Help - I'm looking at purchasinga Mazda 3 - but its a Tiptronic and I dont know anything about this.Could someone help with the good and bad points.I'm a florist not a mechanic!cheers
gadgit3,
Mar 31, 3:10pm
It's just an automatic trans with buttons on the steering wheel that if you chose you can change gears up and down with. but at the end of the day it's just an auto nothing scary
andy61,
Mar 31, 3:13pm
Just leave in D and all will be good.If you really want to, flick the lever over into tiptronic and playwith the gears(maybe on some hilly winding highway) and try to have some fun.Otherwise drive it like a normal auto
edangus,
Mar 31, 3:33pm
Its more betterer than an ordinary auto or a cvt.
You will love your Mazda 3
weddingflowers,
Mar 31, 3:48pm
Many thanks - that was really helpful.cheers, Glenys
cjohnw,
Mar 31, 5:39pm
I have only recently sold a Mazda 3 SP23 with tiptronic. Usually around town you wouldn't use it overly much. But out on the open road it comes into its own. Get behind a slower moving vehicle simply pull the shifter across to manual and push the lever forward to come down a gear and accelerate past. Once passed you can revert back to drive mode. Simple, fast and safe. I thought the Mazda 3 was awesome, only sold because we needed something a little bigger. Go for it, you'll enjoy it. Good luck.
incar.,
Mar 31, 5:50pm
These transmissions have issues and can fail, i have replaced a few already, if you do purchase it look into a mechanical warranty
hawat,
Mar 31, 6:02pm
Tiptronic really comes up trumps when you are behind someone slow and are waiting for a straight bit to pass them. I like to come out of auto and step down to 3rd (or 2nd depending how fast you are going) then rumble along at about 3 - 3500 revs. Once the way clears, floor it. Immediate and hard acceleration. Then once past back into auto and cruise
vtecintegra,
Mar 31, 6:20pm
What is to stop you pulling the selector back to 2nd or 3rd on a conventional automatic! Exactly the same effect.
cjohnw,
Mar 31, 6:44pm
Well, Mazda 3 configuration is Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive.
And across for Manual and + or -
So that is the only way to select lower gears manually.
vtecintegra,
Mar 31, 6:46pm
My point was only the way you control it is different
cjohnw,
Mar 31, 6:50pm
I got your point, but OP was asking specifically about the Mazda 3 tiptronic.
edangus,
Mar 31, 6:53pm
True, but the speed and ease is far superior than the old style.
thewomble1,
Mar 31, 6:56pm
When I want to pass I just push the foot down a bit harder and the auto drops a gear and away I go. The only time I touch the gear lever once it is put in "D" is when going down a steep hill I shift down a gear to help hold/slow the car down.
bigfatmat1,
Mar 31, 8:43pm
I think you will find there is a big difference in the two especially in the way the electronics controls the gear changes. And the amount of gears you have control over. Also in the range in which you can change into these gears! or hold them. and take off in Also nb the difference between manafactures and models to how these systems work. My description is a generalised overview.
NZTools,
Apr 1, 6:06am
Incorrect. Manualy push your right foot down on the loud pedal and it will select a lower gear.
vtecintegra,
Apr 1, 9:03am
Yes different manufacturers work in different ways.
On both my conventional4 speed and newer 'tiptronic' style 5 speed Nissans you can select every gear, and in both cases selecting 2 means 1-2 (a lot of other tiptronics are set up so selecting 3 will actually case the transmission to stay in 3rd)
wheelmann,
Apr 1, 11:19am
I had a Tiptronic. I would forget that I had put it into 'manual', then pull up at a set of lights.Take off from the lights with it staying in first gear longer than was ideal.
illusion_,
Apr 1, 12:02pm
Which is exactly why, after the initial novelty wears off, most just put it in "Drive" and use it as what it really is . an automatic
stevo2,
Apr 1, 2:33pm
Mrs Stevo has a Mazda3 2300cc and I've found it to have more than enough go if left in Drive. I doubt it would be much quicker if used manually. It is handy on hilly and windy roads like Waihi to Whangamata where you get the benefits of engine braking. Cheers Stevo
hawat,
Apr 1, 3:06pm
I found that using the auto box like a manual with the Commodores that we had was really clunky. Not user friendly for manual work at all. But a tiptroniccould be used exactly like a manual but actually much easier. The example I used before meant that you could shoot off then get back in really quick. Just go up to the redline then click the lever until you get up to 5th. Ideal place was going south up that long haul up the Bryndewyns or going towards Napier after the Mohaka Bridge on the Napier - Taupo road
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