I’ve seen some people say that they’d rather pay the premium for a high mileage manual than a low mileage (30,000km vs 120,000km) triptonic, that they’d rather get a colonoscopy from Edward Scissorhands than have a triptonic Porsche.
I’ve tried triptonic and while there is lag, it shifts faster than anyone I know If I buy a triptonic turbo 997 because it fits in my budget and I don’t mind the ride (997 gt3 to fill that need) am I really never gonna be able to get it off my hands because people can’t stand triptonics?
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Buy what you like, not what other people like. If you drove a tip and you like it, then congrats, you’re going to save some money. If you prefer driving a manual, don’t compromise.
My turbo is manual now but had 997 tip in past and they’re nowhere near as bad as people say. Manual feels better, that’s it. I’ve driven manuals for over 20 years and I have a preference. I’m not a pro racer to talk about the performance benefits at the top end but everyday and enthusiastic driving, tip performance was better for me than manual because I’m treating my clutch with respect lol. On track tip in the manual mode was very reliable and held the torque well , I was modified to well above factory power too. Pdk is better (way faster shifts and better auto logic) than tip but 997 tip is great, and a good improvement over 996 tip which I also had before
It’s a S class Mercedes trans, so more comfy than sporty… I’d take a high miles manual over a low miles tip.
If you’re buying it for grand touring it’s fine. But if you want to track it or really get the most out of it manual or PDK is much sportier.
I got a gt3 for track days so purely for longer travels and traffic work
PDK/Tiptronic…call them whatever you want, but they are automatic transmissions. As such, all are boring as fuck. There is no comparison to a real manual transmission.
There is definitely a market for them. They are nice daily drivers, with lots of power. I have a .2 TTS which is obviously PDK, and people hate on that too, but it’s the only way it came and I used to share it with my dad who couldn’t drive a stick for health reasons.
They actually don’t feel that much worse than first gen PDK in the 987.2 and 997.2.
Not terrible, is actually pretty decent for a slushbox… but’s still a slushbox, not as fun or as engaging to drive as a manual, and the price reflects that.
If Tiptronic was almost as nice as manual, they would be much closer in price.
Tiptronics are great. Their problem is always being compared to the manual.
The manual is better or equal in most ways that matter, except for medium-to-heavy traffic (depending on how strong your left ass cheek is). That’s reflected in their prices: up to around 20% last I checked? If both are well in budget for a buyer, and they aren’t city driving (after all, this is likely to be a second car), their preference is commonly the manual.
But for 80% of the price, you are getting over 95% of the performance. More than that, if you like the Tiptronic box, then just because other people are willing to pay an extra 20% for a manual doesn’t mean you should.
Resale is a tricky one: the next buyer is weighing up the same issues you are, so the demand is lower. That said, for the right price, and with some patience, it’ll go. Dealers in the UK (where manual has been the preference and default offering since forever) still seem to move them.
There’s a video on Carwow where they lined up every 911 turbo generation in a drag race. Every car before 996 had a manual. 996 turbo was a tiptronic. 997 and newer had a Pdk.
The 996 turbo with a tiptronic was barely faster than the 993 turbo with a manual. And the 997 turbo with Pdk was absolutely gone.
I love the tip box in my 996 Turbo. If I didn’t get stuck in so much traffic, I’d probably go down the manual route but 90% of my daily traffic is jams and 20 zones.
What would drive me crazy is the 2nd gear start. Even putting it in “Sport mode” doesn’t guarantee a start in 1st gear.
That’s because of the torque converter no? I think that if you floor it, it pulls from 1st
That what I’ve heard and read from the forums.
I find you avoid a lot of issues in the Porsche transmission by just driving like you stole it.
Heard that before hahaha
They aren’t bad. Makes the car feel less sporty and more like a cruiser. I haven’t seen many issues with them as far as reliability goes so no worries there.
I didn’t know that the Tiptronic unit was a MB 722.6.
I am very familiar with those transmissions and they are bullet proof. My family has owned one from new (98) all the way up to 220K miles. It had its first transmission service at 155K miles when it started to slip and worked perfectly afterwards.
I also personally owned one in an 05 ML350; it did have issues due to the TCU plug leaking fluid out. Thankfully replacing the TCU plug fixed it; but that could have been an expensive fix if the oil seeped into the TCU. The plug and transmission service was only 760 bucks back in 2014 at the dealer.
Which brings me to the only Achilles heel of the 722.6 on Mercs: transmission fluid can seep up through the TCU plug into the TCU which becomes an expensive fix.
Also early 722.6’s were advertised as sealed for life; but unmaintained units respond well to a fluid change and there’s almost no risk of problems in the valve body.
It’s really more a case of the manual being “that good.” The six speed manuals from that era were absolutely magnificent.