964 Tiptronic - what are they like ?
- Thread starter mwadams
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OK, first some background. I have had two 944s, a 911 3,2, a Lotus Excel, various fast BMWs, and three MGs, so I like sports cars. I now have a 964 Tip (and a manic MG Midget).
The Tiptronic on a 964 is a fairly basic thing. If it were only an automatic, it would not be satisfactory. However, it is NOT only an automatic, and that makes it really rather good.
First thing: do not expect that you can get in to one of these cars and get the most from it. There is a technique to using the Tiptronic box has to be learned. Frankly, in anything but trundling around, automatic just is not good enough. It is just too ready to change up. The five chnaging modes are a fiction as far as I am concerned. It seems to have two: change up and don't change up.
The manual mode is superb, with one gripe (which I will come to). Top is often too high for UK motorways in traffic, so use manual and click down to third to pass people, then click back up to top when up to speed. (Auto will kick down to second at 70mph, which is often not wanted.)
On A- and B-roads, using manual to select the gear before it is needed allows far smoother progres than is possible with auto and kickdown. Third dows most of the job on our silly windy things that we call main roads, and second does most overtaking.
Slow speed overtaking (40mph or less) means you select first. This is very difficult for drivers of manual cars, but the 964 Tip's first is much higher than a classical first gear. A low-speed overtaking event often involves manual selction of first, mash the throttle, and just let the gearbox select second by itself when the engine red-lines (no need to lift off). This is when the Tiptronic becomes a seriously fast car - for many drivers, faster than the manual.
The gripe - even in manual mode, it will not hold first on the overrun; it changes up to second. This was a bit of a pest going up some steep Swiss alpine passes with lots of low-speed hairpins. All I wanted was first, and it kept on giving me second as I backed off to go into the nexxt steep bend. Having said that, it also has the advantage that it will never select first on the overrun, but you can preselct first on the way into a bend, and it will give you that gear as soon as you apply power on the way out.
My conclusion is that I now no longer can fathom why anyone would want a cutch pedal. However, getting a 964 Tip moving well requires quite a bit of manual control and you do need ti use the gear lever actively. Teach yourself to use both feet - one for the throttle an one for the brake (I am learning this just now) and you will be able to keep up with all but the most accomplished drivers in a manual car.
Finally, they seem to have fewer problems than the manuals - no dual-mass flywheel for a starter, and no-one seems to have identified any weakness with the Tiptronic setup itself.
HTH
Alistair
The Tiptronic on a 964 is a fairly basic thing. If it were only an automatic, it would not be satisfactory. However, it is NOT only an automatic, and that makes it really rather good.
First thing: do not expect that you can get in to one of these cars and get the most from it. There is a technique to using the Tiptronic box has to be learned. Frankly, in anything but trundling around, automatic just is not good enough. It is just too ready to change up. The five chnaging modes are a fiction as far as I am concerned. It seems to have two: change up and don't change up.
The manual mode is superb, with one gripe (which I will come to). Top is often too high for UK motorways in traffic, so use manual and click down to third to pass people, then click back up to top when up to speed. (Auto will kick down to second at 70mph, which is often not wanted.)
On A- and B-roads, using manual to select the gear before it is needed allows far smoother progres than is possible with auto and kickdown. Third dows most of the job on our silly windy things that we call main roads, and second does most overtaking.
Slow speed overtaking (40mph or less) means you select first. This is very difficult for drivers of manual cars, but the 964 Tip's first is much higher than a classical first gear. A low-speed overtaking event often involves manual selction of first, mash the throttle, and just let the gearbox select second by itself when the engine red-lines (no need to lift off). This is when the Tiptronic becomes a seriously fast car - for many drivers, faster than the manual.
The gripe - even in manual mode, it will not hold first on the overrun; it changes up to second. This was a bit of a pest going up some steep Swiss alpine passes with lots of low-speed hairpins. All I wanted was first, and it kept on giving me second as I backed off to go into the nexxt steep bend. Having said that, it also has the advantage that it will never select first on the overrun, but you can preselct first on the way into a bend, and it will give you that gear as soon as you apply power on the way out.
My conclusion is that I now no longer can fathom why anyone would want a cutch pedal. However, getting a 964 Tip moving well requires quite a bit of manual control and you do need ti use the gear lever actively. Teach yourself to use both feet - one for the throttle an one for the brake (I am learning this just now) and you will be able to keep up with all but the most accomplished drivers in a manual car.
Finally, they seem to have fewer problems than the manuals - no dual-mass flywheel for a starter, and no-one seems to have identified any weakness with the Tiptronic setup itself.
HTH
Alistair
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