Is The Auto Better Than The Manual?

IT’S FUNNY HOW time can make even the most assured comments soften like a rotting peach. Take my remark on the manual version of Porsche’s sensational Cayman GT4 from last year: “It means – and I can’t believe I’m saying this – that perhaps the GT4 to buy will be the automatic version…” Even now it reads like blasphemy. But, in my defense, the only criticism I could fairly level at the manual GT4 was that its ratios felt too long. The top of the second redlined at just under 140km/h, so the prospect of a punchier, quick-shifting auto with an extra ratio didn’t sound too bad.

- Alex Inwood

CAYMAN GT4 PDK

Now, as I prepare to drive the first PDK GT4 to arrive in Australia at Targa Tasmania, seeds of doubt creep in. “The ratios weren’t that long, were they?” a voice whispers. “Have you forgotten how sweet the manual gearbox is? It’s close to perfect!”

To quell the growing chorus of #savethemanuals ringing in my head, I switch my attention to the one area where the PDK is unquestionably superior: speed. Opting for the PDK trims half a second from the GT4’s 0-100km/h time, meaning this is a 3.9-second car.