions, as exemplified by Porsche’s PDK.
Along the way we had traditional three-speed automatics, which gained more gears over the years, leading to today’s eight- and 10-speed automatics. There have also been semi-automatic manuals, like Porche’s Sportomatic and Volkswagen’s Automatic Stickshift (which was first offered in the Beetle in 1968). These gearboxes had a vacuum-operated clutch that engaged when the drive made contact with the shift lever, though required manually changing of gears.
Miles’s point of view is that the very act of needing to depress a clutch pedal and move a shift lever causes you to become more engaged with the car and its operation, and therefore to “bond” more with the car.
From personal experience, I can say it is more fun to manually operate the shift lever on my Sportomatic 911 than to flick the shift lever from “+” to “–” on a Porsche Tiptronic automatic, like the one I had in my 996 Turbo.
Nor do I find much “fun factor” in pulling or pushing the paddles on a PDK gearbox, no matter how quick its gearchange might be. It’s no secret that same 911 with a PDK will generally produce faster lap times than one with an “old-fashioned” manual transmission.
So here’s the question: Given a choice between a 7-speed PDK that always seems to know which gear to be in and shifts almost instantaneously, and a standard three-pedal 5-speed that might require rev-matching and a longer shift execution, which do you prefer and why?
Are you about the ultimate efficiency of changing gears or the engaging experience?
I look forward to your comments below.
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It depends. If I am going to work in typical commuter traffic, an automatic is the way to go. If we are on a trip through the mountains, rallying with friends, curvy fun roads, five speed every time.
pdk only. Drove race cars with dog boxes. Lots of fun but for day to day driving PDK only.
I agree with Miles. Not only does engaging a clutch and moving the shift lever “bond” you with the vehicle, every car with a manual has its own idiosyncracies. Finding reverse on an old Bug, putting the column mounted lever in a older Pontoon Mercedes into second before sliding it up into first smoothly. One of my early driving lessions came in a Volvo 544 with the huge shift lever that had to moved with determination from gear to gear. Just imagine if the Impala driven by Dan Gurney at Silverstone and most recently by his son Justin at Laguna Seca had a column mounted automatic, it would loose its appeal. Modern automatics are fantastic but just like all the other controls they detach you from the driving experience. I recently rented a Hyundai Santa Fe, the car does its best to remove you from any enjoyment of operating a mechanical device. It should have been named the Hyundai Keurig.
Having had Porsches since 1966 and currently a 2011 911S cabriolet with PDk, my first automatic, I love it. It’s my age and my left knee. I loved all the others, 58 speedster, 57A, 63B, 71 Euro 914-6, 91 911 all different driving experiences.
Keith, I’ve probably missed it, but over the years, I don’t ever recall reading you impressions of the Alfa 4c paddle shifter. I have maybe 15 mins experience with one. It was very much “engaging” in my experience. I won’t buy one, and continue to enjoy my floor shift Giulietta’s.
Here in LA if you are daily driving it, go PDK. Weekend canyon driving, always the manual!
For me, the choice will ALWAYS be the choice of a Manual Gearbox. A 5,6,7 speed Gearbox is simpler, less expensive to repair and replace , and typically , speaking as a long time Collector of many Marques, allows the car to have an “Upside” financially when you go to sell it ! Not to mention, the enjoyment of shifting as you watch the Tach
Needle accelerate ! It’s a No- brainer ! The next best thing would be your Sportomatic !
After 3 modern Porsches, one with manual and two with PDK, I’m all in with PDK. Sure the manual was fun when we had a house at the coast but for club drives in the twisties as well as dealing with metro traffic in my 992, I love the PDK.
There is some subtle irony in the use of manual gearboxes in current 911s.
That transmission is actually a PDK with manual linkage added on to it…..
I concur with Miles about the greater engagement provided by more activity while deciding and choosing different gears for different driving applications.
A perfect example is shifting a 70s Alfa gear box while counting 1, 2, before moving the shift lever in either direction between first and second gear.
Cheers!
JB
For a car you use as a tool for living, PDK. For a toy to play with, stick shift every time. That is if you have two or more cars; a daily, and another/others to play with. If you can only have one car, it would depend on your commute…..
Love them all , the Ford non sync 1st gear in my Cad powered Allard can be a great drive while still frustrating at times.
For get there traveling the Stingray offers strong performance with the computer detecting when your interested in really hustling and holding gears much as you would.
I am fortunate enough to have a certain F car in both variants, gated and an F1 transmission. While the F1 is slightly faster and safer in the fact that your hands are always on the wheel, my gated version somehow makes me feel much more connected to the driving experience.
If you live in a city where commuter traffic is a reality, then an automatic is OK, but to me a sports car is better with full driver engagement.
Sometimes we don’t have a choice. My 2017 Giulia only came with an automatic. I enjoyed using the elegant long paddles to wake up the engine sound by keeping it over 3000 rpm. It is easier to find manuals with classic cars but if you are limited to one car which must do it all, a classic Alfa is not a reasonable choice.
It depends what kind of car we‘re talking about. I could never imagine a proper sportscar with anything else than a manual box but I wouldn‘t want to miss the perfectly adequate borg&warner autobox in my S1 Bentley.
“Rub it in”, Guys….I’m with Daniel Mainzer in regard to having and wanting to drive my old 911’s, but when it hurts to bad it’s not so much fun and even the actual shifting process gets slow and cumbersome(especially with all the new type of sneakers with wide and “sticky” rubber soles which are always in the way ) it doesn’t help that I have these “cool”, tight and racy sport seats which sucks and hold you in like in a vice …I recently got my first “PDK” and even though I poo-poo’ed them in the past, I’m now a real fan…it’s time to either sell all my beloved “long hoods”, get a bench seat or a pair of narrow ballet shoes…we’ll see…there you have it!…
Being handicapped the PDK is a godsend. My 911 still sounds wonderful, even though it doesn’t have stick shift.
Manual always for me. But as a big city dweller, when I went looking last year for a “rush hour” commuter car/beater, I simply could not find a reasonably “fun” car for sale around here with a stick shift, even after weeks of searching. (A Miata wouldn’t do; I needed a sedan.) So I settled for a cream puff 2008 Honda Civic with a four speed automatic.
For some reason, the gearbox on this car is very eager to downshift instantly on command, and I’m able to count on a shot of power exactly when I need it. Driving this particular automatic car is much more fun than I ever thought it would be, based on how lame other automatic cars (mostly rental cars) that I’ve driven over the years have behaved.
It’s a pretty basic transmission as these things go, but hat’s off to Honda for engineering the application in this car in such a sporting manner.
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on a long steep hill, like out of needles westbound on i-40, i like to leave my stickshift in top gear and floor the accelerator. i figure that cleans out some of the engine’s internals in one way or the other.
Driving in traffic in the NYC Tri-State area, I definitely don’t want to be “more engaged” with my car. I have to use all my concentration to avoid an accident with everybody double-parking and cutting everybody else off. NYC driving has become a deathsport at this point, and I am trying to avoid getting killed.
If I lived in a more rural area, perhaps I would enjoy driving a manual, although, unfortunately, somebody would have to teach me to drive with one first, I am ashamed to admit.
Glenn in Brooklyn, NY.
I wouldn’t dare disagree with Miles about the engagement in driving being important BUT – I think of Jay Leno and watching with great enthusiasm him start up his steam cars – push that – heat that – pull that – step back and hope – that is “engagement”. Or – Model T/A – retard the ignition, pull out the choke, go up front and turn the crank – run back and hope it is running.
Like all of our car discussions it is “relative”. I appreciate the comments about the differences between the daily driver which gets 95% of our use and the other 1,2 or 3 of our cars that together get less than the other 5%.
Give me PDK all day – it blows my mind when it shifts and – sorry my dear friend Keith – those paddles get a work out when I drive up the Washington side of the gorge – I might be fooling myself that I can do better than the “brain” in the transmission but acting like a kid and hitting red line and listening to the “pop” on overrun – well – my adolescent brain still loves it.
I have always preferred the engagement of shifting through gears since my first Porsche. There’s definitely appeal and uses for the PDK but have not the 991.1 long enough to experience that satisfaction. I’m not giving up 3-pedals.
4-speed/5-speed/6-speed
You said it best: “I can say it is more fun to manually operate the shift lever”