Cameron

I was in Detroit this past weekend (the weather contributed to the fun, or lack thereof, of driving from Chicago), and drove a 2.8QM and got to see the handling in a 2.8 tuned QM (Cathleen's car). The manual transmission in the A4 suits me better, and my driving style better, than the AMS5hp19T... though the AMS5hp19T is the best sequential-shift setup for the enthusiast that I've driven.<p>stevebrown said it was impractical, Steve S. said it was a lot of work, Rich Quinlan hypothesized the car might be as different between manual and automatic as quattro versus FWD. Maybe they're all right, they usually are. But I found a shop willing to try to convert my car to a manual (with the S4 six-speed if we can find it, otherwise with another trans.).<p>This shop works with Audi's routinely (A4, 90c, 4000Q, 5000, etc.) and will crate the AMS5hp19T including the torque converter, hoses, linkage, magnetic input electronics, etc. ready for install in another car. The transmission was installed at 20,000mi or so, and right now my car has 25,000mi (5,000mi of elapsed time, six months, with no overrevs and no known overspins and no damage to the transmission).<p>Rebuilt transmissions based on the ZF5hp19 are going for $3500.00, that's out of a car that was damaged and in a junkyard or the transmission got fried and someone took the time to rebuild it. I think $3000.00 would be a competitive price for a low-mileage AMS5hp19T transmission with new components 5,000 miles ago that's had a relatively pampered life over the last 5,000 miles and never been harmed or rebuilt.<p>Opinions?<p>I wouldn't sell it, but people need transmissions and it isn't helping anyone sitting in my attic in a crate. Plus, I'd really like to run a nice pedalbox with my new transmission, and to recover some of the money I've put into my transmission... even if I only recover a fraction of the total time and money.<p>Cameron

Christian

I am down to the very last details of ordering an A4 in the next month or so.(I still have to sell my Jeep Wrangler '97.) I know what options I want so far..except for the Manual or Tiptronic dillema. I love stick, but the Tip would be a nice change for me. However, I heard the Tip Tranny costs around $10000 to replace...I have a feeling I will be keeping this car beyond its warranty period. With a price like that , I could put a down payment on another car in the future. <br>I know I'm going to get flamed for wanting a 1.8TQS with Tip. <br>Later

JIM H.

=8~o

Tom Pinkston

Christian,<p>No flame here :-) I owned a tiptronic 1.8TQS for six months, before trading it for its manual trans counterpart. If you love stick, you'll probably end up disappointed with the tiptronic after the "novelty" has worn off.<p>The tip is rather slow shifting (even in "manual" mode) and carries a pretty substantial performance penalty with the 1.8TQ. Even with a Wett chip, my tiptronic car was slower 0-60 that the stock manual.<p>Feel free to email me if you want further pursuasion against the 1.8TQ tip.<p>Tom P.<p><br>

transmission bean counter

<br>(nt)

JIM H.

Yo,Cam:you feelin' o.k.?

Intrigued

<br>You're 17, or thereabouts, right? So do I assume correctly that you're not self-supporting?<p>I take it, then, that your parents are willing to not only plunk down $30K for a car for you, but to also finance all of the various modifications and re-modifications you can think of?<p>OK, so maybe I'm just jealous that my parents didn't give me those kinds of resources, or that somebody doesn't give them to me now.<p>But, I'd really like to know if your parents ever place any limits on your spending.

appalled

it's nice to have toys but sometimes priorities are all out of whack... this is one example.

Cameron's Mom

You leave my boy alone! He's a good boy and he loves his car!

passat

Get a Passat GLS with Tip you are covered for 10 years/100K