2009 Porsche Cayman S PDK - Transmission - First Drive

After driving a couple of Cayman S's fitted with the thing, I'd say the computing power has caught up rather nicely. It's tempting the wrath of some of you, but I now think the concept of traditional manual shifting ought to be officially boxed up and quietly placed into the technological attic alongside crank-starting and diddling with ignition-advance levers on the steering column. While Porsche's PDK is actually replacing its automatic-based Tiptronic transmissions, inevitably it's going to slowly marginalize the traditional heel-and-toe manual right into oblivion. Trust me, the day will come when the last of its octogenarian practitioners finally has a hip replacement and just can't crook that arthritic old right leg sideways anymore. And that will be that. (Until then, last year's five-speed manual gains an extra cog for those of you hopelessly fixated on slow, inexact shifting).

If you overlay the PDK's details atop today's typical double-clutch fare, what stands out most is its exquisitely subtle software and seven-speed range of ratios (the first six being relatively short while the top cog is dialed fairly tall for cruising efficiency). Although Porsche claims its shifts are 60 percent quicker than a fast-stirred manual, in a sense they take no time at all as the clutches' handoff is so refined there's no appreciable moment of zero torque. Slap it into Drive and its autonomous shifts are as fluid and logical as any slushbox automatic's.

While there is a toggleable shifter lever sprouting from the center console, it seems almost symbolic. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the steering wheel switches will be taking the gear-change orders, and Porsche's switchery consists of two small chunks of putty-shaped aluminum that slot through notches in the tops of the right and left spokes. Notably, each operates in exactly the same way. They're not "handed": Thumb-press either to upshift, trigger-pull either to downshift. The ergonomic logic here has its naysayers, but I rather like the left and right symmetry. No need to mentally track which spoke is which. Just find one and either push or pull the doohickey.