And I can't understand how the tip can be faster than the manual.

Yes it's handy with an auto, but it consumes a lot of "energy" that could better be used for acceleration.

 

If you cannot shift the Porsche 6 speed as fast as the automatic shifts, then you need to practice or uyou have drivetrain trouble. There is no way that a TIP will beat a 6 speed if the 6 driver of the manual knows what he or she is doing. There must be alot of drivers responding to this post that are more interested in the "bling" of their cars than they are in learning how to drive them.

 

I think the inference is which is faster on a track, and on a short or medium track, the tip will be faster than 99% of drivers with stick shift. In acceleration straight line, 6-speed is faster.

 

From someone who has extensive experience with both - the TIP shifts faster, I don't care how good you are.

Having said that, I'd rather drive a 6 speed. I don't need the car to protect me from me.

Also, one of the major challenges of driving a TIP is getting the car to down shift. With a stick you just slam in the clutch, drop a gear or two and let the clutch out. In a TIP you have to drop the gear and immediately blip the accelerator to get it to work. Try going at Turn #1 at Willow at 150 and hitting the gas. Scary

 

Ken, I believe the new tip system in the 987 and 997 blips for you. I experienced some rev matching in my 986 tip last weekend, shifting down to 2nd while applying heavy brakes at turn 1.

150 at turn 1? I hope you are talking big track...

 

Despite what Porsche says I think an auto is faster below 60. The 1-2 shift is difficult with a manual. In addition the auto should be more durable when running 1/4 mile. With a manual you're probably going to do damage to the clutch and second gear synchros.

 

If Tip was faster, would Porsche not use a Tip car for setting their lap times at the Ring. Does Porsche use Tip cars at the Ring. I am curious about this. Always thought any auto with torque converter hampered performance, but I don't know shyte.

 

If you shift a tip in manual mode, you likely will get equal or better times on a short track, as the shift times are way faster than any human could do. It seems quite evident that the traditional clutch is going away - look at the new GT3 Cup cars - PDK. PDK isn't tiptronic, but it is clutchless like tiptronic is. F1 transmission has been used for quite a while, and SMG is all BMW uses for their racing as well. All in all, Porsche, I believe, was the last to change from the traditional clutch pedal, so now for this grand-am, all should be left pedal-less. Must be a reason...

6-speed might be more fun to most, but tiptronic can be fun too. Ironically I'm taking a buddy's Boxster S out for a couple days to see how I like the 6-speed compared to my tiptronic, for when I make my decision to replace it. I still think I will go with tiptronic, at least while I continue to learn how to drive on the track, and perhaps by the time I'm done with the next one, PDK will be so widely available my decision thereafter will be easy on my next Porsche.

 

Just curious about this topic. I thought Porsche tiptronic had torque converter so really and automatic and not like SMG, DSG or F1. As long as torque converter, I thought it would never be as quick as F1, SMG or DSG.

 

Porsche Tiptronic is absolutely not as fast as SMG, F1, DSG.. it is just a fancy automatic, not manual with a clutch that is controlled by computer as in other systems.

Power is robbed with this automatic.

 

Or manual...

But it's interesting that 50% here think/voted that. And it was even worse before.

I'm not sure if this says more about their driving abilities with manual or...? (sorry, no offense to those who voted 'wrong')

 

Yes, tiptronic is definitely not as fast as DSG, F1, SMG, or PDK, but is faster shifting than 99.998% of those shifting manually. It DOES lose power due to the torque converter, yes.

 

Don't forget the torque convertor has a lock-up clutch that removes the slippage.

 

My drive with the tiptronic seemed too smooth to be as fast as manual. The SMG and F1 you can tell shifts aggressively and can be very abrupt, but the tiptronic to me seemed liked Audis old pre DSG tiptronic. I just cannot see it being faster unless it has changed drastically in the last year or so.

 

yes Porsche's Tiptronic is more involving than an automatic, but it has all the disadvantages of the regular automatic.. and no faster.

Noone is questioning people's choice of tiptronic with the usual excuses of "i am in bumper to bumper traffic" or "my wife won't let me". But PLEASE, do not say Automatics are better than Manuals for the track. It is not.. it is a glorified automatic that lets you shift, power is robbed, and control is lost.

"but 99.98% of people will drive faster in tiptronic".. yeah if they are stick shift newbies.

SMG and DSG take 0.008 seconds
Ferrari F1 takes 0.160 seconds
tiptronic gear shifts take .2 seconds
humans take about .6 seconds

The problem with tiptronic is it still not as efficient as clutch systems due to the torque converter. Human error is the only way it will be faster.. and that's why people take it to the track, to be faster.. and a good driver can take full advantage of manual control and that 20% more power/less time.

Too bad Porsche doesn't have SMG or DSG.. that's clearly the better track transmission than traditional manual, and over the AUTOMATIC tiptronic.

Here's info about the tiptronic:

http://www.autozine.org/technical_sc..._gear_auto.htm