jjaudi

I have a brand new 2002 A4. I can firgure out when to upshift but I have no clue how to down shift. I never dove a manual before. Any pointers? Also will the tiptronic automatically upshift if I fail to shift into the next gear?

peng

The Tip will automatically upshift and downshift if you forget. Downshifting can be tricky if you want a smooth shift due to the fact that if you wait for the "smooth" downshift point there is a good chance the trans will also shift down the instant before you, meaning when you shift down you will be at one lower gear than you desire (reving higher etc.) With a little practice, you start to get a feel for the downshift point. If you are slowing down to stop, when you are downshifting to get more appropriate engine performance, you have to be careful in timing your downshift with you accelerator action (not because you will damage anything, but for smoothness/performance). For example, if you mash the accelerator fractionally before you downshift, then the computer is going to change your gear to accomodate the acceleration. As a consequence, when you downshift you will be in a lower gear than you want.

ryoung

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It will feel more natural (and is safer) if you do not shift up or down in corners.

Assuming you're not coming to a stop, in general, I downshift under braking before turning in for a corner. If you're braking aggressively, you won't even feel the downshift. Upshift after you're out of the corner and the steering wheel is straight.

When I'm coming to a stop, I let the Tip handle the downshifts.

Also, if you hit the downshift botton twice quickly, the Tip will downshift twice. You may find this useful after you get a feel for speed in gears with your A4. While braking for a slow corner, hit the "down" twice, and by the time you're back on the gas, you're down two gears. The Tip is smart enough to not downshift if doing so would over-rev the motor.

When running up thru the gears at max acceleration, I find it best to let the Tip handle the upshifts. As Peng said, if you try to time an upshift at redline, sometimes you'll find that the Tip upshifts just before you do, and you're up 2 gears instead of one.

Hope this helps, and have fun.

DCS

Jebus, tip sounds more complex than stick. You can have it.

ryoung

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if I had a choice, I would have prefered a manual 6-speed.

Using the Tip does quickly become 2nd nature though. The double downshifts under braking are handy, especially on the track; and as for the rest, it's probably not that different from what/when you'd do do with a stick.

Tsle

ryoung and peng have pretty much covered it all, but if you're feeling a bit adventurous, you can also try rev matching on your Tip. When you downshift in a Tiptronic car, the tranmission just grabs the next lower gear without bringing the revs up to match the wheel speed. As a result, the shift drags the car's speed down and can feel nasty. However, when I test drove a 1.8T Tip (I have a 5-speed myself) I found that I could "blip" the throttle just after pushing the downshift button to match revs, not unlike a sequential transmission. Try and it see how it works.

Marc Collins

Don't waste your time if you don't know which gear you should be in--the car will do a better job

Jason in Vancouver

and i can either shift is smoothly or aggressively now