996 Tiptronic

Are they any good compared to the manual? The cheaper 996's @ 15k mostly seem to be tiptronics. :?:

It's horses for courses, what do you want from the car? Daily driver/weekend toy/ trackday demon, town driving or motorway What yearly mileage do you do? You can still put the trans in manual mode and use the buttons. Try them both and see. :thumb: TB

As tbrown said depends on your requirements and preference. The earlier tiptronics had 5 shift patterns, this was later changed to 250 shift patterns on the newer units, after '02 I think.

Well you can swithch the tiptronic tomanual mode. then either drive on gear shift change or via steering wheel "buttons". So does this not give the best of both worlds? Having said that the Tiptronic set up holds its gear through corners and under "hard" acceleration. I think if you were looking for an incredible driving experiance ... maybe a manual .. but certainly the Tiptronic is fine ... so I find!!

I'm probably going to drive no more than 5k pa, not used every day. No tracks days. Are the tiptronics more prone to problems? They seem to sell for less than manuals, any particular reason? Cheers

Brendan A manual box is just that, you do what you want with it. The tiptronic box is a clever box that has a memory and adapts to your driving style. If you drive it in manual mode it will change up for you if you get close to the red line[rpm] so you can't exeed its limits. It will also change down again to 2nd if you stop so you can pull away again quickly. Advantages are you don't have to worry about the clutch or gearbox having been previously thrashed to bits. Drive it in auto and it makes life very easy in stop/ start traffic or cruising along the M-way. The are pretty bullitproof and don't recall any problems with them. It's just that many people don't see them as 'real' gearboxes. V happy with mine. TB

The Porsche Tiptronic, shared a lot of architecture with the Mercedes Benz 5 Speed Auto Box :worship: , which I personally found a delight to use. I now enjoy the Mercedes 7 Speed G Tronic :thumb: on my 4.0 litre V8 Diesel ML. One benefit on the Mercs that used the Auto box is that it delivered better fuel economy than on the Manuals, probably due to better overall calibrations fot the auto versions. This is not true for Porsche, the autos use more fuel according to all the stats I've seen. Manual ot Tiptronic, drive them both then make up your mind. Regards Big Bob :bye:

I would not buy another manual if i could help it. I see as i have the best of both worlds with tiptronic

The reason is quite simple. Older cars generally become weekend or track day cars, both of which would relate to a manual. The advantage of the tip is that they do not suffer from over revving, are programmed to warm up better, suffer from less RMS issues and everything considered to suffer less from catostrophic engine failure. As the tip was originally bought by an older (generally!) driver they tend to be better specified. They are also quicker 0-60 than any driver that claims their manual is a "mans" car. If you use the car as a daily driver then a tip is generally the better option (depending on how busy it gets). I miss a manual sometimes at the weekend or if I've left work early. This represents about 15-20% of the time. I'd buy another tip, but not as a weekend or project car.

My TTX50 is Tip because of a knee problem, my cab was manual, I have had other autos and none have been as good, drive the Tip as manual or auto it is a delight :thumbs: X50.

The early Porsches ran with the ZF gearbox, then on the facelift they used the Merc boxes.:thumb: Another nice feature compared to the CLK 55 I used to have, is that it holds on to the revs, when you are driving full on.

I drive a lot in heavy traffic, so it was an easy choice for me. I liked the later 996 tip box more, but went with an early one because it was the car I was looking for otherwise. The main win with the later box is that you can use the steering wheel toggles without putting the leaver into M. That said, both tip boxes are really good. If I wanted a 911 just for the track and occasional B-road blasts, I'd probably have a manual, but for general use I much prefer autos. - Steve

At the risk of contradicting the above responses the manual is far more involving/responsive to drive and offers better performance than tip, two of the obvious reasons you would buy a 911 in the first place, hence the tips depreciate even quicker than the manuals. Whilst auto's may be more mechanically sympathetic to your engine when you are learning your car the "living with it" downside is that they drink more fuel and they decide when to change gear and how slowly to do it!! You will never beat down changing from top to third then flooring the car for breath taking acceleration, or blipping down the box at high revs to enter a corner ready to push hard at the exit...

Sure, the manual is more involving, but flick the gear lever to manual and it can be a whole lot of fun when you want it to be. You CAN change down two-at-a-time by flicking the tip switch twice (without fear of buzzing it). If you are living with the car every day, tip is a great compromise. You are probably correct about depreciation though, because so many people buying 996s these days are as weekend toys and garage queens. (And I don't mean that disrespectfully). Those buyers tend to prefer manuals. As for quicker, in real terms I doubt there is much in it. Unless you are brutal with the clutch and drive train you won't get as consistently quick 0-60 times as the tip. In fact, the 997 turbo tip is quicker 0-60 than the manual.

Just got a 997 manual courtesy car in place of my 996 tiptronic and whilst i am a fan of tiptronic in certain instances eg crawling traffic, I have now changed my mind completly - manual is way way more fun than the tiptronic!! :thumb: