[HCT]

Originally Posted by Zeke.Malvo

I've driven a couple of the DCT's available in the M3's, and I thought they were pure crap. They do not drive or respond like stick shifts at all. Maybe a Porsche PDK is world's better, but I would rather have a standard automatic than what BMW offered that's for sure. But I would still take a manual transmission any day over an automatic. Paddle shifting is no fun and and misses completely on the experience a manual transmission provides.

I've seen "transmission wars" break out a bunch of time in web forums, generally ending with a lot of name-calling. Here's my take:

Driving a stick is inarguably the most involving and emotional way to drive a sports car. Anyone who denies that is ignorant or a troll.

And up until a few years ago, a stick was also the best choice for both fuel economy and maximum performance. But those days are long gone. Anyone who thinks a manual gearbox can yield lap times or 1/4 mile times on par with the best auto boxes is ignorant or a troll.

The Porsche PDK is pretty much the gold standard in auto transmissions. It's not just the speed of full throttle upshifts; GM has already demonstrated faster upshifting. It's the super-responsive programming too: the transmission is always in the right gear on the track. Check out this quote from the Best Driver's Car competition a couple of years ago:

Let’s discuss specifics, starting with the amazing dual-clutch transmission, the second-gen Porsche PDK. “Just brilliant,” coos Kiino. “No matter how you want to drive — relaxed or spirited — the PDK just seems to know and it functions perfectly.”

So true. I blew turn 6 pretty badly one lap and, at the very moment I was starting to think, “I should probably downshift,” the PDK did exactly that. It was almost spooky, like having a co-driver working the transmission for me. And, unlike the unit on the GT-R, the Porsche’s transmission software is so good that you don’t even need to pull the paddles. Of course, you can and, in Sport+, the relatively weak 911 (just 400 hp and 325 lb-ft of torque, yet hits 60 mph in 3.7 seconds!) mule-kicks nearly as hard as the Aventador when you flick it into second. “I’ve just been obsoleted!” exclaimed Pobst. “Years of practice and training to learn how to shift a car have now become completely unnecessary. And, in fact, that, to me, is a little bit sad.” Sure, if you still feel the need to row your own, Porsche makes a 911 with a seven-speed manual, but please believe me, PDK is the way to go.

Plus DCT transmissions can do a trick that's impossible with torque converter autos: when they downshift they have two gears engaged simultaneously and switch from one to the other using dual clutches. That leads to downshifts that upset the chassis less -- it's physically impossible for a traditional auto to match that: the faster it downshifts the more abrupt it is and the more likely it'll upset the chassis diving into a turn. No amount of clever programming can get around that.

But the knock against many DCTs is that they can be grabby just driving around normally so it's understandable that GM wanted a torque converter unit. Besides, by being able to amortize the costs of this transmission via their trucks, it ultimately will cost way less per unit.