how long do you think they will keep making cars in manual transmission?

[hans007]

They're certainly easier to drive closer to their potential.

The base 911 and cayman s are pretty close engine wise and I'm pretty sure the cayman s wins on most tracks. Its lighter too

 

[Kaido]

I just found out the 2013 Nissan Altima sedan isn't even offered in manual...automatic only 🙁

 

[tweakmonkey]

You could also look at it as the Boxster powerplant is really that good that they used it in the GT3 🙂

I doubt it, I'd say it's a lot more to do with profits. Porsche still uses the GT1 based engines in its Cup Cars and RSR, not the new 9A1. The GT3 used to have nearly the same engine and many interchangeable parts. That might eventually change but I'm sure it'll be a lot crazier (more expensive) than the new GT3 spec engine if it is ever used.

The Metzger engines are much more expensive, look for a used one even and it's about $30,000. It's a dry sump endurance motor that can be entered right into a 24 hour race from the factory. A few reliability concerns where Porsche cut some corners on engineering has cost them enough money to throw in the towel on the GT1 as a production engine. In the interview with Andreas Preuninger he even cites cost as the reason why they're phasing out the engine.

It's been suspected the Boxster and especially the Cayman would outperform any 911 if the engine was up-tuned, but it was purposely restricted to keep the 911 line at the time.

This is true but to put the GT3 suspension, brakes, seats, tires, and engine into a Cayman would bump its cost considerably and it would then be the same price as the 911 anyway. Porsche still has amazing mid engine cars... the 918 Spyder or Carrera GT for example. They put even nuttier engines and carbon chassis, all the good bits and those are far superior cars in most ways to the 911.

FWIW mid engine Cayman/Boxsters are easy to drive fast but the GT3's a lot more fun IMO 🙂 I'll take a GT3 over a Cayman R any day of the week and have driven both for 1000s of miles. Don't even get me started on the snooze factor of the PDK cars though ;(

 

[1prophet]

So long as people want the option they will still make manual transmissions, even if they cost more than automatics in the future.

With self-driving cars in the not so distant future, a better question is how many people will continue to drive their own cars most of the time when cars are able to drive safely from destination to destination with little input from the "driver".

You won't see self driving cars like in the movies until the liability issues are resolved, which is the same reason flying cars which are always just around the corner have been a novelty at best.

 

[MagickMan]

They're certainly easier to drive closer to their potential.

Not as fun, though.