A4Ultrasport

Hi all,

I've been looking for the 993 and potentially found it, except it has Tiptronic instead of the 6spd. Originally this was a deal breaker for me, but I've been reconsidering a bit since I have to deal with Bay Area traffic now, and the car would be driven daily. Here's my question: Has anybody else convinced themselves to go with the Tip instead of the manual, and if so, do you regret your choice? I'm also curious how reliable these transmissions are over time. I haven't driven the car yet, but I had a friend drive one with a Tiptronic and he actually liked it more than he thought he would.

Thanks!

deekay911

I made the choice to go with a tip 964 when I lived in London, and I didn't regret it at all. I got a job in Dusseldorf and used to make the drive over there once a month just so I could have some fun on the autobahn. For a DE car, it won't work, but for heavy city driving with occasional spirited excursions on normal roads you and your left leg will be happy.

SPD YLO

I've heard that the reason no one knows how to fix the tiptronic is because it rarely breaks.

goofballdeluxe

Easier to drive in traffic. Much harder when it comes time to sell it.

appear

I'm a Tip' owner without any regrets. I use my car everyday in heavy citytraffic, and I use it for a couple of roadtrips around europe every year - it does both things very good in my opinion.

Just like you, my initial preference was the manual because of the many negative slushbox-opinions I got from this forum. However, once I tried both it was easy for me to decide - what the tip lacked in top-performance I felt it made up for in usability for my needs. And if you're bugged about the the 0-60 time put in a 200 cell sports-cat and a chip from Steve W, that really transforms the car!

Pros:
- Having a perfect launch at the lights everytime is addictive
- Taking it a gear down just before (or coming out of) a tight bend without moving your hands from the wheel feels so great
- Crawling through city traffic at super low speeds doesn't require ninja-precision on the clutch and throttle, the tip does that so well! In fact you have a hand free for a coffee, dj'ing or scratching places!
- Manual mode is nice. You'll really learn how to extract the most out of it after 1-2 months DD'ing the car.
- No history of over-revved tip' engines, it's simply not possible + the tip-gearbox is super reliable.

Cons:
- It needs a gear more sometimes, but on the plus side you get some longer great-sounding runs through the rev-range. With a wellprogrammed chip it has a good punch from 3500 revs and up!
- Sometimes it clunks on slow deaccelerations. A yearly differential and/or tranny-fluid service keeps that at a minimum though
- The value of the car is lower, however that means you can get a cool 2S for much less and put some miles on it without guilt!
- Streetcred, theres a lot of tipbashing going on here. In my experience it's mainly because the Tip owners rarely bother to take up the fight/discussion. I wonder how many of the 'haters' have actually tried to live with one.

Kika

Dan V

Ask yourself, do you really want to deny yourself the chance to screw up a downshift and the excitement of valve-piston contact?

tcsracing1

I have 993 C4S manual tranny.

Since it is my daily driver i would rather have a tiptronic for stop and go traffic etc. (997RS is my track car)
I will eventually have a 993 tiptronic for daily use. (I rather the amusment of the 993 body for my daily as opposed to a modern 997 tiptronic).

But if it was my weekend only car i would want the manual.

rcwelch

I usually do not chime in on these sort of posts, but I am a Tip driver and really enjoy it. Maybe call me uninformed, but I always use mine in the manual mode and over the years have also developed a method of blipping the throttle when down shifting and I love my car just the way it is. Get your Tip and enjoy all the happiness that comes with 993 ownership.

stickypatch

I have a '94 tiptronic I got last September that is my daily driver, my wife and my "trip out of town" car, and every so often I throw it round the hills extra quick. I've put 12,000km on it in 6 months or so - I'm very happy to have a Porsche tiptronic over the 6 speed Audi A4 DTM it replaced.

With only four gears it's a little bit dead under 4,000 rpm - this was cured with a Steve Wong chip.

Changing out my tired engine mounts with RS mounts really sharpened up the gear changes too. They're quicker and there's more throttle feel as the engine moves around less with load changes - more "connectedness" than before when the car is in manual mode.

geolab

My condition to get a Carrera S was that it had to be a Tiptronic.
My wish is to drop a Tiptronic or PDK in a 993 Turbo, when I have the funds

To some, not only the 993 is part of their Identity, but the gearbox as well.

As a matter of fact, it is not like - since you don't have the rhythm = you don't go to a dance club.

It is more like, if you don't track the 993, choose the gearbox that makes you enjoy your 993.

I still have a Lancia Delta integrale Evo2 I used to Rally-cross Monte-carlo style on serpentyle mountain roads. Modified ZF box with Dog-clutch and no syncromesh. It has been 12 years I have not driven the car. Would I drive the Lancia if it had a Tiptronic ? hell no, but my 993 will always be a Tip

mdude

I didn't set out to get a tip but ended up buying one because:

1) took advantage of the price diff (at least so perceived in the US) to get a tip w/ a top end rebuild at the same price of a manual w/o
2) my wife can drive at times, she doesn't know manual

Since having the car I've come to enjoy the tip as having the best of both worlds. Except for wishing to have 1 or 2 more gears, I don't feel deprived in any other ways. Shaving a second 0-60 (manual over the tip) is of no incremental value, as I don't have the ability to drive any more than at 6/10ths. Holding 3rd gear at 60-70 gives you all the marvelous air-cooled sound you'll ever need.

In these days when a 6-cyl Accord can get to 60 in 6sec, driving a 993 fits what some calls the fun of driving a slow car fast, which always feels better than driving a fast car slow (think 997 or 991). Point is the 993 provides an experience so unique that a tip doesn't take any of it away, nor a manual adds any more to it.

fullbooker

I really like my tip! You must drive it in manual mode, though! 2nd gear will take you through lots of wonderful winding roads as fast as you can push it! Get the tip and enjoy it!
Phil

tctung

Over 90% of the 993s and 964s in Taiwan are Tiptronic and the boss of our local maint/repair shop says he has never seen any of them towed to his shop with a bad tranny. The guy owning this independent shop has been doing 911 maint/repair for 30+ years.

berni29

Hi

For some reason nearly all the 993's in Hong Kong are tiptronics. I was told there are only 6 manual 993 cars in HK (excluding RS's). I like my Tip, and in the real world it is no slower than a manual. As has been said they are much better after a remap and the gearbox does require a certain technique which takes time to learn. And they do need another gear really. If someone offered me my car as a manual I would honestly stick with the Tip (no pun intended).

Try one, but have a proper drive, with the car in maunual mode and do not forget it will pull away in 2nd unless you tell it not to (ie knock it down to 1st).

Berni