In the morning I was impressed with a test drive in an Octavia DSG 110 bhp TDI Automatic but wanted a more powerful and luxurious vehicle. I also thought the vehicle was a lot quieter than my two year old version.

After the test drive of the Superb in the afternoon (at a different dealer) I expressed the view that the 2.5 TDI was somewhat laggardly on the Tiptronic transmission.

The salesman, a Skoda enthusiast, came up with a brilliant sales close. He said if we had a second test drive and he could show me a performance vehicle would I be able to conclude a deal.

"OK" I agreed.

Well I sure got a rocket in my backbone as "Chris" put the car through it's paces. I then asked if I could try the same techniques on the manual side of the Tiptronic. "Chris" had already been out with me on a new top of the range Octavia the previous day and knew my ability to handle cars aggressively.

Carefully I waited for a reasonable gap in the traffic and put the accelerator to the floor for a racing start....

It must have been the added excitement that caused added excitement. As I moved the Tiptronic gear lever forward to change up I automatically hit the clutch pedal. As most of you know there is no clutch pedal on cars with Tiptronic transmission. There is however a very effective brake pedal which if hit with a heavy foot will cause an emergency stop.

Fortunately I had left plenty of gap when pulling out and so the Superb did not get a bonnet up it's backside.

In microseconds Chris had changed from surprise, agonised wait and then relief that the car had survived.

Despite his hands shaking Chris agreed I should continue the drive. I'm glad he did so because I would have probably rejected the auto transmission as being potentially dangerous for dab hands with manual transmission.

The lesson has been well implanted So far have not repeated the same mistake................

I tend to use manual change because on pure auto the car seems to linger in a noisy over revving phase for too long between gear changes when one is wanting a more economical town mode.

Any Tiptronic supporters to provide pearls of wisdom here?

Oops :eek:

Practice makes perfect.

:lol

Well I was wondering about fitting a clip to my left foot.... something like those used by racing cyclists

what's a clutch anyway? now you have 'seen the light' you'll soon forget it...