I know I’m supposed to be off today for Yom Kippur, but it’s technically the night before, so I think if nobody rats me out to any clergypeople or their authorized agents, then I’m probably okay. And that’s good, because we need to do another episode of Prove Me Wrong! As you know, this is important. This time, we need to talk about paddle shifters, commonly found on a wide variety of vehicles you can buy today. They’ve been around for a while now; in fact, I’d say they may be the most common and yet least-used controls in a car, because, let’s be honest: aside from playing around with them every now and then, nobody really uses these things.
Now, I’m not talking about genuine racing cars with transmissions that will only shift with paddles – I mean the sort of paddle shifters that actuate semi-manual gear selection on otherwise automatic transmissions in mainstream, mass-market passenger cars. It’s quite likely you, the devastatingly sexy person reading this right now on the deck of your pleasure-helicopter, have a car with such paddles.
My theory is that people with cars that have optional-use paddle shifters use them for about, oh, 12 minutes per month in the first few months they own the car, and then after the initial novelty has worn off, they forget about them. Maybe, maybe, your fingers will graze them on a boring drive and you’ll remember they exist, and you’ll have fun for a few minutes downshifting and getting the car to rev really high and feeling that pull of torque, and then you’ll have to pay attention to your next turn or whatever and you’ll forget about those paddles for months. Maybe years.
On just about everything modern with paddle shifters, the automatic transmission left to handle the job itself shifts better than you can, for acceleration, for efficiency, for whatever. The act of paddle shifting isn’t nearly as satisfying as using an genuine manual transmission anyway, and people learn that pretty quickly.
So what’s the point?
[Editor’s Note: On vehicles with good transmissions that do what you want them to, I tend to agree with JT, here: paddles don’t see much use. The ZF eight-speed auto that’s seemingly in every car these days usually puts the driver in the gear they want if the transmission is properly calibrated. I think people are more likely to click a “sport mode” button that ensures the transmission behaves a certain way than they are to use the paddles. Though, on transmissions that don’t behave how you want them to, a paddle might help you, for example, hold a lower gear on a steep incline/decline.
I think, on a fun sports car like an E92 M3, paddles can be fun, but on most other cars, they tend to be forgotten, as JT argues here. Center tunnel-mounted slap-stick “manumatic” shifters, though (you know, the shifters that you push or pull to change gears)? I think those are even less frequently used — again, unless the transmission isn’t doing what it needs to do, like downshifting up a grade or holding that gear. -DT]
Maybe you’ll argue with me. Maybe you’ll say I just don’t understand the pure, visceral joy one gets from those flappy paddles. But I kinda doubt it. Is there anyone, anywhere who routinely, consistently, uses paddle shifters exclusively on their daily drives? I think you’re more likely to find a Corvair-driving toucan with a fondness for the large-scale works of Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline.
I’m not even going to say that paddle shifters are dumb or useless or anything like that. I don’t need to. Because it just doesn’t matter if they are or not, because nobody ever really uses them enough to care.
So there.
2016 SQ5, paddle shifters work GREAT!! Downshift into corners, keep RPMs high for the exit!!!
My ‘10 Golf has the Triptonic auto and I used it a fair bit the first year. I forgot I had the option until today.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! I KNEW I wasn’t the only one who thought that!
Our secondhand Lexus LS 460 has the fancy-ish 8-speed AA80E transmission, and it has flappy paddles as well as the +/- manual mode for the console shifter, but we just leave the damned thing in Drive. It’s a pretty speedy car, I guess, but it’s a big heavy 4-door sedan and we really don’t feel the need to drive it like assholes. If I wanted to outrun the cops, I’d drive something else. If I wanted to be sporty, I’d drive something else. If I wanted to luxo-cruise my well-upholstered butt around town, I’d drive this, but I’d keep it in Drive. I might keep the Sport shift setting just to help the transmission live a bit longer, because it’s not harsh at all anyway. But it definitely feels like a car that’s… over-optioned. *All four* power windows have auto up/down. *All four* seats are heated *and* cooled. It’s the only car I’ve ever owned that offers three completely distinct methods of shifting gears. And eight speeds sure feels… excessive. Why was six too few?
It’s pretty silly.
I ended with cars that had paddles one or two times when renting cars ( highly over classed each time… the biggest one was when I ended up ith a Grand Scenic [ obviously with controlled automatic and paddles ] in place of a Twingo ).
Since I’m French and well, Automatic cars here are uncommon at best ( even if the number is rising ) due to the historical fact that they were more expensive than stick cars and that people learns to drive stick, but each time I had the paddles, I found it great to be able to actually use them and override the automatic shifting.
Now to be honest, I’m a stick person, and I consider full automatic ICE cars to be some kind of Frankenstein monster… I know I’ll have to eat crows at some point when car rentals are going to go full electric… But I guess they will try to keep ICE for as long as they can since getting the EV recharged is a nightmare ( it’s not the lack of station, it’s the fact that you need the correct card with the right subscription at a given station… because all the station providers wouldn’t be arsed to just use the VISA and MASTERCARD cards [ or any credit card ] and went to use their own subscription based card )
My wife’s Buick Enclave has paddle shifters. 7 passengers of fake manual shifting fun?
Our 2008 STS has the “shift it yourself” plus and minus option that you can throw the gear selector over to the Left into “manual mode” (remember those worthless predecessors to the flappy paddles?)
Neither have ever been used by me.
The audio controls on the back of my RAM steering wheel though, they get used all the time!
Looks like a winner. Also, is it work if you are enjoying yourself? What does god say?
The picture promised Gordon Keeble content an I am quite disappointed that you “welshed” on that promise.
“This is not an edit button”
Never mind the welsh comment, I always get Gordon Keeble mixed up with Gilbern.
Should have gone with the Slough car joke.
My only exposure to them was in a rented Camaro while on vacation with my wife. They were a kind of novel fun on the straights, but my ham hock gorilla mitts kept bumping them when steering hand over hand. I lasted about five minutes in phony baloney sequential mode before annoyance set in.
I forget my Raptor even has them.
I have driven manuals my whole life (almost 40 years driving, yelling at clouds, telling kids to get off the lawn, etc.). When F1 cars first gained paddle shifters, the concept was very cool. Granted, it was purely for ultimate performance, but this was in the era where manuals meant a tangible performance benefit vs. an auto. Paddles were the next level, and Ferraris, Porsches, etc. started using them. Then they started trickling downmarket as manufacturers wanted to cash in on the perceived performance gains.
Of course they started adding paddle shifters to cars with crappy slush-boxes. Why would I want to manually shift this thing that was slow to respond, slow to shift, and no fun at all?
DCTs were/are generally good but most autos were not. I’ll happily leave it in auto mode thank you.
Today autos have come a very long way to the point that they often outperform the remaining manual models. I have an Audi SQ5 with the 8-speed ZF. It’s very quick and snappy. The paddles are fun, but still don’t have the engagement of a true manual. I often forget about the paddles after a few minutes, and the car reverts to auto-shifting.
What was the question again? Oh yeah, I do use them, but not always….
Oh hold my beer! I use mine all the friggin time. My Subaru Outback equipped with the lethargic 2.5 bolted to the best CVT (which is still shite) in the world, does not have have +/- detents on the gear lever or gate, you have to slide it over to M then use the paddles. I live in an exceptionally hilly city, in a particular hilly country with sub par roads. To get over large hills, or when towing I use the paddles without exception. However, if it just had the +/- on the shifter gate then I’d probably just use that.
I think it depends on the strategy. On my 2015 Flex I use the paddles often to get a quicker downshift when I want to pass someone. Use the paddles while the trans is in D and you get the downshift you want. 5-10 seconds after that, the automatically trans goes back into normal D mode. Also, on a long downhill, I’ll use them to downshift and get some engine braking. The car knows it’s on a downhill slope and will hold the lower gear until I push the accelerator or the downhill slope ends. It actually works really well.
When I had my 2007 GTI, I used them all the time to engine brake and keep revs high. I don’t have a firm memory of always doing that in my GTI, but I know for certain that I did, because for the first month I drove my tragic Camry, I found my right hand instinctively grabbing for the paddle to shift down, whether under heavy braking or when about to accelerate.
Of course, I soon found that there was no need for heavy braking and that nothing I could do can cause acceleration, anyway.
Username most assuredly checks out. 🙁
When I had my 208 W R32 with the DSG, I exclusively drove it in manual with the flappy paddles. The auto programming was DUMB, unpredictable, just annoyed me. With the DSG the upshifts were instantaneous, downshifts had a built-in lag (to allow the engine to rev up) but was very predictable.
Otherwise, the only real other car I’ve driven with paddles is my mom’s 2016 Ford Edge. It had some massive turbo lag/dead spots so I *should* use the paddles to drive it , but just don’t care to. It’s too slow to respond.
While I agree for the most part, I find I use them quite a bit in inclement weather. In the winter I’ll take my ’14 Fusion up to ski areas where I live and in ice and snow I’ll use the paddles almost constantly to better control my speed.
That being said, they never get used for commuting.
I had a rental Chrysler 200 that had paddle shifters. All I could think was “why?”.
I had to laugh. I saw this article and thought, “Oh yeah, my car has paddle shifters.”
I use my paddle shifters everytime I play Forza.
Loved the twin clutch tranny with paddle and shifters in my 2010 Lancer Ralliart. Used them almost exclusively. Only left it in Drive for bumper to bumper traffic.
The tranny worked fine in Drive but the paddles were much quicker to respond and significantly improved performance and/or fuel economy when used correctly. Paddle shifting quickly became second nature.
Traded it in for a FiST in 2015 but now I’m looking to trade it back for another Ralliart. So yeah, paddle shifters all the way.
For a daily driver, I agree with your comment, if it’s a dual-clutch paddle shifter.
But for pretty much ANY single-clutch “manu-matic” though, daily driven or otherwise, I disagree. The auto programs on those are universally shite. On my current single-clutch paddle transmission, I always use the paddles as this box is much pretty much a manual transmission and the CPU is mostly brainless on what to do and when.
On both prior dual-clutch paddle boxes, I concur: paddles for occasional spirited drives, but left in auto most times.
I have been manually shifting torque-converter automatics my entire life, primarily because in years past, the shift programming was shite, as you said. In latter years, I still can’t afford the kind of cars that have really awesome transmissions with clairvoyant shift programming. This is especially true for downshifting, which many (most) automatics still do not do intuitively (even as the upshifting logic has improved over the years).
I also had a Fiat 500L with the infamous DDCT (dual dry clutch), which pretty much begged to be manually rowed, and it was a great experience. (For the record, I never had one problem with that car or that transmission.)
I don’t know what you are talking about. My car has a manual 5-gear shifter on the floor, as usual cars people actually drive tend to have. Small cars are not sold with automatic transmissions around here. That’s for the big, expensive ones that normal people can’t afford.
I almost never use the shifter on my Audi, not least because, from my normal sitting position, I can’t see the spot on the screen that tells me what gear I’m in. Every so often in a hill descent, but that’s about it.
I use them in the mountains to facilitate engine braking and faster shifts up steep hills. It’s a very specific use case.
Yeah, I was gonna say that’s what you normally need gear selection on an automatic for anyway, so it makes perfect sense that would be when you’d use the paddles if your car is so equipped. Same deal with the EVs that have paddles linked to levels of regenerative braking.
Going to add on to this a bit myself: 2021 Kona EV owner here – the paddles control regenerative braking levels, but also the left paddle has a “one foot driving” feature; you can use it as a fully regen braking scheme, all the way to a full stop, if held down. Weeeeeird as all get out to get used to, but gets you the max regen you can get. I don’t know why Hyundai doesn’t highlight it though for the vehicle, took me three months and a chance perusal through the manual looking for something entirely different to find it.
Agreed – I use them on my CVT Outback to downshift into Fake-3rd gear going down a steep 1/2-mile downhill every afternoon. I also occasionally use them on my wife’s Fit when I want to keep that automatic in 5th gear on the highway and not try to downshift every time I speed up.
It’s something that is useful less than 5% of my time on the road, but with both cars there is no other way to control the transmission until I sneak a junkyard 5MT into the Fit.
I’m one of the odd ones–when I have them, I use them for pretty much every shift.
We owned a 2013 Flex with the Ecoboost, and I drove it in normal “D” mode maybe 3 times? Every other time was in S and I typically hit all the upshifts and 90% of the downshifts with it.
We traded the Flex in on a Gen3 Sienna, and not having the paddles was often frustrating, especially since the Sienna’s manual-shift-method seemed backwards to me: push forward to upshift (against acceleration) and pull backwards to downshift (against deceleration). I still shifted the Sienna manually at least some of every drive. Come to think of it, I shifted the Gen2 Sienna we had, even though that one had the old school D-4-3-2-1 notches rather than the + / – gate.
Now both of our cars are manuals, but if I have to get a car with an automatic, I want one with paddles because, well, I use them.
Question is: why?
> Question is: why?
To perform downshifts that the lazy programming refuses to do, or perform upshifts that the lazy program refuses to do. In other words, you know, drive better.