Hive,
What is know about the long term durability and reliability of the PDK auto gear box.
I have been watching ads for 2009/2010 vintage Boxsters. It seems like PDK's greatly out number old school manuals.
I have read the PDK is fantastic to drive. Since I tend to buy things and hold on to them for years, I am wondering what issues, if any, have shown up as they age.
Zero responses?
I guess either my timing was bad to post this or there is nothing to report.
I hope it is because the have zero issues because a PDK would be much more appealing to my wife. And she just commented about how her friend had and Audi TT convertible that was very cute.
Miatas don't have them, therefore I know nothing about them ;)
I love, love, love my PDK, but my car only has 14,000 miles on it so I can’t help with reliability.
I have always gone for the manual trans. Up until recently we only had one auto in the family. We now have 2. It seems like giving up to get a third. But for a Boxster Maybe that is ok.
I read Woody's note about his car having 14,000 miles as being 140,000. I made a joke about a garage queen that was funny at 140,000 but not funny at 14,000. So I deleted it.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Hey, come on...I have snow tires for that car!
I also love my PDK. I've got 45k on mine. No problems so far. No track time but lots of spirited driving.
On a related note, is there an adapter plate for LSX available? You know for a budget LMP2 type thing. I am sure that a pontoon fender could be built around a Mini Countryman's headlight in front of a Miata windshield. The rest would be just details.
I don't remember reading any issues with them. I suspect, since everything is computer controlled so we can't ham fist shifts and break all the synchros, they are pretty reliable.
Bill Caswell did a video a few years back of taking a 911 Turbo S and doing 50 straight launch control starts. Didn't overheat, no problems.
40K miles on mine or so no issues. I actually prefer it to the manual for street driving. Having said that I only have experiance with it in the Mecan and the 911 not the boxster.
Most of what I've heard is good. I do have one friend who had a CPO last year 981 Cayman (not S) where the PDK E36 M3 the bed. I don't know what the exact issue was, but they replaced the whole PDK. That potential future expense made him sell the car before it was out of extended warranty. This is not necessarily an indication of poor reliability, he's the only person I've met who's had an issue with one.
Jeff, Gearheadotaku on here, works as a service writer in the local Porsche dealership. He'll have the best possible info on how many they work on. Try reaching out to him.
An awful lot of PDK cars get sold with the description "new PDK" "recent PDK replacement" "PDK wont need replaced for a while now that it has been replaced" and "wish I would have bought a manual but I guess PCAR manual transmissions need more frequent rebuilds as well so I am not sure there is such a thing as a reliable Porsche transmission".
Cant say there is anyway I can afford a PDK porsche out of warranty due to the risk of a PDK going pop and requiring a 10k check to get her running again.
Maybe checking the Rennlist Porsche forums? I don't recall the exact year when they began offering the PDK, but browsing through For Sale ads for those older ones to get a taste of just what maintenance has been done for the different mileage listings (CarFax's too) might give you an idea.
Olemiss540 said:An awful lot of PDK cars get sold with the description "new PDK" "recent PDK replacement" "PDK wont need replaced for a while now that it has been replaced" and "wish I would have bought a manual but I guess PCAR manual transmissions need more frequent rebuilds as well so I am not sure there is such a thing as a reliable Porsche transmission".
Cant say there is anyway I can afford a PDK porsche out of warranty due to the risk of a PDK going pop and requiring a 10k check to get her running again.
PDK failure rate under 100K miles is below 1%. If it was really that high you would be hearing about class action lawsuits on it everywhere.
I guess the scary part is there is no "repair", as of now they are only fixed by replacement.
TheGloriousW said:I guess the scary part is there is no "repair", as of now they are only fixed by replacement.
That's the same with the BMW DCT. Getrag doesn't sell replacement parts. You can buy stronger clutches and clutch baskets for it though.
My irrational desire for a P Car is tempered only by the fear of breaking things and going broke when I flog it on the track. If I can't use it that way, I don't really want it. It's good to read threads like this once in a while to temper my lust.
Really brings out my inner engineer to understand "risk". The likelihood of something going wrong is pretty low, but the severity is very high.
I work in parts, not service.
Been here longer than PDK has been around, Can't recall ever ordering a trans for one. They do require some upkeep, just fluid changes and such. Can't say anything about how they drive though, I've never driven one more than across the parking lot!
z31maniac said:I don't remember reading any issues with them. I suspect, since everything is computer controlled so we can't ham fist shifts and break all the synchros, they are pretty reliable.
Bill Caswell did a video a few years back of taking a 911 Turbo S and doing 50 straight launch control starts. Didn't overheat, no problems.
I went to a track event at Barber that the Nashville Porsche dealer sponsored. We did laps in a variety of cars, but also launch control in a 911 Turbo S. They had those things running all day, launch after launch and just idling in between. Those cars never skipped a beat. Very impressive, especially considering what would have happened with some other well respected performance cars in that type of scenario.
wearymicrobe said:Olemiss540 said:An awful lot of PDK cars get sold with the description "new PDK" "recent PDK replacement" "PDK wont need replaced for a while now that it has been replaced" and "wish I would have bought a manual but I guess PCAR manual transmissions need more frequent rebuilds as well so I am not sure there is such a thing as a reliable Porsche transmission".
Cant say there is anyway I can afford a PDK porsche out of warranty due to the risk of a PDK going pop and requiring a 10k check to get her running again.
PDK failure rate under 100K miles is below 1%. If it was really that high you would be hearing about class action lawsuits on it everywhere.
Can you imagine what the public uproar would be if their engines started self destructing in large quantities due to a known failure point? Atleast a replacement boxter engine is cheaper than a pdk replacement.
Cotton said:I went to a track event at Barber that the Nashville Porsche dealer sponsored. We did laps in a variety of cars, but also launch control in a 911 Turbo S. They had those things running all day, launch after launch and just idling in between. Those cars never skipped a beat. Very impressive, especially considering what would have happened with some other well respected performance cars in that type of scenario.
Future CPO cars.
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