Re: 718 'base' Boxster PDK review...

Driving MT's for 40 years, and a 986 S MT since 2002. Turo'd a base 300HP 2.0T 718 PDK in Miami last weekend and was *blown away* how great it was. Sure the engine note was farty, but the engine was cheeky and eager, and the PDK was a revelation: Miami traffic? NP!. Exit ramp with blindingly quick downshifts? Piece of cake? Left-foot braked launch control? Bring it. Seriously thinking about at GTS 4.0 with PDK, which has an extra gear vs the MT. Heresy?

Our son-in-law bought a 2021 718 Cayman S last year. I've drven it quite a bit and I found it to be a wonderful car. I don't thingk the exhaust note is a deal breaker at all. What is different about the sound is that the four seems more "relaxed" than the more "busy" six and speed builds deceptively fast if you tend to drive by "sound".

Been driving my PDK since 2009. About 99% of the time it is manual mode. Took it on the track once, and the auto mode must have known where I was because it performed amazingly. You could concentrate on driving. Mine is a daily driver and in auto mode, it seems to always be in too high of a gear (aka, low of RPM) for my liking since I tend to drive like a NYC taxi driver (old enough demographic on here to know what a taxi is). Also, lifting off the gas, the engine does slow down and not coast like true automatics tend to do.

That said, if you have driven a MT for all those decades, hope you won't get that "disconnected" feeling some of the hardcore folks get when shifting to a PDK, but I find, using manual still lets you feel that connection/control.

Good luck and those GTS 4.0s get rave reviews. Can't go wrong with it.

“You could concentrate on driving.”
An inference can be made that manual clutch shifting isn’t “driving.”
If one or more of the other historical human operator functions are automated, does that allow for even more concentration on “driving?”
Not judging manual vs. PDK, just having a thought experiment.

Good comment!, Laz! The skill involved in use of a manual clutch is something to be proud of, but is it really any more than that? Damn! I was pretty proud of my abilities, but then again, I could touch-type on a Smith-Corona pretty well too (but that did not make my PhD thesis any better).

When it comes to current Porsches, I think the Boxster GTS 4.0 is the sweet spot. I agree with your description of farty sound of the flat 4. I guess the PDK helped to mask the slight hesitation while the turbo spools up. The instant response of a NA engine makes it special in a sports car.

From what you've said, it seems you're already sold on the PDK. If you don't get a thrill out of a perfect downshift, acceleration and nicely timed upshift and prefer a "piece of cake" driving, then the PDK is probably the right choice for you.

As far as launch control, I've had a chance to try it on a track and wondered when I'd actually us it. Traffic light GP? Show my friends how I can plant a foot on each pedal. Release left foot and in 3 -6 seconds I've achieved speeding ticket speed? No skill required.

Involved driving? Piece of cake driving? Depends on your preference

Don't get me wrong, I adore by 986 S MT, and have been double clutching and rev matching with the best of them since my 'no synchro' Alfa Spider days. For me what's seductive is the PDK's versatility: I life in suburban Boston where gridlock is a way of life - so much so that I take my 'other'/lesser car on weekends or choose my departure times based on my gear box just to avoid traffic. The PDK seems to solve for a lot of that / best of both worlds (almost). Sure if I lived at the base of the alps or only drove 'for pleasure' then MT all day, but I don't and so PDK is seductive.... Still deliberating - we'll see how I feel in 3 months when my 986 comes out of storage.

As my commute grew from 7 minutes at 70 MPH to over 50 just crawling over the years, a TIP enabled me to use my Boxster full time (well except in snow). Same home, same office, just huge changes in population.

The high shifter directly connected to the gearbox (good,) but the upshift I wanted to grab the quickest, 2nd, would crunch (bad.) Had a 71 and 77, both used, both crunchy. A friend who's a superb mechanic worked with me on rebuilding the 77's engine, and he did the trans on his own. I think we used an "improved" set of synchros, but within months the 1-2 shift started crunching again.

My 66 912's trans worked very well, and as I learned stick with it, the dog-legged 1-2 never bothered me. It was kinda cool that it was a "racing" pattern: the top 4 being in the "H."
(I loved the smell of hypoy gear oil in the morning!)

nothing wrong with the PDK. having never driven one, i’ll go along with reports from others that it’s fantastic! enjoy whatever works for you.