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Manumatic

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Automotive transmissions
Manual
Automatic / Semi-automatic

Manumatic is a portmanteau word, combining the words manual and automatic, that applies to a class of automotive transmissions.

Manumatic most often refers to an automatic transmission, with some elements of manual transmission control (e.g. a gear can be manually selected instead of having the computer control all shifts). This type of transmission was introduced in the beginning of the 21st century. Different car manufacturers have been using a variety of labels for their manumatic transmissions, such as 'tiptronic', 'Geartronic', 'Touchshift', 'Sporttronic', and others.

Like a manumatic, many modern semi-automatic transmissions can operate in the same manner as a conventional type of automatic transmission by allowing the transmission's computer to automatically change gear, if for example the driver was redlining the engine. Despite superficial similarity, manumatics differ significantly in internal operation and driver's "feel" from semi-automatic transmissions. A manumatic, like a standard automatic transmission, uses a torque converter instead of clutch to manage the link between the engine and transmission - and therefore the roadwheels, though a manumatic has the ability to command shifts manually which is not found on a regular automatic.

Tradenames

Tiptronic

Tiptronic is a registered trademark, owned by German sports car maker Porsche, who license it for use by other manufacturers, such as Land Rover and the Volkswagen Group (Audi, SEAT, Škoda and Volkswagen). When used by Porsche, the word Tiptronic is always (and only) spelt with a leading upper-case capital 'T'; however, under the terms of the Porsche license, all licensee users must spell tiptronic with a leading lower-case 't'.

Many people (erroneously) use the term 'tiptronic' to refer generically to any type of torque converter automatic transmission that incorporates a manual upshift/downshift feature.

A tiptronic transmission can operate in the same manner as a conventional type of automatic transmission, but also offers the driver an additional method of manually overriding the automatic shift changes. By moving the shift lever into a second operating plane of the shift gate, equipped with two spring-loaded positions: "upshift" and "downshift", the driver takes over most of the gear shifting decisions, which would ordinarily be performed by the transmission's computer. For example, this allows delayed upshifts for increased acceleration, increased engine braking, gear holding in curves, downshifting before passing, or early upshifting for cruising. On some models, the upshift and downshift operations can also be controlled by push-buttons or "paddle shifters" installed on the steering wheel, with an optional display in the instrument panel indicating the current gear selection. Since adding tiptronic to a (semi-)automatic transmission involves an additional shift gate into the computer and update to the transmission software, it is inexpensive and lightweight to implement.

Although tiptronic transmissions allow the driver a certain measure of discrete control, the tiptronic design is implemented using a torque converter like other automatic transmissions. A true tiptronic transmission is not a computer controlled manual transmission (with a conventional clutch), or semi-automatic transmission. Most tiptronic implementations still make some shifts automatically, primarily to protect the engine and transmission. For example, as used by licensee Audi, the five-speed tiptronic will automatically make the upshift from 1 to 2 when moving off from a stop, even when in manual mode;[citation needed] the transmission then waits for the user's upshift command before proceeding from 2 to 3, 3 to 4 and 4 to 5, although the transmission will still upshift if the redline is approached. On deceleration, the transmission will make all downshifts automatically when close to the tick-over or idle speed, to prevent the engine from stalling at too-low an RPM, although the user can accelerate any downshift that would not exceed the redline.

Most luxury vehicles with a tiptronic transmission have two fully-automatic modes: the primary mode, identified as "Drive", "Comfort" or similar; and another, usually called "Sport," which delays upshifts higher up the engine rev range (and will also downchange higher up the rev range) for a sportier driving and enhanced engine braking - at the expense of fuel, wear, comfort, and noise. Furthermore, because modern tiptronic-type transmissions use an electronic control unit (ECU), sometimes specifically referred to as the transmission control unit, the transmissions are able to adapt to the user's driving style through "fuzzy logic". Shift points are tailored to the habits of the driver, through an evolutionary process.

Tiptronic S

The Tiptronic S is an upgrade to the original Tiptronic, with the ability to adapt to driver's behaviour, and also allows driver to change gears without entering manual mode.[1] In manual mode, if there is no manual input for a period of eight seconds, the system reverts to automatic mode.[2] It was used as early as 2000 Porsche Boxster.[3]

In the Porsche Cayenne, the Tiptronic S was upgraded to six-speed.[4]

In the Porsche 911 (997) Turbo, the Tiptronic S model has faster acceleration over manual counterpart.[5][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.carpages.co.uk/porsche/porsche_technical_highlights_25_10_02.asp?switched=on&echo=655849379 Porsche Technical Highlights
  2. ^ Tiptronic S details
  3. ^ 2000 PORSCHE BOXSTER
  4. ^ MotorBar Road Test: Porsche Cayenne S
  5. ^ 911 Turbo Technical Specs
  6. ^ Porsche 997 Turbo
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