Graham

I'm in the process of finding my first 996 Cab and was wondering what peoples long term experiences were of the tip versus 6 speed.

I've already determined that I can only use the 6 speed if I upgrade to something like a B&M, (my previous 2 cars were similarly upgraded and so now I consider all 'standard' shifters to be lifeless), but I'm also keen on the Tip as it is the closest thing to the F1 shifter on my, soon to leave, F355 GTS. I don't have the luxury of much experience with this to know whether it makes sense or not.

Any feedback welcome.

Thanks,

Mike996

The Porsche tip can not compare to Ferrari's system. If you are doing driving in congested areas all the time get it, but don't expect it to be a manual or a F1 system.

Best advice: try to find one to drive

-Michael
O1 C4 AS Tiptronic

alex 95 993

I've got a 95 993 Tiptronic Cab and though I really like the ease of use I do find acceleration leaves a bit to be desired. I am thinking about chipping the car as I hear there are chips out there specifically designed for the tip which will drop your acceleration down to just a few tenths over a manual. Even though you have shifters on the steering wheel (and several people told me that after a few months I would use these over the stick) I still find myself almost exclusively shifting manually. I don't like the fact that it only drops down to second at stoplights as I like to take off pretty quick and so I find myself manually shifting down to 1st almost 100% of the time. Also in the 95 there's only 4 gears on the tip and I really wish they had five. While in automatic (which I rarely ever use) I really dislike the shifting patterns between 1st and 2nd as I find that shifting occurs way to early into second, turning the car into a real dog for a little while. Plus it gets into top gear WAY to early, which I guess is great for emissions and such but not that great for responsiveness. For all of the above reasons I now tend to drive almost 100% of the time in manual tiptronic mode.

I am sure that there have been improvements in the tip between the 993 and the 996 so you need to test drive a 996 to see which of my comments still hold true. You also really have to drive the car in stop and go traffic to get a real feel for where tiptronic excels.

I think the best way to sum it up is that if this is going to be your daily driver then I would give a lot of thought to having a tip as nothing beats it in stop and go traffic. But if you plan this only as a weekend car then I say go with a manual.

Viken

It is important to note that the Tiptronic was improved many times over from the 993 to the most recent 996. Although, the present Tiptronic is much more sophisticated in terms of programming, I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. No matter what people say, it is still an automatic with a power robbing torque converter.

Carlos from Spain

Porsche´s Tiptronic is a pure AUTOMATIC transmision with manual override, so its absolutely no faster than a conventional automatic transmision with its slow shifting and power robbing mechanism. Its the same as BMW´s steptronic (not M-sequencial),Chrysler Autostic, Toyota E-shift, Alfa Romeo Q-system (not Selespeed), Merc One-touch, Volvo geartronic, Honda S-matic, and Audi and Mitsubishi´s tiptronic(licensed by Porsche). So if you ever tried one of these you can get an idea.
The F355 F1 transmision is completely different, its an actual MANUAL gearbox with automatic mode (sequencial). Its the best one of the sequencial gearboxes, and there is virtually NO performance loss!(upshifts in 0.15sec!!) The other two available are the M-sequencial on the BMW M3 and the Alfaromeao´s 156 Selespeed. They may actually outperform the pure manual versions on the track because the driver only needs to concertrate on the steering really (ask Schumacher).
So you would be disapointed with the Tiptronic if thats what your looking for. But if you are looking for just an easy-to-use and confortable automatic tranmission the go for it, but its heavier and way slower that the F335´s.
Hpoe this helps,
Carlos
996 C4 (6-speed)

alex 95 993

Can someone explain to me though why the Porsche tiptronic is so much worse than the manual on 0-60 times whereas the fully automatic 98 and up Corvette only loses approx 2/10ths of a second to its manual partner (atleast thats according to two friends who both have automatics on the Corvette, one a 98 and the other a 2001) on the same time trial.

Graham

Yes, you're quite correct about the F1 being a manual gearbox implementation. It is extremely direct, especially in Sport mode where you can pretty much lock the wheels on up-changes at full throttle since the changes are so quick and brutal.



I realise that the Tip isn't going to be quite as responsive, but I do enjoy the luxury of changing gear from the steering wheel whenever required.

I have an X5 with the step-tronic and I find this to be pretty slow on changes, even with the Dinan software upgrade.

Carlos from Spain

They wish, Alex!
Actually the C5 automatic vettes loose 0,7 secs on 0-60 mph vs. the 6-speed manual (tested on a track, electronically and by the same people) , just like the 996 tip vs 6-speed (0.7 sec)! The reason is that even though the automatic vette should loose less performance than the 996 due to its greater torque compared to their manual versions, the vette automatic is an paleolitic 4-speed automatic and the tiptronic is a 5-speed automatic so the jump from 1st to 2nd is more gradual on the porsche, beside the 996 is lighter too.
Only 0.2 secs more with the heavier 4-speed automatic... yeah right... and my 996 carrera can almost match the GT3, right?

Carlos

alex 95 993

Well I guess they were both lying to me! I know for sure that one guy insisted that was the approximate loss. BTW I have asked before and never got an answer. I can't tell from the manual whether the times mentioned are when running in fully automatic mode or manual tiptronic. I heard somewhere that when shifting manually the times are significantly closer to the true manual 993. Anybody have a definitive answer?

Dave S

I recently drove a Boxster tip and found the same things Alex did. In automatic mode the transmission starts in 2nd gear. If you switch down to 1st, the tip goes to manual mode so you can't start in 1st in automatic. It upshifted very quickly through the gears right to 5th gear at less than 2000 rpm under light load. Even with medium throttle it seemed to upshift early. I didn't have the opportunity to drive hard.
In the manual mode though, the tip worked real well shifts and up and down were smooth and immediate. But again no oportunity for hard driving. Maybe the 911 handles the tip better because of more power?
You'd think they'd have a sport mode for ist gear starts and later upshifts.

Ofer

I've had both ('99 Tip C2 Coupe & '01 6spd C2 Coupe). NO COMPARISON. If they only made Porsches with the Tip unit that comes on the non-turbo cars (ZF mfg.), I wouldn't own one. I gladly got rid of my '99 tip for low $. The turbo Tip (Mercedes mfg.) is better.

Viken

Why? I have driven both and find that they are both automatic transmissions with manual buttons on the wheel. Late shifting with a lot of idiot-proof overrides. The Tiptronic feature itself is all in the programming. The manufacture of the gearbox has nothing to do with how well the transmission reacts. The only reason Porsche went for the MB unit is because MB already had a high-torque automatic being used in their bigger V-8's and V-12's.

Tabor

Mercedes has one now too. They use it on their large trucks! I hope to see it in their cars soon. I am sorry I don't know what it is called. The truck is called UNIMOG.

Viken

MB's sequential is already out on the compact C-class.

Carlos from Spain

The Mercedes Sport coupe has three types of transmissions, a fully 6-spped manual, a 6-speed cluthless manual (not as quick as a real sequencial but lighter and less perf. loss than an automatic), and a 5-speed automatic with manual override (which they call sequencial, but its not... marketing strategies). I doubt mercedes will ever develop a real sequencial transmission, its not their type.
Carlos