QuattroNorth

Family member needs a new ride soon, so obviously I sacrificed and raised my hand when time came to ''help out'' and go for car shopping, the coolest type of shopping that god has created (the wife would argue on that one may be but I'll leave it at that).

Anyhow, I test-drove the Macan S last night with Sport Chrono and PDK (comes standard in Canada, don't know elsewhere). I was very interested in comparing it with the S-Tronic/Drive Select on my S4.

I felt that they ran pretty much the same and gear changes were, at most, slightly faster with the PDK but my father (who drove the car just before me) disagreed and thought they were equal. Of course, we only drove it for like an hour. The SportPlus mode felt pretty much the same when compared with Dynamic on S-mode in the S4: very sensitive accelerator, high-rev shifting, matched downshifts, little exhaust blurp on the upshift.

I've read that they are different systems and don't share many parts, if at all. Could be, but still weird since Porsche and Audi have shared some genetics along the years. And Like I said, the global experience was very similar...

Any opinions/experiences on those two dual-clutch systems?? Anyone running an S4 and a Cayman or Boxter with PDK? or R8 versus 911?

Anyways, next test-drive will be SQ5, let's see how it competes with the Macan which was all in all pretty good.

westwest888

I have both an S4 6MT and a Boxster PDK. While I don't own the DSG (for good reason), I have driven many of them on the track and ridden in them on track as an instructor in both S4 and RS5 flavors.

I have to say that my next car when I trade in the S4 has to be a PDK equipped car. The manual is dead. This transmission is like a hair trigger gun. As fast as your brain can fire a synapse to start to push the PDK button in, the tranny behind you engages the next gear - WITHOUT disengaging the power. It literally shifts so fast you can't detect a loss of power. In that sense it feels like a CVT. If you were blindfolded with ear protection, you wouldn't know it shifted. Obviously aural senses are important in driver satisfaction, and the exhaust makes a roaring/burbling sound as it shifts. A fraction of a second later you hear the steering wheel button click as it reaches the bottom of its travel.

The DSG is not quite in the same league and feels a few generations behind to me. First, the Boxster will PDK shift at 8000 RPM. I think DSG fires off at 6400. PDK telepathically works with the other systems in the car like radar cruise control. The manual mode is brilliant and it will even downshift for you if you're executing an aggressive 2 lane road pass. In that edge case, you need to remember to upshift or it will bounce off the rev limiter at around 8000.

I'd have zero qualms or hesitation about getting a 2016 GT3 with PDK-only.

Timmay

LOL I wouldn't either!

It's funny because I was going to respond to the author of this thread that there was in fact someone that had experience with both trannies and before I did so I saw your post. I wish that PDK was available when I owned my Cayman S.

jyges

any other problems? And what mileage on your car?I thought 2015 s4 with dual clutch was amazing, just floor it and watch tack go up and down and feel car fly!