Topic: Tiptronic

[HeliDriver]

Well, I agree that they're no substitute for a real manual, but they do have advantages over a garden-variety automatic.

The ability to hold a selected gear, no matter what one does with the throttle, is probably the biggest advantage, IMO. If a given manumatic isn't programmed to do at least that, then I agree it's not much more than a gimmick.

[powman]

Sir civic.  I am only speaking from my experience with "manumatics", which is a Mazda 3 for a week, and my current Tucson over the past 7 months.  

Yes, it can hold a selected gear unless your RPM's are too high or low.  for example, at about 6000 RPM's it gear up on you.

[Smainville]

The shiftronic thing is gimmicky, I found they all lag between shifts but it looks cool.  I like the looks of a gated shifter as well.

[tpl]

I suspect, with only intuition to go on that:

the manumatic will allow you to stay in a gear forever letting the engine computers rev limiter keep you out of trouble but it wouln NOT permit a downshift that would overrev the engine.

This would be a) simple to program, b) save a bundle on warranty costs as it is easy to ensure that even with computer failure that it could work mechanically c) enable the mfr to boast that their manumatic is "manly" or "sporty" .

Personally I am not sure why one would want to corrupt the function of an Automatic by pretending to shift gears by hand .... computers can do that really well.


I drove an automatic at the BMW 3 series intro a few weeks back, the first one since a rental in 1998.  ugggggh.

[davidm]

Had it in the P5 and now the A4.  My wife only drives auto, but only drives auto in tiptronic mode.  It holds the selected gear no matter what except for coming to a complete stop (goes back to first when the car has stopped).  Great for engine braking, avoiding classic-auto hard acceleration screw-up shifting, etc..  Definitely not a gimic, but still no where close to a manual.  It is not smoother, and I would argue, not quicker, than an GOOD manual driver.  That said, we are keenly looking forward to trying a DSG - should be the perfect solution for us (unless I can convince my wife to learn manual).

[tpl]

The dsg is a new fangled version of the dreaded Wilson Preselector gearbox as fitted to the famous Routemaster doubledecker bus.
http://www.routemaster.org.uk/rm50/index.shtml

and various cars.

http://www.geocities.com/registen/regis04.html

but I could live with a suitable car with one ( a dsg that is not a WPG)

(Message edited by tpl on July 01, 2005)

[HeliDriver]

In case anybody else happens to be curious, I just took a look at BMW's own stated performance figures for its 3-Series cars.

The 320i comes with either a 5-speed manual, or a 5-speed automatic. 0-100 km/h times for each are as follows: 8.7 sec. for the manual, 9.8 for the auto.

For the 325i (6-speed auto, 6-speed manual), the times are 7.1 for the manual, 7.8 for the auto.

For the 330i (6-speed auto, 6-speed manual), the times are 6.5 for the manual, 6.7 for the auto.

In each case, the automatic has a shorter final drive ratio than the manual (which should make it quicker), but the gearbox ratios are actually a little taller for the automatic. So it seems that overall gearing is probably pretty similar (although I didn't bother to do the math to figure it out exactly).

I'm not sure how to explain the results, really. It does seem clear that the differences between the two become less and less as engine torque increases, but I'm not really sure why this would be the case.

Maybe it all simply boils down to the extra weight of the automatic. As each car gets a bigger, more powerful engine, it also gets heavier, and the weight penalty for the automatic becomes smaller and smaller. For example, the automatic 320i is 2.5% heavier than its manual sibling, the auto 325i is 2.0% heavier than the manual 325i, while the 330i automatic is only 1.0% heavier than the manual.

Anyway, slower acceleration is but one (and by far the least important, IMO) disadvantage of an auto tranny. As Davidm and others have mentioned, there's plenty of more important reasons to prefer a manual to an automatic.

[suriboi]

hi fellas i need help bad my mits diamante 95 2.5 ltr v6 won't shift properly and there are now mechanics dat kan help they tell me too by another gear box, the mechnics here are zelf learnd ass i am can't call for help butt i won't too try and ask for help all the diamante s here have that problem and know are not imported any more please help i'm in suriname zuid amerika

[barrie1]

Suriboi Welcome to the Forum, sorry to hear of the problem. Is there any Transmission shops in your area where you live? Hopefully a fellow poster who has experience with this design of tranny will be able to help you out.

[ovr50]

I think the problem is that Suriboi lives in Surinam and there are few shops there? Is that correct, Suriboi?  

BTW Barrie, you're busier than a midget at a nudist colony tonight, you on a roll (or sipping the good stuff?)

[barrie1]

No none of the good stuff but I would rather be at the Camp for sure. He may possiblely be able to pick up some info on the net on this type of tranny but where i am not sure at the moment. I wonder if he went direct to Mits if they could assisst him.

[gta_driver]

My Freelander has a steptronic system lifted from BMW in it. It has normal, sport and terrain modes. I find sport mode very useful, it allows me to shift quicker tha auto. I use it quite often. Terrain mode is good off-road, especially while rock crawling.

[suriboi]

thanks guys there are about 3 good shops here but the specialise in amerikan cars but thanks fellas ill see wat i can do

[barrie1]

Suriboi keep an eye on this thread as its the weekend and possibly another poster will come along and help you thru the week.