automatic performance

[tonyvda]

I've got the best of both worlds, a five speed Tiptronic gearbox.

Leave it in drive and its silky smooth changing up and down at very low revs so that you waft along and dont even hear the underfloor exhaust. A true cruising vehicle. Want a bit of brisk acceleration put the throttle to the floor, kickdown is operated, appropriate lower gears selected and you're pushed to the back of the seat.

If I'm feeling a bit bored I can simply put the gearlever into sport mode and the box makes all the decisions but with spirited driving in mind. Change points are when you lift off the gas or hit the rev limiter. 4th is good for 140 mph...........I've never had the balls to max out in 5th.

You get engine braking, and when you lift off, the gearbox stays in the same gear until you push on the accelerator again. Great for pushing the car on the slide through corners. Leaving the gearbox to make its own decisions is the way to get maximum speed out of this engine and gearbox combination, as has been proven on the track by professional race drivers.


And then when you want to do a bit of stirring of the gearchange you can manually ( if you can call such little effort manual) change gear with just a tap on the gearstick, even at full bore acceleration. No need to lift off, keep your foot to the floor and just tap the gearlever forward a quarter of an inch and instantly youre in the next gear.

Going into a corner on the brakes, tap the gearlever back a couple of times, the gearbox senses the roadspeed, traction slip, braking effort and puts you in exactly the right gear to exit the corner as quickly as possible.

Who would want a manual after this?

Cheers,

Tony