My wife and I currently drive a pair of manual New Beetles (when we swap off we get a lot of 'hey I thought your car was blue, did you paint it yellow?'). So the Cayman will of course be a manual too. In the next year or two, however, it will be time to buy a larger 4-door sedan or small SUV (X3 sized) as a familly car and it will be an automatic, something we haven't had in 4 (then 5-6 years). So my question is directed at mainly manual drivers' experiences with tiptronic (I assume if you are a manual person like my wife and I your Cayman will probably be too, so your tiptronic may be a different car, which is the situation we will be in)

How often do you tip as opposed to just sticking it in drive? I know my Mother (who also has manual Z3 and Cooper S's) has tip on her Avalon and I would estimate her tip useage at about 5% (not very often), on the rare occasion I am driving her car I use the tip. I need to decide whether tiptronic is a valuable useful extension to an automatic transmission that makes sense for a family car driven by manual drivers, or is it just a novelty that will seldom be used or enjoyed. In your opinion is the lack of Tiptronic a deal breaker for an automatic today? (okay I'm sure on a Cayman it would be, but on a different non-sport car?)

I don't believe there are any well agreed upon answers to these questions, I am just looking for other people's opinions and experiences. No wrong answers here.

John, I know this doesn't answer your question directly, but consider this:

You can still get manuals on almost all of the BMW line - a factor that after looking at all the competition (Audi, M-B and others) led us to buy a BMW 5-series wagon to be the people and dog hauling machine. I got the 525i Sport Wagon with 5-speed manual, 17' BBS wheels, lowered sport suspension, and it's a very fun car to drive - a complete stealth mobile on the highway, and holds a lot of people and stuff, too. And, it's built like a tank, ridiculously quiet and stable, and has a great safety system. A 5-series sedan would be available with a manual transmission, too. You have to either search hard for them, or order one, because 95% of the BMWs on the lots are automatics.

brad

Edited by - beez on 06/04/2006 10:17:00 AM

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21-year PCA Member
PCA DE Instructor

Is it possible in the not so distant future Tips will do away with manual transmission? It sure seems that it is a possibility.

Russ

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We never use the tip in our two Audis. The automatic mode does fine and tip is more hassle than it's worth, even for spirited driving. My Cayman (arrived in port today!) is manual. I find manual, clutchless manual, or posssibly DSG are all great fun in truly sporty cars whereas just allowing me limited choice of shift points for a torque converter is unsatisfying.

Hardly used the tip in my BMW. I use it all the time on my Croc. (probably about 50% of the time).

My Cayman is manual however we have a tip Boxster S and a tip Carrera cab. My son and I both find that, in all but the heaviest traffic,we put the selector in manual and change with the buttons.My wife tends to leave these cars in auto. Otherwise I find that the car becomes sluggish and unresponsive at slow speed. I enjoy the tiptronic cars but have certainly rediscovered the pleasures of driving a manual car since I took delivery of the Cayman last Saturday - I feel much more in control of the car.

I use the paddles when when I want to very quickly pass someone else. What's great is that if you keep the gear selector in Drive and use the paddles, it switches to Manual mode temporarily. I don't know when it switches back to automatic. I LOVE this feature!

Reports on several spec magazines say that Tip is every bit as effective as manual, and maybe better for the engine as it controls program and seemingly protects overreved engines. Comments?

It will stay in this mode for 8 seconds unless you manually change again.


Liquidator[img]/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/drive.gif[/img]

I just took delivery of my Croc w/ Tip a few days ago. I bought the Tip b/c my wife cannot drive stick.


I have used the manual function since the day I took delivery of the car and cannot imagine driving it in auto mode except under the heaviest traffic conditions (which I do occasionally encounter).


The hardest thing for me has been restraining myself from revving past 4000rpm before shifting due to the break-in period! Not sure if I can actually wait 2000 miles before letting my Croc fly!

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'06 Cayman S
Black w/black
Preferred Plus w/Tip

I use the manual mode 80-90% of the time. In traffic, the upshifts come at too low rpms. Only on the open road do I use drive and then only ifthe road is reasonably straight.

I frequently use manual mode in two Lexus sedans I use for business driving. When justfreeway cruising I leave it in 'drive'. I switch to manual modefor mostly for braking down long downhills oroccasionally for passing. I had a Tiptronic in a 99 Carrera and hated it. I sold the car and with the proceeds ordered a Boxter S with6 speed manual. I alsodid not likewithway the Carrera balanced in hard driven twisties. It had a 'wallow' to it under heavy throttle during cornering. Sure, it might have been partly me but the Boxter S with the manual was a much better fit for my sports driving. I found that no matter how hard I tried, the Tip never matched the exact timing and gear choice of a manual. Especially when I would would really stomp it and drop down one gear too many.[img]/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/sad_smile.gif[/img]


John

Edited by - screebo on 06/07/2006 4:19:17 PM