Enjoy your car and please post a review/update after you've had it awhile as I am also considering a tip. The bottom line for me is that I live in a hilly crowded city where people ride your butt on the hills and I just don't need the aggravation of dealing with a clutch under those circumstances day in and day out - plus I know that I can have a fantastic and engaging time focusing on all of the aspects of driving a great car sans using the left foot as long as I can change gears somehow, and the tip seems to fulfill that in spite of not having the greatest interface (a shame there are no paddles and controls via the stick - I think I saw a flappy paddle retrofit here somewhere I may have to look into if we bite the bullet).

 

If it was not for the 50000 euro hit I would sell my Tip 2006 C4S right now. I simply hate it. It is only OK in traffic.

 

I bought my used 2005 C2S with a tip becuase I had though it was going to be my daily driver, and my wife was going to drive it as well... but 75 miles a day is just too much, it would be a high mileage car in no time... and my wife was scared to drive a car that expensive. So I leased a C class as a daily driver and the Porsche only came out on weekends and special occasions and the tip seemed fine... Then, I decided to start going to the track and although it works pretty well, there are moments that downshifting into corners, where the rear wheels want to lock up becuase of the lack of a clutch.... And sometimes it would be nice to not have to look and make sure I'm hitting the correct button becuase they are pretty small and I ended up down shifting a couple times on accident and hitting the rev limiter...

I bought a really expensive steering wheel from FVD that has paddles on it, up on the right, down on the left. But I have the multifunction buttons on my stock steering wheel and there's a wiring issue... I've had it at the shop twice and they are still trying to figure out how to do it without screwing something up... With that wheel it will make it a little nicer at the track! I hope I get it working...

Besides that, the next car will likely be a stick, unless it's not for a couple years and the PDK ends up being so cool I just can't pass it up, or I get a Ferrari or Lambo with the F1/E-Gear tranny...

Just my 2 cents...

 

I really want my car to be a daily driver - I hate the thought of a 80K car sitting in the garage and collecting dust. I had a Mercedes 230SL convertible with 5speed that was in concours condition and was an absolute garage queen as I did not want to risk parking it anywhere or getting it damaged, it sat in my garage for 6 years after the restoration and i maybe drove it 20 times, finally sold it for half of my restoration cost and put the proceeds into the C2S so I could have a fun car that I could actually use! I can see now that it is just not very practical as a daily driver in the NYC area. You see very few porsches here on the road, except Cayennes, now I know why.
Anyway, I will enjoy the car and use it as much as possible and can always trade in a couple of years for a stick , maybe a TT!

 

>> That's a shame - I can't help but wonder if you got a chance to test drive one before buying? Also, do you use the manual mode much of the time? I have noticed that oftentimes the people who have disliked the manual mode capable autos or SMG type gear boxes frequently don't use the manual mode a lot and its the auto shifting results (gear change timing and lags) they are not happy with, whereas those of us who end up enjoying the transmission tend to use the manual mode most of the time and really utilize it to get the performance response we want.

>> Hmm, so there is no gear indicator in the gauge cluster? I'm surprised because with the other manumatics I've driven (BMW's step, SMG, DSG and the Mini) I always recall seeing the gear selection somewhere in the cluster where it is easy to glance at and I would have expected that in the Posche too.

>> I'm new to this so I don't immediately know who FVD is, but it sounds interesting - is it supposed to work well out of the box on a car without the multifunction steering wheel? In any case, sorry to hear they can't get it working for you yet, that sounds really frustrating. Good luck and please post how it works out for you.

 

Doh, I just realized I misread the statement about the buttons on the wheel and confused it with seeing the gear selection - nevermind about that part :P

 

There is an LED the size of a pinhead that moves in position depending on which gear. Compared to the big number display on an SMG, for instance, it is not at all easy to read at a glance.

I've had the same problems on the track as hwjunkie mentions...the steering wheel switches don't always react immediately, so you may hit it twice and go a gear lower than you intended, or it may downshift at the same time you do, dropping a gear lower than you intended. Not a good thing at the limit.

 

I use the sound of the engine as reference in downshifting. Also the Tiptronic (used in manual mode) will not let you downshift into to low of a gear causing the rear wheels to lock up as hwjunkie says.

I know, I have a Tip and track the heck out of it.

 

Yes there is the gear indicator but it's a tiny LED with a number next to it and it's hard to see when you are driving fast trying to concentrate on your line...


FVD is just a place that sell Porsche parts, and yes, it was suppose to work, although I don't think the guy that sold it to me knew how the wiring was on a multifunction steering wheel? Hopefully they can work something out for me. I was so excited to get it and when I was told it wasn't working out, twice, I was bummed.



Umm, well, yes and no... There's a very fine line as to when it will let you or not... When I was saying I was hitting the rev limiter, it wasn't immediately after the downshift, it was after I had downshifted and started to go faster... However, I have downshifted many times where my rear tires have locked up... So I guess it depends on the situation... Now that i've gone to the track a couple times, I'm learning how to control it, but say you are in 3rd going around a fast corner, into another, slower corner, where there's no straight to brake on and you have to brake while turning slightly, while downshifting, it's very easy to lock up the rear wheels and get slightly out of shape...

 

I kinda of understand what you are saying but have not had that happen to me during my track days at Sebring or Barber Motorsport. There is a turn at Sebring now that I am use to the track that I get slow enough to shift to 1st but I half to do it right at the very end of the apex....when I get it right I really rocket out of that corner. It is a normal 2nd gear corner for 6speeds but since my gearing is a little taller 1st works perfect. Personally I can't freaking wait till Porsche does the clutchless manual DSG/PDK or what ever they will call it.

 

I'd contend that if you're going slow enough into T7 that you can engage first gear on your tip car, you aren't carrying enough speed into the turn. Despite your tip's higher gearing, I don't think there are any first-gear turns at any road courses in the South. Just a thought

 

i have tip, in NJ
this is what you need in city traffic.
enjoy the car!

 

Maybe so and proably right and I will play around with this on July 28th my next event. I brake right after the bridge and really like to hit that turn as fast as I can and my last instructor kept telling me I was braking too late and going too fast for turn 7. During my solo check out ride that instructor told me I could use more brakes as the car had a lot more braking potectial. Go figure, I can't make anyone completly happy as some don't like the agression and some want more agression while riding around with you. Also I was told I was turning in a little too early too. Turning in really really late I felt I had to almost stop the car and then turn. So doing turn 7 his way in 2nd gear when I went to squeeze on the gas I was at around 3500 rpms. I could brake do my down shifting to 2nd, start the turn click it to 1st ( rpms went up to around 5500-6000) right as I was starting to throttle. I got it to work just a couple of times as most of the time it upset the car just a little. Even when I got it right and the car really dug in and rocketed out of the turn I was told to go easier on the throttle. If I kept it in 2nd and squeezed on the throttle in 2nd @ 3500rpm my instructor liked that better. Anyhow I made to solo now and will play with it and see if it really works or not.

Hope to meet you soon, Mike

 

first of all, don't worry be happy. A tipronic isn't a mistake if you enjoy driving it, and you did the smart thing by getting one with sports chrono. Put it in sports mode and drive it like you stole it, and if it's not a funfest, then you may have other issues like what other people have to say (many of whom haven't driven one much or at all). I love mine, and having tracked my prior 996 Turbo with a Tip extensively, I was always faster than the "macho" dudes who had 6 speeds in their turbos.

In my case I cannot operate a clutch pedal for physical reasons, but even still, at times the anti-Tip hyperbole in various web boards gets so thick sometimes, it's no wonder you'd now all-of-a-sudden wondered about the choice. I know a handful of 911 drivers who really have no business driving sticks, but do because of this nonesense.

The world's full of choices and there's nothing wrong with yours. It's a great car.

 

congrats george k!
stop cryin' & enjoy the great porsche you have . sorry just mho.

fwiw: do a search on goog: "hurley haywood & porsche tiptronic"... seems someone who knows how to really drive porsches fast has a tip preference... imho: if one learns how to really drive one in manual mode... that's really drivin' a tip.

quote from tranny talk on the 997tt:
(still very relevant)

6-speed manual or Porsche's advanced 5-speed Tiptronic S automatic transmission. For the first time in a Porsche, acceleration is actually quicker with the automatic than with the manual transmission.

However, performance figures are impressive with either transmission. When equipped with the 6-speed manual, the 911 Turbo reaches 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds; 99 mph arrives in 8.4 seconds. The Tiptronic S transmission brings the 0-60 mph time down to a mere 3.4 seconds, with 99 mph showing up in 7.8 seconds. Top speed with either transmission is 193 mph. Definitely supercar territory.

The Tiptronic S also features what Porsche calls Fast-Off and Fast-Back. Fast-Off prevents the transmission from upshifting if the driver lifts off the gas pedal abruptly, keeping the car in the appropriate gear during spirited driving. The Fast-Back function downshifts automatically if the driver lifts off the gas and applies the brake—even slightly—within 1.5 seconds. The idea is that when braking for a turn, the car will be in the correct gear for exiting the turn with the highest performance. According to Porsche, Fast-Back shortens the reaction time of that first downshift while braking by approximately 30 percent.

It was interesting to hear professional racing drivers such as David Murry and Hurley Haywood say they actually prefer the automatic transmission to the manual. Many enthusiasts would consider that sacrilege. But Murry explained that it can shift faster than the driver, it downshifts when it needs to, and therefore there's no reason not to opt for the Tiptronic.