Manual or R-Tronic

[harrison]

I am with you on this one randombloke. "Can't live with 'em...can't live without 'em "we say over here.

[Bodhii]

To me an automatic tranny means a rental car. I know many people love the automatic for their own VERY good reasons. I am not trying to convert anyone in any direction. This is just me with my love of revving my engine whenever, and the significant benefits from using heel and toe driving techniques on sharper, hi speed turns, and better gear selection on entering and exiting. The Audi R8 has one of the best manual trannys ever made. That being said, about 75% of the real enjoyment of this great manual transmission, is ruined for me with that idiotic metal shifting bracket.

If Audi had a real DSG gearbox with a real foot pedal clutch for correct downshifting in the R8, I would go for it. I think I saw this setup in the new R8 GT3 concept test car! The steering wheel paddle location makes better sense for hi performance driving in that you don't have to remove a hand from the steering wheel when driving on a track.This is my dream transmission for all driving,... city, hiway, or track. Dual clutch, direct sequential paddle shifting with a real pedal clutch for heel and toe and gear selection override! YUM! Until then, I'll choose the manual with the **** metal shifting bracket.

[randombloke]

This is just me with my love of revving my engine whenever, and the significant benefits from using heel and toe driving techniques on sharper, hi speed turns, and better gear selection on entering and exiting.

Not trying to be obtuse, but I genuinely don't understand this. The r-tronic blips the throttle on downshifts giving the same rev matching benefits as heel and toe and gear selection is near as makes no difference instantaneous with the paddles, so where is the benefit (vs preference)?

[harrison]

Oh how I would love to rent a standard transmission R 8 and thrash it around a track with an instructor even. But I can only imagine that you get some awesome launches that the TRONIK' can't...IF you are willing to dump your clutch at 4000 RPM.I would love to see what that looks like !! And that blipping (blips) is that Euro sound we are looking for no? ala. Lambo. I have to paddle...not row with one arm.

[Bodhii]

Not trying to be obtuse, but I genuinely don't understand this. The r-tronic blips the throttle on downshifts giving the same rev matching benefits as heel and toe and gear selection is near as makes no difference instantaneous with the paddles, so where is the benefit (vs preference)?

Randombloke, its probably just me and my old manual tranny bias. I have NEVER tried an R8 R-tronic... Only a couple of Porsches with their tiptronic. And those too are great trannies. I would drive them and think they were either slow at shifting, or not doing what I wished at a certain place. This might very well have just been my bias showing, and also my feeling a bit lost in not being the initiator of all gear changes.

[randombloke]

That explains it. The r-tronic is a sequential manual gearbox, that is to say it is an automated version of the same manual gearbox you have in your car (ie it uses a clutch) - not a traditional torque converter auto like the porsche tiptronic. In manual sport mode you would be the initiator of every gear change, with rev matching on down shifts.

The porsche tip is night and day compared to the r-tronic - it felt like I was "requesting" a gear rather than it being an instant manual change via the paddle like the r-tronic. Their replacement for the tip is the pdk which is a dsg like dual clutch transmission.

The difference between the r-tronic and dsg is that in dsg there are 2 clutches instead of 1 so it can pre-guess and hold the next gear making for faster and smoother shifts.