zenithblue993

After months of driving the tiptronic in D mode, i was trying to figure out the shift patterns in the Manual mode.

Having never driven a manual car, what revs do you guys shift at? Do you start in first gear or second? How far rpm wise can you take the car up do in each gear with/out damaging the car.

Also i feel when i'm in second or third gear and take my foot off the gas the car jerks in the reverse direction i can feel. Thanks for any advice!

Aussie Alan 993

Hi,
First thing is you are unlikely to break anything unless you do something really silly, these tips are almost bullet proof. Second, D is for sissies and grandmas and third, it is something you will constantly refine with practice.

I always take off in 1st, I wish there was a way to reprogram our cars to shift back to 1st when they came to a standstill but for all my looking I have not found anything that worked.

Driving in manual mode is like driving a manual car in the way that you need to adapt the shift points to the conditions and the type of driving you are doing at that moment.

Lets say, you are at a stop light and want to take off slowly, well you don't redline it in 1st and 2nd, you would change from 1st to 2nd at about 2500 to 3000 rpm then to 3rd at the speed limit then to 4th if on a flat road.

Now lets say that you are the designated get away car driver from an armed holdup. This requires you to floor it in 1st, if you don't shift in time it will automatically shift to 2nd at the redline but you will have to do all the shifting from there, you can take it to the redline or shift sooner, its your choice. Also, if you floor it from a standing start in 2nd, it will automatically shift back to first for you.

These tips are adaptive to your driving style. the time it takes to shift depends on the aggression of your driving, the more aggressive you are, the sharper the shift it does. It also has lateral load sensors to sense if you are mid corner and will delay an up or down shift to not throw the balance of the car while cornering aggressively.

So to end the first lesson, use the lower gears for acceleration and power and the higher gears for speed and cruising, hold the lower gears longer with more gas for aggressive driving and change sooner with less gas for traffic and better fuel economy. Mostly, keep it smooth.

For your homework, find a hilly and curvy road that is at least 500 miles long and enjoy it several times being careful to not get any speeding tickets.

Cuda911

Lesson 2:

I can see how knowing when to shift a Tip wouldn't make a lot sense if you have never driven a manual before. As stated above, it totally depends on your driving style at any given time. Shift at very low revs when driving in a funeral procession. Take it to red-line when stop-light racing the gay-boy ricer Nissan Sentra. And every variation between those.

Again, depends on how you are driving at the moment. Slow starts from 2nd, with gradual acceleration = improved gas mileage. Rapid starts from 1st, with quick acceleration = fun. As Aussie said, it would be nice if you could permanently over-ride the 2nd gear start, but you can't. Manually popping down to 1st from a stop becomes second nature very quickly.

You can't over-rev a Tip. Drive it as hard as you want. It will shift at red-line, even in M mode.

Although all Tips are adaptive (i.e. the shift pattern depends on how you are driving), the older Tips only had a few shift patterns in the computer (I think 5), and the newer ones have many more (I think 250 shift patterns).

See either a mechanic or a psychologist ASAP. Something is quite wrong with either your car or your brain.

J/K. Actually, it just "feels" like you are "jerking in a reverse direction" [hmm, that doesn't sound good, maybe should be re-worded]. That's just fine engine responsiveness you are noticing. I remember when I let my daughter drive my car, she made a very similar comment... that it felt odd when she took her foot off the gas.

Also, stop driving mostly in "D" mode. That sucks the fun out of these cars, since they rapidly shift to higher gears in D mode. It's what gives the Tip a bad name [Fact: 98.749% of people who trash-talk Tips have never even driven one]. As also stated above, you won't hurt anything by shifting poorly. The computer will over-ride any "stupid" moves like trying to pop down to 1st at 80 mph. It will also "store" shifts (save that for lesson 3).

Another comment... even in D mode, you can always shift whenever you want, just like in M mode. But in D mode, after about 8 seconds, if you don't shift again the computer will resume shifting for you.

Aussie Alan 993

Hey Cuda, No Homework???

Spokes

all the above, plus if you are feeling lazy in traffic - stick it in 3 - it will change down to 1st.

And as Aussie Alan said here is the homework:

master the blip, took me a while but certainly makes a difference when pushing the car into and out of the bends. Add left foot braking and then your set!

Cuda911

I figured he hadn't completed your assignment yet, so didn't want him to get detention.

zenithblue993

Wow great advice thanks! Read those paragraphs twice. Definitely going to have some fun driving to orlando tomorrow(90 miles from home).

I don't even think on normal roads, speed limits 50 mph and under my rpm have been over 4000k. I've only tried it a couple of times taking off from the stop sign in 1st gear. It seems to shoot those rpms up so fast.

If i'm driving 45mph in town, do i keep it in 3rd gear or do i always shift up to 4th? I feel like 4th gear is the most smooth but then it keeps the rpms 1.5 - 2k.

Hypothetical question: Do you or can you take 1st gear up near redline? I assume you'd have to be aggressively driving for the computer to allow you to do it. I'm just trying to discover the limits of the tip gearbox. I feel 1st gear rpms shoots up pretty quick.

I would never of thought to take the rpms near redline. But i can see how much fun it is, this is a race car....

With a automatic transmission atf filter and fluid change done a couple weeks ago, she's ready to be pushed tomorrow.

Thanks for the Lesson 1 and 2 haha.

Aussie Alan 993

It gets there very quickly in 1st but like I said earlier, you won't damage anything if you don't change quickly enough, the car will do it for you 1st to 2nd but not 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th.

Also, 1500 to 2000 rpm in 4th is ok if it is not hilly or curvy, try it for yourself, if it feels like the engine is labouring, shift to 3rd for a while.

Remember, you won't break it especially at 45 or 50 mph.

Enjoy your homework.

Cuda911

When just driving around town, probably about 2,500 - 3,000 rpm or so is just fine. Whatever feels smoothest to you. It is a much more "spirited" ride at higher RPM (4,000 and above). Depends on your mood. If it feels too sluggish, pop down one gear.

Absolutely you can take it to red-line in 1st! As well you should, when driving in F mode (fun mode). In D mode, floor it from a stop and the computer will take it there. In M mode, you can just accelerate to red-line without having to floor it from the start.

Yep! Don't "waste" the car by driving it like a Hyundai. Have fun with it!

Y/W. The questions you ask may seem naive to some, but they are actually very good.

Dan Snyder

I drive with my tip set in 3rd unless I'm on the interstate. Starts in first and the shift points are higher. Loads more enjoyment. Try it

Cuda911

Not sure I follow that... maybe it's a feature of older tips? What do you mean "set in 3rd"?

Holger3.2

Confirmed ...

Question, somebody stated somewhere that there is a very good report in the PCA Panorama from December (?? most possible 2003/04 or 05) about a prof race driver/ instructor, explaining the use of the tiptronic at the race track!?

Does anybody has / could scan (guess it was not online then?!) this report for me?

many thanks
Holger

user 723923490

instead of D or manual select 3rd.

hoggel

Before I converted my car from tip to manual I drove it on the track many times. I always used manual mode and only shifted down with the steering wheel buttons. I let the car shift up automatically at near redline. There is one corner where I would shift down as the car tracked out of the corner. I would hold the downshift button and as soon as the car unloaded from the corner (lateral accelerometer signal) it would shift down. Very smooth acceleration out of the corner.

Holger3.2

Allan, the thread is almost 4 years old ...

Just placed my question here as it fits to the topic.

My interest is only the mentioned article.

Would be nice if somebody with a PCA Panorama collection could dig it out

Thanks