tadink

Hey all -

Have been looking for some time for a 996tt - and am running across a few candidates that seem attractive.

QUESTION - how does the Tip affect the valuation of the 996tt? Is there a premium to be paid for the manual - or is it purely driver preference??

For my needs, the tip has some appeal but I'm not in traffic that often, and the resale valuation might overcome any initial appeal....not that I'm buying the thing as an investment.

Any thoughts?

thanks

td
Dos Lagos Vineyards
Napa, CA

manimal

Hagerty says -5% for Tip.

From everything I've read here, the Tip is mechanically awesome. And in Europe and Asia where they are more rare, are actually a premium.

Buy/drive what you want.

pfbz

Demand is much lower for tips... Not much of a challenge in the current market to find a decent deal on a clean tip, but extremely difficult these days to find a clean, well priced six speed coupe.

IMHO, minus at least $7K for an otherwise identical 996TT Tip vs six speed.

But as mentioned above, the tiptronic is a strong transmission and far better than most 15+ year old automatics... And some tuners can tweak it's performance for much quicker, firmer shifts (budget $1K for tip tune on top of engine tune). Also as mentioned, all it takes is a short test drive for most to conclude that it either isn't what they are looking for or they can live with a slushbox.

Freddie Two Bs

At this point in time resale value shouldn't be a concern. Meaning that other things equal it will sell for less but you will have paid less for it in the first place.

Carlo_Carrera

I agree with what the others have written. You can get a much better deal on a Tip. I am not sure it is always a $7k difference, maybe it is that much in high priced low mileage examples, but there is a price difference regardless.

Techweenie a member here has owned both so hopefully he will chime in with a comparision.

Atrox

These aren’t investment cars, buy what you like. I have a tiptronic and have 0 regrets.

jimq

One clutch and or slave and bomb replacement yes there will be a 5-7K difference in price

techweenie

3 years with a 6-speed and a bit under 2 months with the Tip. I can tell you I miss the 6-speed, but the Tip is an advantage in stop-and-go traffic - of which there is a lot (too much) in LA. The Tip has a 'brain' that's about the same size as the ECU for the engine. It "learns" your driving pattern and adjusts accordingly. So you can let it operate fully as an automatic, but it's controllable with the stick or steering wheel switches to downshift even in automatic mode. I often drop it into first (it prefers to start from a stop in 2nd). If you are doing a switch over-ride in automatic mode, your shift holds for 5-6 seconds then it reverts to automatic. I'm still learning, as I haven't put a ton of miles on it (independent registration service totally f-ed up the registration and the car is still not titled correctly). So someone with more seat time can probably tell you more about managing shifts.

Macster

The general rule of used car buying is buy the best example of the car you want that you can find and afford.

The newest 996 Turbo is 12 to 13 years old. At some point the difference between a 6-speed and a Tip counts for less and the overall condition/mileage of the car counts for more. Even when younger a used car's condition and miles (and price, always price) counts for a lot when trying to assign a value to the used car. My point is that as the years go buy any price premium for a manual or any price penality for a Tip becomes less a factor. You can do more for the car's resale value by buying a good well maintained stock car for not too much money and enjoying the car and taking good care of the car.

There's the above, but you have to decide if you want to consider a Turbo fitted with a Tip transmission.

If a 6-speed is what you must have then search for and get a manual.

But if you think you could be as happy in a Tip then include Tips in your search.

After having lived with my 996 Turbo with a 6-speed since June 2009 and after 150K miles the transmission has been ok (and the clutch is still original) but having just recently picked up a new Challenger R/T Scat Pack with 485hp I opted to get one with an automatic (8-speed Torqueflite). While I haven't had the chance -- engine not broken in yet -- to really unleash those 485 horses I have upon occasion managed to experience some reasonable levels of acceleration and the automatic really helps one get the most from the engine. And in "sport" mode the automatic is fantastic. Acceleration from a stop is awesome and as speed increases upshifts happen on time and at the optimum time. Yeah baby. As one who has only owned one other automatic (an early '70's Dodge D200 pickup way back in the mid-70's) this new car with the 8-speed automatic is a real eye opener and in a good way. Also, the automatic has shift paddles on the steering wheel and I haven't even tried those yet. After the engine is through break in and with fresh oil then I'll give those paddles a work out.

While I've never dropped the clutch on my Turbo I have once in a while experienced some prettty aggressive acceleration once underway enough the clutch was fully engaged. The Turbo engine gains RPMs so quick that I find it hard to keep up with the shifting. Don't get me wrong, the 6-speed shifts very well for a manual in a high powered/high performance car. But because of how fast the engine gains RPMs and how much "gentler" a Tip is on both the engine and drivetrain I would offer up the opinion the Turbo is better served with a Tip vs. a manual transmission.

And blah blah blah.

When all is said and done it still all boils down to you have to make up your mind what you want or don't want. Drive examples of both cars and decide which one you prefer. If a manual that's fine. Same with a Tip. If you don't have a preference that may be the best as you have more cars to choose from.

If 2 otherwise "identical" cars are available one with a Tip and one with a 6-speed and if the Tip was priced thousands of dollars less than the 6-speed (due to some Tip penalty) I'd consider the Tip equipped car a bargain over the manual equipped car and get the Tip and bank the money I saved and ignore any comments about the car being a Tip. When someone offers to pay for my cars then I might let him influence what I buy. But I pay for my own cars and buy what I want, what I feel is best for me.

Carlo_Carrera

The best method I have found for driving a Tip on the street is to leave it in automatic mode and do all the downshifting manually.

On a race track lock it into manual mode and downshift manually but then let the transmission do the upshifts automatically at redline.

KM1959

Here In Los Angeles there are always several 996TTs for sale. Asking prices for the tips - for otherwise equal cars - are at least $5K less and their ads seem to run for much longer. This is good news if you want one.