Tiptronic and Paddle Shifters - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

jangobox · 03-21-2006, 10:27 AM

Can someone explain this to me. I have a friend that has a 355 Ferrari with the semi-automatic paddle shifters. What is the difference between that and the Tiptronic shifters in the Porsches. Essentially they are both automatics right? Or is the Ferrari not an automatic and it has to shift gears with the paddles no matter what?...?

deliriousga · 03-21-2006, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jangobox

Or is the Ferrari not an automatic and it has to shift gears with the paddles no matter what?...?

Bingo!

IIRC, the Ferrari shifter does not have (or did not have) "automatic" mode like the Tiptronic. It's an optimized shifter that clutches and shifts in one very quick motion when the paddle is flipped.

Somebody please confirm or kill this, but I think the addition of the "automatic" mode somehow slows the shifting ability in the "manual" mode on the Tiptronic and that's probably why Ferrari doesn't have it. This is a guess since the Tiptronic is slightly slower that the 5-speed manual Boxster.

Jeph · 03-21-2006, 04:15 PM

I know some one else can get more technical than me, but it is to my understanding that a Ferrari, or SMG Bimmer, are manuals with automatic/electronic clutches. A tiptronic is a switch that just tells the automatic transmission when to shift.

PSP · 03-21-2006, 04:21 PM

The Ferrari F1 system is an automatic shift manual transmission

Porsche Tiptronic is a manual shift automatic transmission

RandallNeighbour · 03-21-2006, 04:23 PM

I am officially confused. Or am I confused officially?

eslai · 03-21-2006, 04:52 PM

PSP said it best. An automatic tranny uses a torque converter to transfer engine load to the drivetrain. A manual transmission uses a clutch.

Here's a good introduction to auto trannies:

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automatic-transmission.htm

There's a manual tranny page there too if you search for it. Read up on all of that.

Tiptronic is just an auto tranny that shifts when you tell it to. It still has all the deficiencies of an automatic tranny.

F1-style transmissions use a hydraulic system to operate the clutch instead of your foot on a pedal doing the same thing. In essence, it's still a manual transmission. That's over-simplified of course, but there's the basics.

DSG of course, is a lot different.