sampelligrino

Is there any reason to go for tip over MT on the 993 if you have the choice?

Starting to mull over adding a 993 to the garage and found a nice example, but she's tip. I haven't driven a manual in quite some time, and even then I barely got by learning on a friend's car over a summer..

Honestly don't mind tip especially living in LA, easier for me for sure and one less thing to think about. But thinking on a "slower" car for weekends manual might be nice and just re-teach myself..

Chuck W.

My first 993 was a tiptronic. They are great cars if you drive them in manual mode. The auto mode is (IMHO) worthless. It starts out in second gear and shifts way too early. And, the shift buttons on the steering wheel are poorly designed and placed. It is very easy to accidently hit them. I dumped the tiptronic steering wheel and installed a standard one without the buttons. I also removed the plastic shift gate and installed a regular boot. It looked so much better. When driving the car in manual mode and shifting from the center shifter it was nice. Not as nice as a manual, but nice. If you have found a good 993 and are not one that has to have a manual, get it.

gristle101

I have a 993 C2S tip which just underwent a top end with a lot of freshening up. We added the Rennline reinforced engine carrier, along with Rennline motor mounts and a custom solid tranny mount. There is zero 'slush', car feels extremely tight and agile. You can shift gears in situations you'd never attempt in a manual... and it's great in traffic too! The car is incredibly high performing and I can drive it any time I don't have cargo.

silverlock

(As a Tip owner)

At its core, it’s still a 90’s-era four speed auto, with the downsides that implies: sometimes clunky shifts and one-too-few gears (at the least) that steal a bit of acceleration from you.

On the other hand, Porsche really tried to make the Tip work, and I think they got damned close. It’s smart enough to not shift when there’s steering input, it (mostly) hangs onto gears, and first is short enough to be fun off the line.

I drive it almost solely in manual mode, and unlike most others, I don’t hate the buttons on the steering wheel. Easy to press with the edge of your hand without changing your grip.

I bought a Tip car because I found an excellent condition Targa, and manual Targas in the current market are both rare and about 40% more than a Tip, even if you do find one. I also live in NYC, and so the first and last 45-50 minutes of any drive out into the twisties involves crawling through traffic, much like LA. My motorcycle gives me the full “manual in traffic” experience as-is :-)

jrmdir

I love mine!

There is a lot of useful dialogue in this recent thread: https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...n-numbers.html

Ron

StevenGilroy

I have a '96 C2- tip, and while it isn't ideal for spirited driving, it works well for what is 90% of my driving. Plus anybody can drive it, it actually is the wife's car, she wanted it so we added it to the garage. Around town, in traffic and even cruising on the freeway it makes driving easy, no left foot cramps. If you drive with some quick accelerations and braking the "tip" changes modes, making shift points higher, and holding into gear when taking your foot off the gas, plus there's a manual mode. All in all it's not even close to perfect. We also have a 968 Tip, with much more torque and it works much better that the 993. If the car is nice, has had good care, and is priced right "buy it", in the future fewer people may know how to drive or want manual transmissions, and the stigma against automatics is dwindling.

RABjr

Question - are there performance upgrades to improve the tip? For example the AOD transmission in the 5.0 mustangs is a dog until you swap the TQ converter and valvebody - then it becomes terrific!

I would thin think the tip would also improve with some changes like that. Anyone know?

The hype around the manual only Porsche owners is hard for me to understand. All modern sports cars are ditching the three pedal and going to the DCTs.

silverlock

To be fair, modern DCTs are just so much faster than a human (which also enables tighter ratios + more gears) — a DCT is also far more forgiving and deterministic when it comes to driving modern sub-4s 0-60 cars at speed. An 7 or 8 speed manual box would be pretty exhausting to drive for most folks.

A lot of the desire for traditional manuals is rooted in the fact that until ~2005 or so, "automatic" (torque converter) gearboxes mostly sucked, and high-performance DCTs were only just coming into vogue. The remainder of that desire is nostalgia and emotional appeal. Many of us drive 993's not because they are the cheapest or fastest, but because we really f-cking love driving them :-)

sampelligrino

Thanks very much for the input everyone

It's a bummer, the car I had zeroed in on just sold last night but given the opinions here I'm truthfully agnostic to tip vs manual on a 993, and might even skew towards the rarer tip given how soul sucking LA traffic is...

Will enjoy taking my time searching

rjongco

I’ve been considering adding a tip 993. Just starting to get interested in air cooled and my wife would probably divorce me if I got another car that she can’t drive.

silverlock

This is a great thread (just to reinforce it).

jrmdir

One mitigating feature that rarely is mentioned is the locking torque converter. A bit different getting used to at first but you can definitely feel it take hold soon after each shift.

But on the other hand, we Tip owners don't usually get the novel experience of seeing our engines out of the car from time to time - while spending the equivalent of a week in Hawaii on clutch work

Ron

By-Tor

Two of my best friends have tiptronics... 993 and 964. I've driven them both excessively.

Tiptronic is MUCH better transmission when you learn to use it. It took me a while to understand that Drive mode is just for cruising. It's very comfortable but if you want to have an engaging drive you simply have to put it to manual. And it can be quite engaging when used properly. I'd say it's 85% of the actual manual feel. If you just drive it on D, it's not engaging at all and the kickdown is trash.

I was really impressed how it actually works when you get used to it and learn to use it properly. I've seen tips going for even 30K cheaper than manuals. Both 964 and 993. Sure manual is a "Porsche purist" thing but I actually like the tip and I could even consider a 964 tip if I find a good deal (to keep my 993 company).

Would I trade a tip to my 6-speed? No way. But it's MUCH better than its reputation and very good buy because the prices are significantly lower than manuals. You have to "wake up" the tip programs with the accelerator. It's quite fascinating box and I'm sure 90% of people who just quickly test it don't really understand this transmission at all (thus, the bad reputation).

Some good reading.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/oi58jknz6d...fhxZM-kxsZMAiE

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/a...t3GXbepMPzo4tg

berni29

Hi There

I have had a 993 Tip for over 10 years now. I have made a few modifications in that time. The biggest improvement is without doubt getting the car remapped. Until I had that done I had always been unhappy with the poor "pick up" of the car from rest or at small throttle openings. And I am not just talking about the 2nd gear set off thing either. It is vastly improved by the remap and its no longer an issue. I think I have driven the car once in full auto mode. I also have an aftermarket Aitwe steering wheel with + and - buttons (a very similar wheel was in fact an option on the 993) which I much prefer to the stuff standard one. My brother has a 996.2 Tip and I also have a 986 Tip, so you could say I like them. Much better than the manual for my driving style. I did have a manual 964 C4 at one time, so I do have a benchmark.

Also I have an ex racing car driver friend who had a 993 Tip (he now has a really nice 964 C2 and a 996 GT3) and he said it was no slower than the manual cars in practice. He used to track it regularly.

All the best

Berni

RudyP

Yes but some of us don't like that... But I'm not here to rail on tiptronic. It's not for me but it works for others - all good!

BTW - I much prefer a traditional automatic (eg tiptronic) over DCTs.. I abhor the PDK in my wife's 992 - absolute worst of both worlds IMO.