I just returned from the biannual Oregon Region Porsche Club of America’s NW Passage tour. I spent 1,500 miles switching between a 2024 Porsche 911 with PDK and a 2025 Porsche Macan GTS with the same paddle-shift gearbox. It’s got me thinking about transmissions, and my time owning a 996 Turbo with a Tiptronic automatic.
I hopped in our 1991 Alfa Romeo S4 Spider the other day, after a new A/C compressor was installed. In addition to the ice-cold air, I was delighted by the new exhaust note provided by the Stinger exhaust from Centerline Products. It “feels” like the car has more power, but that could just be my hoping and wishing. It certainly sounds more like an Alfa now.
With its 3-speed ZF automatic, the Spider is a cruiser more than a sports car. But I find that with the automatic, power steering and brakes, and A/C, I enjoy just tooling around in the car.
On the tour, I simply didn’t ever drive the late-model Porsches hard enough where having a paddle-shift PDK made any real difference in my enjoyment. And putting the cars into the Sport Plus mode was just silly. They wanted to stay in too low a gear, and the ride became rock hard.
I think I’d like a 911 that was a cruiser, similar to my Alfa S4. Although I’ve been encouraged to look for a 997.2 with the PDK, it seems like the more I consider it, the more I am pulled back to a 996 Tiptronic.
Do you have a spare one in your garage? Are you secretly lusting after a narrow-body 2.7-L 911 with a Sportomatic? (It’s okay if you are — I won’t reveal your name.) Let’s see if we’re a match. Send me an email at [email protected].
Read my previous blog posts here.
Subscribe to Sports Car Market and get 12 issues, plus six Insider’s Guides, including access to our complete archive going back 37 years. Join here.
Was your old Sportomatic 911 a three-speed? A friend said his was great getting off the line because the torque converter stall speed was around 2,600 rpm, so you had instant torque, and you could leave it in first up to about 70 mph. He just gave me a Sportomatic owner’s manual to sell, very rare in English.
I had a 2.4T Sportomatic for around 10 years. In the crappy Auckland traffic it was excellent hence would buy another one without question. Re a Macan. I have had 3 GTS and have another one arriving next month. Naturally all ICE cars. Keep yr electrics I wouldn’t consider one. When folk ask me how I like the Macan I describe it as the 2nd best Porsche I have ever owned!
Ian Nott
Auckland
New Zealand
I’ve got a 997.1 Turbo with Tiptronic (and a 996 Turbo manual) I absolutely love them both. I’ve driven a bunch of PDK cars but the Tiptronic just works really well on these.
Keith – have you considered a 993 Tiptronic? I have one and it’s been a wonderful car.