Tiptronic question
 

For those of you with tiptronic gearboxes, could someone please confirm whether it's necessary to press the gear lever button in order to enter Reverse (R) while in drive or neutral?

I haven't had my MY 2004 986 for long, but I'm certain when I first bought it, it was necessary to press the button in order to change into reverse - Now it's no longer necessary. Seems strange but nothing is stopping me from slamming the car into reverse while driving at 120kph. That surely can't be good for the gearbox or my nerves.

Thanks in advance

Um, are you sure about that? I pretty sure you cannot throw your car into reverse at 120kph. Neutral, maybe, but not reverse.
Mythbusters tried to do this and no matter what they tried, the car just wouldn't let them.

Thanks Giller.

That's what I would have thought but there's definitely no resistance when trying to move the lever up into Reverse (R) from Neutral (N) while driving forward, though I'm not going to try it while moving for fear of breaking something.

Can anyone else double check whether it's necessary to press the gear selector lever to change into reverse? If so, I need to get it checked and fixed on mine

Yes, I have to press the selector to get it in reverse. Both from park, or from neutral. Mine is a 97.

Thanks for this. Looks like I need to get it looked into, and quickly. Does anyone know where I could start to look into it. Is it possibly just something with the lever and therefore a simple fix, or it could it be something more serious with the gearbox itself?

Been looking around for instructions on how to dismantle and remove the centre console (the plastic panel that runs between the two seats) but all I have found is in reference to the manual gearboxes.

Has anyone had a similar experience dismantling the centre console for cars fitted with Tiptronic and confirm whether there's any major differences/caveats that I need to be aware of?