Much to expect from the New Peugeot 408 tiptronic

Because of the advantages of the sequential approach, this type of transmission is starting to appear on cars in the high-end tuner market. A sequential manual transmission is not to be confused with a “tiptronic” sort of automatic transmission. The tiptronic system may duplicate the shift lever motion of a sequential gearbox. However, because a […]

Because of the advantages of the sequential approach, this type of transmission is starting to appear on cars in the high-end tuner market. A sequential manual transmission is not to be confused with a “tiptronic” sort of automatic transmission. The tiptronic system may duplicate the shift lever motion of a sequential gearbox. However, because a tiptronic transmission is an automatic transmission at its core, it still has the torque converter and usually does not shift as quickly.

A tiptronic uses a torque converter, like a traditional automatic transmission, while a semi-automatic transmission uses a clutch (or multiple clutches), like a traditional manual transmission. But it torque converter fluid coupling makes it easier for the transmission to consistently perform smooth shifts for the new 408. To avoid gear hunting like the previous 406, Peugeot has added more torque for the car to hold on to a gear decisively even when overtaking. We hope to test drive the new 408 and see how this tiptronic computer sorts out the gears with its stator in the torque converter. We don’t know how big the torque converter and its stator blade feature. But at that high end engine torque its converter must lock-up very well and the “smart logic” for the gear box shouldn’t be that complex- especially with a 4 speed configuration.