Ferrari Mailing List: Shifters

[Rick Lindsay (richardolindsay]

Hey Friends,

Peter wrote...

> but in the Cayman, it shifted beautifully and held a gear over a wide range of RPM

> in full auto mode. Go figure.

I own two Ferraris (and five British cars), but I drive an '08 Cayman and its a Tiptronic. Console shifter offers only two forward options: automatic and manual. The 'paddles' are still thumb buttons on the '08 car. Thumb up, either side, is upshift, thumb down is downshift. The 'paddles' work in either console mode, overriding that selection, but default back to automatic if left untouched and with the console selection in automatic.

The far greater fun is actually driving in automatic mode! The computer monitors the driver's actions and behaves accordingly. Blip the throttle, just as one would do before downshifting into a turn, and the gearbox downshifts and holds that gear awaiting acceleration out of the turn. Blip harder, and a lower downshift occurs. Easy acceleration out of the turn and it upshifts. Hard acceleration and it holds to the next ideal shift point. Shifting also happens FAR faster than could happen manually. It feels and sounds instantaneous but of course, that is illusion.

In auto mode the car starts in 2nd gear, just like M-B in auto mode. The philosophy is the same as our F-car's offset gated first gear: Used only for leaving the pitstop, otherwise, out of the way.

I know its double blasphemy to complement a p-bug here then further expound upon the virtues of its automatic gearbox, but for me, there is nothing better. It just works.

-rick, in deep trouble

Happy Connecting. Sent from my Sprint Samsung Galaxy S® 5