Reply With QuoteYeah - tiptronic mode with paddle shift is ideal unless on cruise on the highway. You have full control of what gear you're in.... I wont ever use the stick to shift tiptronically though because the + and - is backwards, only the paddles.
Volkswagen Enthusiast
Just drive it with the paddles/gear stick. I've had my R36 for over a year and I don't think it's ever been in "S" mode and only gets put in "D" on long highway/freeway journeys.
R36 =
Volkswagen Fanatic
Yeah - tiptronic mode with paddle shift is ideal unless on cruise on the highway. You have full control of what gear you're in.... I wont ever use the stick to shift tiptronically though because the + and - is backwards, only the paddles.
Volkswagen Fan
Yeah used the paddles and while it helped I still didn't like the sound of this particular cars engine above 4,000.Originally Posted by Rocket36
Yeah - tiptronic mode with paddle shift is ideal unless on cruise on the highway. You have full control of what gear you're in.... I wont ever use the stick to shift tiptronically though because the + and - is backwards, only the paddles.
Hey Rocket, your the first person I've ever met that agrees with the motoring journos about the tiptronic shift direction. I can't fathom why they keep going on about it.
Porsche,Audi,VW,BMW,Nissan etc all got it wrong except for Ford Foulcans according to them.
Volkswagen Fanatic
That's because it's true... Ford (in the Falcon and Territory) and Holden (in the entire VE range) got it right!
Pull back to shift up and push forward to shift down... It goes with the natural momentum of the car that way and is the way sequential racing gearboxes all work. I have no idea why car manufacturers think it should be the other way round.
Volkswagen Fan
It goes with the natural momentum of the car
I've heard that argument made by Aussie Journos before.
Using that theory maybe the accelerator should work the same way
As a normal sports car can accelerate at say 1G I assume our Journos must be too weak to lift their arms above their heads.
Really there's no right or wrong it just amuses/irritates me when these Journo's think they know more than highly trained teams of engineers.
Volkswagen Fanatic
Highly trained teams of engineers? LOL!!! What the? The reason most road cars are setup as "push forward to shift up" and "pull back to shift down" in their tiptronic gear boxes is to cater to the majority of people that will buy them. The lower gears in an auto box have always been pulled back, or towards the back of the car to shift to and the higher ones (incl. D) pushed forward towards the front. It is for THAT reason that they make + push forward (for higher gears) and - pull back (for lower gears) for road cars...
Laugh all you like, but the journalists that complain about it are 100% correct. Shifting up in tiptronic mode should be pulled back and shifting down pushed forward. It has nothing to do with "highly trained engineers" that makes most cars end up setup wrong, just that they have to cater for dumb people that think the right way is actually the wrong way.
Bottom line... + Pull Back, - Push Foward is CORRECT. + Push Foward, - Pull Back is WRONG.
Volkswagen Fan
Rocket, this goes as one of your posts that to me makes no sense. You state it's wrong, but don't provide any reason why.
Are you thinking of a corollary with joystick control, where push stick forward = go forward, pull back = slow down?
For what it's worth, most train and tram power controls in Victoria are push to activate - by your logic that would be wrong, yet there's some fairly fundamental reasons why it's appropriate, compared to push forward go faster, pull back slow down.
What about aircraft, where most people (as kids) think that it's push forward to climb, pull back to drop, but they're all set up the other way?
Personally, I've driven various VWs with Tiptronic boxes, and I've driven my old man's VE Calais. Either way doesn't bother me, in much the same way that switching between our cars at home (Passat and Mazda2) means that the indicator stalk changes side. Same thing again - each is valid, there's advantages and disadvantages with both, but there's no difference to the function required.
As for the stab about "highly trained engineers", I happen to be one, and I get quite amused when talking to car people about all sorts of things they believe, until some of the fundamentals are explained to them (a good example was trying to get my ex-father-in-law to explain why a 45 tonne semi, with rubber wheels on asphalt, took a longer distance and time to stop than a 150-tonne train with steel-on-steel).
Now I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, but really it needs to have some more substance to it than "motoring journos are right".
MY08 Passat 2.0 TDI Wagon
Trialling golf ball aerodynamics theory - random pattern, administered about 1550 on Christmas Day, 2011.
Volkswagen Fanatic
hahahaha! I didn't just say motoring journos are right... I explained why push forward to shift up is wrong and vice version with shifting down.
think of the physics of driving. it's far easier and more natural to push forward to shift down (which is done under braking). Likewise under acceleration to pull back when shifting up.
I don't expect everyone to understand and that's fine. There are those in the world who will never understand a lot of things.
Volkswagen Fan
Sorry Rocket
I found your reasoning totally without basis and backed up with assumptions and no evidence.
Just because it's your opnion doesn't make it right.
Most Motoring Journos I've met are clowns. Just because they get to test a car doesn't mean they are qualified or have any clue how involved car design can be.
You've managed to insult Engineers and the buying public in one post.
I respect your opinion and ask you to respect mine.
I'll leave it at that thanks
Volkswagen Fan
Drove a new A4 2.0T Quattro Limited Edition.
Very nice car that's for sure.
Is it a $15,000 better car than the R36?
No (IMHO)
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