Hi everyone! I currently own a 05 automatic. I have the tiptronic option on my car and am trying to experiment with it to learn how to use it correctly. I have gotten different advice from different people all contradicting each other. Some tell me that I can use the downshift as a way of slowing down rather then using the break or if I am crusing along at 40 or so MPH.. it is OK to stay in 3rd gear... or at 20 MPH is it OK to stay in 2nd gear. Basically drive the entire car in this manual type mode. Which I like doing because it feels more like a sports car for me.. it has the get up and go.

Others have told me that I am doing it completely wrong and should not be down shifting or driving in this feature at all.. and by doing what I am doing.. I am ruining my tranny and car.

This doesn't make sense to me at this feature is so popular and in so many cars. Why would they put it in all cars and top rated porches and ferrari's if it will ruin the car..

Please help! I want to drive this car like it is ment to be driven (without trying to learn true manual.)

 

Firsty, brakes make the car stop and the engine makes the car go. I wouldn't recommend using the engine to make the car stop. It causes unnecessary wear, especially if you're doing it on the street. I've never driven the auto 8, but I can't imagine 40 in 3rd or 20 in 2nd is much of a struggle. Should you cruise around near redline for extended periods of time? I wouldn't recommend that. Again, uneccesary wear.

Second, the tiptronic you have in your car is not the same as the tiptronic Porsche uses, and no where near the system Ferrari/BMW etc use. It's not a very good tip system from what I have read, though, the new 06 system may address some of the issues.

Thirdly, as to your comment about trying to learn manual, it really is a piece of pie to learn. Give it a shot, you'll be glad you did.

Most importantly, have fun with the car. The system has safeguards in place to ensure that you can't do to much harm.

 

Just up shift at redline for aggressive driving--while its pretty slow off the line the A/T still handles like the 6spd just a little slower. Learning to drive manual is really a piece of cake--after a week you are good to go. I have an A/T and don't have any regrets--and I'm coming out of a modified FD. Next car I get will more than likely be manual though.

 

downshifting should typically only be used when you're preparing to accelerate (like out of a turn, etc); not as a replacement for regular braking.

 

The system has safeguards to make sure you don't blow up the tranny/engine. It will cut the fuel off if you run it too hard at redline for a significant period of constant time. That said. It will not upshift and you could bounce off the redline if you wanted to.

Downshifting does next to nothing in the AT for braking purposes (save that for an MT). Sport mode will not allow you to downshift if you're going too fast anyway.

For a sportscar feel, run each gear to redline when you want to.... simple as that. In fact, you SHOULD do it to prevent carbon buildup in the engine.

 

2nd gear is very tall in this car, so 60-65 mph is no problem at all.

 

downshifting in the auto is really not made for breaking in the auto, just to accelerate quicker after a turn or after slowing down. you can try it and you might think it works, but it doesn't really. You'd be doing a better job letting of the gas and downshifting.

 

The only thing you need to learn to "properly" drive the AT in sportronic mode is to learn to rev match on downshifts. Once you learn that, the AT will be very relaxing and extremely fun to drive without all the nuances of a MT that can get you into trouble.

 

It doesn't rev match for you?

 

how do you rev match in the auto???

 

That's what I was wondering. I would have thought it did it automatically.

 

Sadly, no. Which makes me a bit envious of how the 350z's AT does auto rev match for you on downshifts.

When you downshift, there's a few milliseconds in which the gears are disengaging and re-engaging and you can freely spin the engine. To rev match all you do is downshift, blip the gas pedal, next lower gear connects, and you're done. Easier than pie. You mainly need to do it for the 3-2 shift, 4-3 hardly responds to a rev match unless you're at insanely high speeds. For 4-3 I just drop it without a rev match. You'll eventually figure out how much gas to apply for a given RPM to make it smooth. All my manual driving friends that can do double clutching and whatnot actually think it's incredibly hard to do or something for some reason and refuse to give it a try whenever I let them drive my 8.

 

Best advice yet

 

uhh... i always heard it was bad to get off the gas and shift and gas it immediately. if you ever feel a jerk in the auto, then i can tell you that you'd be killing your transmission.

driving the auto in sport shift you can either:

1) just shift as you hold the gas down

2) let go of gas, shift, let rpm go into place and gas

if you gas while the transmission is still moving through gears, you will seriously kill your tranny.

 

The idea of rev matching is to NOT get any jerking on the downshift, and when done properly that is exactly what happens...it's a smooth transition going to the lower gear. And the only instances I rev match is to prepare for corners, where you need the car to start slowing down. If you simply just drop it down a gear and let off throttle you get engine braking, especially if you're going at high speeds and already high up in RPMs. And considering a few other car makers have built in rev matching in their tiptronic systems, I think it's safe to say you're not really killing anything by rev matching.

 

Thank you Guys! I feel so much better driving with this feature.