Tech & Trends; Alfa Romeo Solves 'Tiptronic' FoibleEngaging the 'logic' gear to improve manual automatic transmissions

Fiat SpA's Alfa Romeo acts on an astute insight into one ergonomic problem that, to now, has vexed the new breed of sequential-shift automatic transmissions: the gear lever offers the driver no perception of which gear is being used.

Many drivers of automatic-transmission vehicles equipped with a "manual" sequential-shift function - often called "Tiptronic" after the system name coined by early adopter Porsche AG - have complaints. They say the lackof aural and tactile feedback from the driveline - combined with a gear lever that remains centrally situated regardless of which gear is being employed - makes it difficult to discern one gear from the next.

This is particularly a problem for sequential-shift automatics hooked to larger-displacement, 6- or 8-cyl. engines that are too refined to give much seat-of-the-pants indication about gear selection. Drivers of sequential-shift automatics thus must drive by the tachometer or peer at a usually too-small digital gear indicator located in the gauge cluster.

Alfa Romeo solves the problem with its all-new "Q-System" 4-speed automatic for the 156: its manual-function "quadrant" effectively replicates that of a manual transmission (see diagram), with the four forward speeds arranged in the standard "H" pattern.
Rather than simply moving - or "tipping" - the gear lever forward or backward sequentially for up- or down-shifts, the Q-System's gears can be selected much like those of a manual transmission, with no need to move sequentially from one gear to the next. And because it's an automatic at heart, the Q-System, like all sequential-shift gearboxes, of course doesn't require a clutch.

Most important, the Q-System's gear lever, by moving through a distinct H-pattern, provides the driver with a quick visual confirmation of which gear is engaged. In effect, the Q-System provides for much more intuitive information about gear selection than a Tiptronic-style gear lever.

In addition, a digital display placed in the tachometer offers a readout of which gear is engaged - the only indicator with most other sequential-shift systems.

The Q-System was designed as the automatic transmission for the Alfa 156 after its launch with only manual transmissions, which means Alfa Romeo was able to engineer the H-pattern for the shifter from the onset; most sequential-shift automatics were designed to make use of an already existing automatic transmission's gear selector and console housings, making it more difficult - and costly - to incorporate a manual-transmission-replicating gearlever and shift "pattern."