Hello. I'm a newbie. Decided to join in just because of the discussion concerning transmission
I race cars so I'd like to try clear something up as well as make suggestions. Hope y'all don't mind! The only tiptronic I've driven is on a 911. Everything else is strictly manual. ECWFAN, since you said you want to start learning, now is the time
It's not rocket science.. Once you get use to it, you don't even have to think. Heck, my legs and hand move automatically it seems. Driving in traffic... Well, you know, that car can crawl in 2nd gear with barely a press on the pedal. Once you get to know you car well enough, it'll be a breeze. Besides, the clutch doesn't require strong legs to begin with. I have driven a manual 2 weeks out of knee surgery. One thing though, I noticed with many manual transmission drivers, is that they tend to overdo the shifting. That is to say, some people shift for no good reason (I do that to, just for the fun of it!) Well, IMHO, after 14 years of professional and leisure driving, if you want pure driving fun, go with the stick shift. If you want to race, get a car with paddle shifters. If you want to fiddle with the radio constantly as you drive, while balancing your coke can with the other hand and chatting with your partner on the phone (Of course I don't encourage any of these actions while driving) then get the tiptronic. It does not feel the same as real manual shifting. Not even close. Look at the torque graphs and you can already tell the difference. As to the disagreement....F1 paddle shift is NOT automatic. It's called a sequential manual transmission. The only difference with an H-gate manual transmission is the shape of the gear & arrangement of rods. You still have to shift up and down, the shifter wouldn't do it for you. Tiptronic is automatic. The difference is in gear ratios, and who decides to change gear
The main reason we use paddle shifters on race cars is... time. We also like to keep both hands on the wheel. It's simply quicker. When racing, the last thing you'd want to think about is what gear you're in! Besides, I wouldn't want to miss a gear on downshifts! Ronzi, I'm sorry but real paddle shifters will not shift unless you tell it to. The transmission doesn't decide for you. The only electronics in there is the solenoid that connects the paddle to the hydraulics actuating the gearbox. We also use straight line sequential shifters. Tiptronic is fully automatic, regardless of what some people say. It shifts slower, and like the others pointed out, comes with a torque converter. As hard as I tried, I couldn't redline that tiptronic on that 911. What fun is that?