Keith Martin has been involved with the collector car hobby for more than 40 years, and is the founder and publisher of this magazine. Keith has also written for the New York Times, Automobile, AutoWeek, Road & Track and other publications, has been an emcee for numerous concours, and had his own show, “What’s My Car Worth,” shown on Velocity. He has received many honors, including the Lee Iacocca Award, the Edward Herrmann Award, was inducted into the Concorso Italiano Hall of Fame, and more. He has served on the board of directors of The LeMay Museum and Oregon Ballet Theater, and was formerly the chair of the board of the Meguiar’s Award. Learn more about Keith here.
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 […]
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 keith.martin@sportscarmarket.com.
911 997.2Macan GTS911S Sporto with original cloth interior911S Sporto1991 Alfa S4Alex with our 996 Twin Turbo Tiptronic
4 responses to “Keith’s Blog: To Paddle or Not to Paddle?”
Frank Barrett
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.
Ian Nott
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
Kris
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.
Doug. Harvill
Keith – have you considered a 993 Tiptronic? I have one and it’s been a wonderful car.
4 responses to “Keith’s Blog: To Paddle or Not to Paddle?”
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.