“Flappy Paddle” Gearbox

BBC’s Top Gear television show belittles them with the label “Flappy paddle gear box.” Auto enthusiasts are horrified that Porsche’s latest track tuned 911 GT3 doesn’t even have the option for a conventional manual transmission. But Porsche is not alone. Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Nissan…all offer high end sports cars with no option for a manual transmission.

Wolfgang Hatz, Porsche’s head of research and development, explained his decision this way: “Because it improves the performance – drive it for the first time and you’ll think it’s impossible to be this good. It’s the fastest transmission in the world.” For manufacturers that’s the point, cars with “flappy paddle” transmissions are faster. That’s the reason they have been standard in Formula One race cars for about 20 years. As a side benefit they protect these very expensive cars from…let’s say drivers with less talent than money.

Driving my little red Corvette out in the country working through the gears with the manual transmission was sublime. Getting stuck on the Cross Bronx Expressway depressing the clutch pedal every 10 seconds for mile after mile was literally painful. My left leg was still sore the next day.

Now after decades of buying cars with manual transmissions I drive a car with a “flappy paddle” transmission. Sadly, it does not have the 7-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK). It is by today’s standards a fairly conventional automatic transmission but in “sport” mode it allows me to take full control of the gear selection using “flappy paddles” on the steering wheel. While gear shift times are not the 100 milliseconds of the PDK they are still faster than I could manage in my last car though maybe not faster than in my little red Corvette, or so I like to think. So bottom line, while the published 0–60 times for this car and my last car are virtually identical, in the real world the new car is faster by a couple of ticks due to its “flappy paddle gear box.”

Those enthusiasts who insist that clutch pedals and stick shifts are the only acceptable transmissions are at risk of being labelled Luddites. Technology has moved on. Automatic transmissions long ago replaced manual transmissions for the overwhelming majority of drivers. Dual clutch automatic/semi-automatic transmissions[1] have taken over high performance sports cars and they are rapidly becoming available across the spectrum. Even the Ford Fiesta has an available dual clutch transmission.

Very soon the manual transmission will be relegated to history, available only on a few cars for those willing to accept lesser performance so they can relive the “good old days”.