Tiptronic

Tiptronic (sometimes informally abbreviated to Tip), is a type of discrete automatic transmission developed by Porsche, and used in its vehicles, and those of its licensees.

Overview

Tiptronic is a registered trademark, and the word "Tiptronic" is owned by German sports car maker Porsche, who licenses it for use by other manufacturers, such as Volkswagen, Audi, SEAT and Škoda. However, many people use the term (erroneously) to refer generically to any automatic torque converter transmission that incorporates a manual upshift / downshift feature. (BMW's proprietary version of this system is called Steptronic.)

A Tiptronic transmission can operate in the same manner as a conventional type of automatic transmission, but the second and sometimes third mode also allows the driver an additional method of manually overriding the automatic shift changes, by moving the shift lever into a second shift gate, equipped with two spring-loaded positions: "upshift" and "downshift". Once the lever is in this gate, the driver takes over most of the gear shifting decisions, which would ordinarily be performed by the transmission's computer, permitting, for example, the delaying of an upshift for increased acceleration, or to increase the effect of the engine braking. On some models, the upshift and downshift operations can also be commanded by push-buttons or "paddle shifters" installed on the steering wheel, with an optional display in the instrument panel indicating the current gear selection.

Though Tiptronic transmissions allow the driver a certain measure of discrete control, the Tiptronic design is implemented using a torque converter like other automatic transmissions. A true Tiptronic transmission is not a computer controlled manual transmission (with a conventional clutch), or semi-automatic transmission. Most Tiptronic implementations still make some shifts automatically, primarily to protect the engine and transmission. For example, as used by licensee Audi, their five-speed Tiptronic will automatically make the upshifts from 1 to 2 when moving off from a stop, even when in manual mode; the transmission then waits for the user's upshift command before proceeding from 2 to 3, 3 to 4 and 4 to 5, although the transmission will still upshift if the redline is approached. On deceleration, the transmission will make all downshifts automatically when close to the tick-over or idle speed, to avoid running the engine at too-low an RPM, although the user can accelerate any downshift (that would not violate the redline), thus allowing improved engine braking, or preparation for intended acceleration. There are some exceptions to this; the system used in the Aston Martin DB9 is designed to hold the gear at the engine's redline, though it will still downshift automatically. This system also allows the engine to blip the throttle during downshifts for a smoother shift, reducing the "jerry" by the wheels, which affects traction.

Most luxury vehicles with a Tiptronic transmission have two fully-automatic modes: the primary mode, identified as "Drive", "Comfort" or similar; and another, usually called "Sport," which delays upshifts for a sportier driving at the expense of fuel, wear, comfort, and noise. Furthermore, because modern Tiptronic-type transmissions now utilise electronics, incorporating an electronic control unit (ECU), sometimes specifically referred to as the transmission control unit, the ECUs are able to use "fuzzy logic", which means that the operation of the transmission is said to be "adaptive", whereby it will "learn" how the user drives the car, and will tailor the automatic shift points accordingly. This adapts to the demands being placed upon the car by the driver. In this way, shift quality has been improved due to better electronic controls.

Some makes such as Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Smart, and Volkswagen offer paddle shifters behind the steering wheel for controlling their similar transmissions.

Some systems such as Citroën's Sensodrive, Ferrari's F1-Superfast, Toyota sequential manual transmission (SMT), and Volkswagen Group's Direct-Shift Gearbox (DSG) are constructed differently from true Tiptronic transmissions, in that they are actually based on sequential manual gearboxes, but have an electronically controlled clutch (or in the case of DSG, two clutches). These may be incorrectly referred to as Tiptronics, when considering the original Porsche development, but should be considered to be semi-automatic transmissions. However, even with these "semi automatics", the word "Tiptronic" may still be licensed by their relative manufacturers to indicate a manual control of such transmissions.

Other users

Other manufacturers may use Tiptronic-like systems under different names, and based on differing gearbox construction technologies:
* Acura: Sequential SportShift
* Alfa Romeo: Sportronic, Q-Tronic
* Aston Martin: Touchtronic
* Audi: Tiptronic, Multitronic - CVT
* BMW: Steptronic
* Chrysler / Dodge / Jeep: AutoStick
* Ford (Australia): Sequential Sports Shift
* Holden: Active Select
* Honda: iShift, S-matic, MultiMatic
* Hyundai: Shiftronic, HIVEC H-Matic
* Infiniti: Manual Shift Mode
* Jaguar: Bosch Mechatronic
* Kia: Sportmatic
* Lancia: Comfortronic
* Land Rover: CommandShift
* Lexus: E-Shift
* Mazda: ActiveMatic
* Mercedes-Benz: TouchShift
* MG-Rover: Steptronic
* Mitsubishi: INVECS, INVECS II, INVECS III, Sportronic, Tiptronic, Allshift
* Nissan: Tiptronic
* Opel / Vauxhall: ActiveSelect, Easytronic
* Peugeot: 2Tronic
* Pontiac: TAPshift
* Saab: Sentronic
* SEAT: Tiptronic
* Škoda Auto: Tiptronic
* Subaru: Sportshift (system developed and name used under license from Prodrive Ltd.)
* Smart: Softip
* Toyota: Tiptronic
* Volkswagen: Tiptronic
* Volvo: Geartronic

References

See also