Automatic vs Tiptronic confusion.

[hagis]

We're hoping to get a Q5 and I've been looking at vehicles with manual gearboxes as I've heard many horror stories about the Tiptronic gearboxes on here over the years.
We've also started considering auto gearboxes as I'd initially thought that automatic and Tiptronic gearboxes were the same but I realised I was wrong.

Autotrader ads sometimes get a bit confused between the two and I was speaking to a private seller who thought their Q5 was Tiptronic even though it looked automatic.

My question is, how do you tell them apart by looking at photos? I was under the impression that the automatics had the usual D-P-N-1-2 shift arrangement whilst the Tiptronics had that and then the 1-2-3-4-5-6 shift arrangement, too. Is this right?

The car in particular I was confused about looked like it had an auto shift but the advert said it had paddles on the steering wheel. Is this a sign of Tiptronic or do the autos have steering wheel paddles?

Thanks for any help,
Hagis

[rowdy-999]

I think you're confusing yourself. You did me.
Tiptronic is an auto.
You get Tiptronic and S-tronic as far as I'm aware, and generally speaking the Tip is the more reliable.

[hagis]

I was more confused than I thought! Thanks for your response.

I think I was thinking of the S-Tronic and all the problems it had that I've read about here and in other places.
If the Tronic is a standard auto I'll consider them.

[Alan02]

TIP is your usual Automatic box that I`m guessing you think it is. S-Tronic is a Manual gearbox ( with twin wet clutches) which is automated. Both have a conventional shifter and usually steering wheel paddles.