Triptronic Transmission?

I have a new VW Rabbit. It has a regular automatic transmission mode, a 'sports' transmission mode (in which 'gear shifts occur at higher rpm') and then a 'Triptronic Mode'.

Triptronic was apparently invented by Porsche, and it seems to have spread to other german cars, like Mercedes, and now apparently Volkwwagen. You move the gear selector to the side, from normal drive, and then can push it forwards or backwards to upshift or downshift respectively.

If the RPMS are approriate, the transmission computer will put you into the next gear. If downshifting one gear would exceed the rpm limit, then it won't drop into it, or if upshifting produces too low rpms, then it won't do it either.

Supposedly, in the Porsche at least, you can 'que' down and up shifts. If you select it, but it'd produce an unsatisfactory RPM, then the computer will wait, until you reach an rpm that won't overrev after shifting.

It seems like the VW Triptronic doesn't do that. What it will do however is move up and down on its own so as not to max out or under-rev or whatever. I found this out by forgetting that i was in triptronic mode and driving along from a stop while originally at 1, and ending up at 5 or 6 without realizing.

What I don't really understand is the point. I mean, i get that downshifting in Triptronic allows me to use the engine to aid is slowing down and stopping, but is that really that much of a benefit? Am I saving wear on my brakes significantly if I use that when stopping? Or is it a waste of time? And sometimes it feels like i am still getting that effect when i am in the regular drive mode, but according to the manual, there is no stopping benefit when in full automatic mode.

And it seems like it just isn't smooth enough to be of much use in any sort of emergency situation, to hit the brakes AND go into triptronic and then slowly downshift all the way to one. Or am I wrong and thats worthwhile?

Also, from what I understand, it used to be that an automatic transmission was inferior to a manual, in terms of power and gas efficiency. But on the Rabbit, its saying that the full automatic is a 'fuel saver' mode, that it will switch gears at gas-effieciency favourable RPMS (or at least implies that). Can that even be true? If so, is there any reason to muck around with the Triptronic mode really?

Any other opinions on this sort of thing? Any other comments?

Apparently Triptronic exists under other names in other brands.
en.wikipedia.org...

In normal driving situations, it usually is not sufficiently beneficial to downshift when coming to a stop to warrant the wear and tear on your transmission and/or clutch, depending on the set up you have, unless you're braking in a real emergency situation where life and limb are at stake.

However, in racing, downshifting is a crucial part of driving in order to maximize braking efficiency and help preserve the brakes during the race. If you need to replace a clutch or a transmission after every race, then so be it. That's what sponsors are for.

Tiptronic allows you to do all that with a computer to compensate for mistakes that might be rip a transmission to pieces at the worst of all possible times.

Personally, I've only ever driven such a transmission once on a rented car and I was so clumsy at it, I just left the car in the automatic mode.

I believe that God intended for all cars to have clutches, so I'm not really the man to talk to, except for my eccentric opinions.

Here's some info on Tiptronic.

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 2006/12/12 by GradyPhilpott]

I've only experienced the BMW version myself, and to be honest I didn't like it.. I'm with Grady on this one. Manual/stick shift all the way!

As for engine braking, you shouldn't be changing down to achieve this. This will unbalance the car and won't be doing the drive chain much good either. Engine braking, under normal road conditions, should happen in the gear you were driving in, and even then, should not involve lift the foot entirely off the throttle... just feather it off, maintaining just the tiniest squirt of gas. If more braking force is needed, lift of gently and progressively apply the brakes.

Only change down once you've arrived at the correct speed for the hazard, and do so in good time before the hazard. So when approaching a bend for example, you should be at the right speed, in the right gear, with both hands back on the wheel, back on the gas and correctly balanced, BEFORE making the turn..

In a stick-shift, this is relatively easy. In an automatic or tiptronic, the gearbox will normally try to do something similar... the problem is that the regular auto-box won't know ahead of time that you want to get back on the gas, so you'll have slight pause before it changes down. If you want brisk acceleration out of the corner, you'd have to kick-down, forcing a change mid bend.. which is a BAD THING.. since it imbalances the car at the point where it should be perfectly balanced...

..sooo.. that's where tiptronic comes in. In practice, just feather off the accelerator well before the hazard. Apply brakes of necessary, then gently lift of the brakes, foot back on throttle very lightly, tipronic down to the gear that puts you at the lower end of the power band, then gently increase acceleration through the corner, enough to counteract speed loss through centrifugal forces in the entry, increasing through the apex, smoothly increasing up to full throttle on the exit.

For overtaking, just tiptronic down before you pull out, with a slight throttle blip to help smooth the change.. this means you can slip sideways, have a look, and if safe, hammer it hard without suffering kick-down delay..

basically, that's all it's for.. avoiding the kick-down delay... not engine braking.

hope this helps.

just found this page which talks about tiptronic boxes and how to use them.

www.trackpedia.com...



[edit on 13-12-2006 by nowthenlookhere]

Have you used the Vw/AUDI DSG double clutch auto tranny...AWESOME..... OI am getting myself a Jetta GLI

never been a fan of the tiptronic. It's too much the lazy man's manual. Ferrari however has perfected it to such a degree it's almost as fast as the F1 cars. I guess thats what the price of a condo gets you tho.

My Friend has the new BMW 330 with the trip. It also has the sport which I prefer. You say you have sport? Then the triptronic is nothing more than something to do if your bored in traffic. The safety feature is there so you don't redline and blow your engine in case you forget. Just like phantom said its the lazy mans manual.

Other than in racing the only time that downshifting is truely beneficial is when driving in low traction conditions such as snow or dirt. You'll find that downshifting will help slow down your car without sacrificing grip, downshifting combined with smooth breaking will give you a lot more control over your vehicle in such conditions.

Also I'm not sure if this applies to tiptronic, but it sure applies to manual gearboxes, you should never downshift into first.

Tiptronic is an automatic gearbox with a shift lever or buttons that's it.

What Ferrari did was create an electronic Clutch for their gearbox. Basically the car whenever you pull the lever on the steering wheel engages the clutch makes the shift and disengages it in 150 milliseconds, and although to you it looks like an automatic shift since you only have 2 pedals, for the car it was a manual shift. They took this system from their F1 car.

www.ferrariworld.com...
check any of the cars and read about the F1 gearbox


Audi has a similar system now called the s-tronic where they actually have two clutches so when shifting the car is never disengaged thus loosing power...

www.audiusa.com...

These are only two samples other car manufactures use similar systems...

[edit on 8-3-2007 by carcharodon]

Originally posted by nowthenlookhere

As for engine braking, you shouldn't be changing down to achieve this. This will unbalance the car and won't be doing the drive chain much good either. Engine braking, under normal road conditions, should happen in the gear you were driving in, and even then, should not involve lift the foot entirely off the throttle... just feather it off, maintaining just the tiniest squirt of gas. If more braking force is needed, lift of gently and progressively apply the brakes.

Pfftt...Heel-toe man...Heel-toe!!!!
Ya got to sync the gears! I swaped my pedals on my old VW Corrado SLC. Left foot braking FTW
But if you can't heel-toe..you should not engine brake.