I won't bore you with the ongoings in my life that made me have this thought but right now I've got a DD truck and then a semi-dedicated track car and trailer. If I needed to consolidate that down into one vehicle... that I could DD and track/HPDE... and my wife could drive... what would it be? Sure a Corvette/Cayman/Mustang could check that box, but my wife doesn't drive a manual, and every so often we have to swap vehicles for the day.
So the question: Are there any cars with a flappy-paddle gear box that works well enough that you could track it... for say under $30k?
EvoX?
GTI w/ DSG?
E46 M3 with the SMG trans?
Any Porsche PPK cars that cheap yet?
yamaha
MegaDork
1/9/15 11:47 a.m.
E46 + SMG + CSL reflash for the SMG controller = Pure Win.
cayman with the flappy paddles. Stay AWAY from the E46 M3 SMG transmission, it's horrid.
Evo Evo X flappy paddles overheat on the track.
Love all the suggestions for cars that only come MT. Reading comprehension FTL! LOL...
Have heard amazing things about the vw DSG in the GTI, fun car as it is.
docwyte wrote:
cayman with the flappy paddles. Stay AWAY from the E46 M3 SMG transmission, it's horrid.
Evo Evo X flappy paddles overheat on the track.
Love all the suggestions for cars that only come MT. Reading comprehension FTL! LOL...
Plenty of companies that make transmission coolers for the EVO X.
Evo and Porsche are the only that come to mind. Maybe the newer Vettes?
Yea, there are a number of car that come with some sort of a flappy paddle gearbox... but that doesn't always mean they actually work in a track environment. (slow, overheat, etc).
I don't think the Cayman got the PDK until 2009. And those appear to still be well above $30k.
The new C7 has flappy paddles, and despite not being a dual clutch setup, I've heard it still works pretty well. But again, waaay above $30k.
I've heard good things about the VW DSG, but I'm not really a VW fan. Then again I wasn't a Miata guy until I bought one, so who am I to cast stones, haha.
You can get a PDK cayman non S under 30K if you look.
For track work though the Evo is really hard to beat. You would need to do the transmission cooler but that is peanut in the scheme of things.
DanyloS
New Reader
1/9/15 1:08 p.m.
Best Bets:
GTI w/DSG
Cayman w/ PDK (will likely take some work searching for this price point)
C6? There is probably some tuner so you can make it shift however you like.
ProDarwin wrote:
C6? There is probably some tuner so you can make it shift however you like.
This is my guess as well.
When the PDK was new, Porsche did a press event at Barber featuring all of the cars. We got plenty of track time. Even in the standard mode, the PDK can read your mind.
docwyte wrote:
Love all the suggestions for cars that only come MT. Reading comprehension FTL! LOL...
Everything listed above you is available with an Auto of some sort, not sure what you are going on about.
One of my fellow SCCA members runs his flappy paddle EvoX at track events. Yes, it needs the additional transmission cooling, especially in 100+ degree dry heat.
Otherwise I think it's mostly stock apart from some carpet removal and I think an intake. The thing flies.
EVO MR + Active Trans Cooler (read FAN)
yamaha
MegaDork
1/9/15 1:47 p.m.
docwyte wrote:
Stay AWAY from the E46 M3 SMG transmission, it's horrid.
LOL, they are if the controller goes bad, otherwise they act like a manual, just much much quicker gear changes.
I think that $30K, you're almost to (well, OK, slightly more than half) a Ferrari 355. Whether that would constitute the 'best' or not, I have no idea. :)
yamaha
MegaDork
1/9/15 2:44 p.m.
In reply to Sonic:
Yep, that one is 6M only.
370Z with 7spd auto. There's a guy on one of the 370 boards that has detailed his 370z track car very well. There are several issues he's had but the trans has held up well-in heavy, frequent track use. There are reasonably priced valve body mods available that make it very crisp and dual-clutch like even though it's not. It does maintain TC lock in gears 2-7 though so it feels very crisp and direct.
