What do you do when you are slowing to a stop while in manual mode? Do you let the computer downshift for you or do you downshift yourself? I noticed that when I let the car downshift I don't slow down as fast as when I am in auto mode. I don't know if downshifting to slow down is good for the auto transmission so I usually let the computer automatically downshift for me even if I am coasting to a stop like at a street light. Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

If I know I'm slowing down to come to a stop or dropping from highway speeds to city speeds, I let the tip do the auto downshifting. When I'm on a twisty road and need the extra oomph to get out of a corner, or need to pass, I downshift manually. Something like that....

Well, I recently test drove a tiptronic at
the local dealer. The sales guy was a German
who claimed to have been a former race car driver.

When I didn't downshift in manual mode early
enough to actually perform braking function,
he criticized me for it and made sure I always
used engine braking till we took it back to
the lot.

That and telling me to go faster a lot, esp
around corners. hmmm :)

i treat the tip as if it were a manual, downshifting to 3d and wot for punchy passing; also downshifting for some speed scrubbing going into tight turns; if i'm in traffic and don't care to bother, i let the auto take over.
some say that wear on brakes is cheaper than wear on either clutch or transmission, but in my hondas, i got over 200,000 miles on original clutches with no problems with this driving pattern, tho i did not push them hard; i'm trusting that the tip can take as least as much.

another use of the tip i like is that in some hilly, in-town trafficky situations, i can leave it in 3d and avoid the, to me, annoying auto shifts when the spead-load makes for inbetween gears for the auto and it shifts up-down; with a specific gear selection i can just rev a bit higher, then relax the throttle and rpms with hills and traffic flow.
i like the tip much better than i expected to; it's my first automatic after driving manuals for 40 years.

Lewis
98.5 1.8T QSTip in Pearl

I downshift manually all the way down to 2nd, but I let the computer put it in 1st for me after I stop. It's very hard to smoothly downshift into 1st, and it doesn't seem like it's very productive anyway.

Dan
99.5 2.8QSTip