Porsche 986(7) Tiptronic Shifting
 

So after quite awhile of saving, I have kept enough money to purchase a new car and thought I had settled on a used boxster. I contacted a few dealers and am seeing my first prospective one tomorrow.

One of the things I loved about this car was I could go for an automatic in my new car (so I could lose the clutch as I have to deal with Southern California traffic on a daily basis) and still control the shifts via tiptronic.

Now, I'm looking closer at the interior in the pics I got off the dealers website, and the 'manual' drive mode doesn't seem to have a + or - next to it. In fact, it doesn't look like the shifter moves forward or back.

How does one shift using the shifter? I really hope the only option isn't those little buttons on the wheels. If that's the case I have to call the dealer back and tell him I'm looking for a manual, as I'm not about to adjust to controlling shifts by pressing buttons. I wanted to lose the clutch by using tiptronic, not lose the shifter as well.

Thanks in advance for any answers

There are shift buttons on the steering wheel, which frankly is much better (and a newer idea). One on each side, easy to get to with your thumb while keeping you hands on the wheel-press either one of them one way and it shifts up, press the other and it shifts down. You move the gear selector to put the car in a mode where it will only shift when you tell it, or you can leave it in auto and these buttons just override the auto shifts. The trans has a reasonable amount of smarts so that if you downshift manually to a gear in a curve it holds that gear, etc., until you leave the curve.

There is also a feature that takes a bit of time to master but that I came to love. It just takes work to get is smooth. If you snap the throttle down quickly you can make it downshift -- a lot of cars have this. What is different is that you can learn to snap the thottle down sharply and let off quickly enough that the transmission downshifts but the engine does not respond (it always takes a 1/10th second for the engine to begin to respond and I think the ECM makes the trans shift prior to letting the throttle open). I got to where I could downshift with my foot alone while going into a corner.

I had a Tip in my '04 Carrera which I drive for over three years. I loved it- it was great in traffic but gave you that greater control over gear selection when driving.

Thanks for the reply, very helpful and gave me the info I needed. I'd love to have a steering wheel shifter someday, whether F1/tiptronic/or otherwise.

However at this point I'm not wanting to leave the stick just yet, at least not for my primary car. So if the 986 and 7 only shift on the wheel for automatics, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to stick with a manual trans as my car choice and continue to clutch it out.

Thanks again, maybe if someday they make a 988 that has +/- gears on the stick I can finally leave the clutch behind once and for all.