I'm in the research / initial purchase stages of getting my first P-car and I'm looking at an '01 C4 Coupe tiptronic.
(I'm trading up from a Saab 9-3 Viggen)

I have a noob question: Does the '01 Tiptronic have steering wheel gearshift paddles or does it only have the stick up/down shift?

thanks for your help.

 

No F1 style paddles, just the stick.

 

Not exactly either. The Tip buttons are located on the stering wheel at just above the 3 and 9 o'clock position. The gear stick goes into either D or M...no shifting on the stick itself. You can select gears wether you are in D or M; however, M will hold it in gear until you redline. I have driven a Saab that has the paddle shifters and they are different. On the Porsche each Tip button can shift up by pressing up and down by pressing down, I think it is actually easier than the paddle itself. My Boxster was a Tip and now my 996 is a Tip. It is not a bad set up, supposedly the next version will be like the Audis and have a dual clustch and will shift much faster, I am not sure when that will actual come out though. Good luck and you are making a good decision.

 

That's what I was looking for.
So the buttons on the steering wheel allow for shifting up and down.

Great.

I can't wait.....

 

I remember reading that the next generation Tip will have the F1 style paddles. Drove my friend's Maserati with the paddles, very difficult to get used to.

 

I don't know how hyped to get about the tip buttons. Back in 99 when I tried a tip 996, I found there was some serious lag. Then again, this was a rental car (in Germany, the people who rent porsche's are typically fat cats who don't want to shift, so that's all I could get).

 

Every authoritative article I have read since the 996 Tip was introduced (Panorama, Excellence, etc) has referred to factory drivers getting around the N'ring just as fast in the Tip cars as they do in the 6 speed .... so any lag can't be too significant.

Lag, or no .... since I don't track my car .... and do drive it often in heavy Atlanta traffic ... I love the ability to put it in D for the traffic and, later, M for the fun. I find the dual-direction Tip switches much preferable to paddle switches.

 

The 997tt is faster in Tip than manual.

 

But did they note if they were putting it in D or using it in M? My experience was D was fine, but M was awful...I mean really the absolute most amount of lag between pushing the shift button and the actual shifting I have experienced. More than MB, more than Chrysler, more than BMW. I mean it was almost a full 1 second between pushing the button and the actual shifting occuring. Maybe there was just something wrong with the car? Hell, just using the gate on my 80's benz is faster (though that's unfair, since that's actually faster than any tip I've tried other than a Chrysler 300 SRT8...that's something I've never understood...why do tip, why not just have a gate that goes 1 2 3 D like MB used to have?)

 

Kims996Cab,
Considering your driving matches what I foresee myself doing, what type (if any) of lag are you experiencing when driving in M and shifting up and down with the steering wheel buttons?
Thanks.

 

i have a tip., put in D most of time.
note, the shift-button still works in "D", making knock-down and pass very easy.
and it goes back to auto mode by itself if no shift button is pressed for a few second.
i don't exp. any delay on shifting on my MY01 tip

 

That's a valuable tip (for me anyway).

 

no problem.
one thing with porsche is you HAVE to read owner's menu, if it's your first p-car.

i've had hard time to discover that alarm will sound if the handrest cover is not closed.
and conv. top won't operate if handrest cover is not closed either.

 

This is my second Tip, the first was a 00 Boxster and There is a slight delay in shifting but very slight. It is very close to that of a normal person shifting a manual. I may get flammed for this but when most of the articles talk about a delay in shifting between manual and Tip they are taking comparisons from professional drivers that have mastered quick shifting. I know that everyone here is a pro; however, the Tip maybe faster than you really think JMO. Additionaly, I just participated in another autocross. There were 5 cars in my class...the other 4 were manual. I was able to take second only behind a 993. My point is that there is more to the drive than just shifting. If the Tip works for you I say drive it and if you still like it go for it. I love mine even more than my manual 944 ( different car I know but you get my point).