paddle shifters

[wigginhall]

Have you driven with these?  It's ages since I drove an automatic, and they didn't have paddles then, but now they do.   I can see how you can change down to overtake, or on hills, anything else?

[L.A.]

Have you driven with these?  It's ages since I drove an automatic, and they didn't have paddles then, but now they do.   I can see how you can change down to overtake, or on hills, anything else?

I did a test-drive in a car with paddles a few years ago and I found the experience fairly unpleasant.

I didn't buy the car.

[Rhiannon]

I drive an automatic and it has two gears I use - drive and reverse. The paddle things are semi-autos. So no useful clue here either I'm afraid.

[wigginhall]

I drive an automatic and it has two gears I use - drive and reverse. The paddle things are semi-autos. So no useful clue here either I'm afraid.

I suspect I will do that.  But the damn thing is too fast in London traffic, so maybe a little downshifting would be in order.   Or I think going into S does the same. 

[Rhiannon]

S in my car is 'sports' mode which I think is for photocopier salesmen to enjoy on motorways.

[wigginhall]

Wait till I'm on the A1, vroom vroom.   It's really because I'm used to changing down in a manual, and in London traffic, you do this all the time, 4, 3, 2.    But I realized with an automatic, you can't, and the damn thing just keeps going at the same speed.  Yes, I know, there are brakes.  Anyway, a little flick of the left-hand paddle, and you're in heaven.

[Rhiannon]

I adore driving my automatic. I'm used to breaking and accelerating in and out of some very tight bends where I live, and in town I know what pressure I need to drive at fifteen compared to thirty. But then I only have an automatic license so know no different.

[Shaker]

Wait till I'm on the A1, vroom vroom.

Not ever so far from me. PM for address and come in for a cuppa and several dark chocolate digestives plus sandwiches for further travel. Recently hand painted downstairs lavvy provided. Liking for cats not essential but preferred.

[wigginhall]

Rhiannon, yes, in town it is very relaxing to drive.   Haven't gone anywhere adventurous yet; Peterborough here we come! 

[wigginhall]

Not ever so far from me. PM for address and come in for a cuppa and several dark chocolate digestives plus sandwiches for further travel. Recently hand painted downstairs lavvy provided. Liking for cats not essential but preferred.

Cheers.  Stuck in London at the moment, but not for ever.

[jeremyp]

Have you driven with these?  It's ages since I drove an automatic, and they didn't have paddles then, but now they do.   I can see how you can change down to overtake, or on hills, anything else?

My car has a DSG gear box so you can pretend it is an automatic, put the gear stick into manual mode and use it like a sequential shifter or use the paddles on the steering wheel.

I've tried it using all the possible modes and I found the paddle shifters the hardest to get on with. Nowadays, I generally leave the car in automatic. It's easier and the electronics are better at selecting the right gear than I am.

[L.A.]

It seems to me you want one thing or the other; either totally automatic where you don't have to think about gears or manual where you have complete control.

[jeremyp]

It seems to me you want one thing or the other; either totally automatic where you don't have to think about gears or manual where you have complete control.

With an automatic, there are certain extreme situations where you do want complete control. Most auto shifters allow some sort of manual control for at least the lower gears.

With performance cars, there is a perception that the driving experience is enhanced by changing your own gears. This is the reason why my car has paddle shifters, but to be honest, I really can't be bothered.

[L.A.]

With an automatic, there are certain extreme situations where you do want complete control. Most auto shifters allow some sort of manual control for at least the lower gears.

With performance cars, there is a perception that the driving experience is enhanced by changing your own gears. This is the reason why my car has paddle shifters, but to be honest, I really can't be bothered.

Personally, I try to avoid extreme situations these days. Whenever I have hired an automatic, virtually mandatory in US, I have found the simple automatic mode quite satisfactory, but I'm quite happy shifting gears. I just don't like these 'half and half' systems.

[jeremyp]

Personally, I try to avoid extreme situations these days.

I mean situations like snow and ice, not entering a bend at twice the safe speed.

I just don't like these 'half and half' systems.

The automatic mode is not compromised by having the ability to override with paddles or other means.

[L.A.]

I mean situations like snow and ice, not entering a bend at twice the safe speed.
The automatic mode is not compromised by having the ability to override with paddles or other means.

But if you are constantly having to think about how you need to over-ride it, that totally defeats the object of an automatic. I'd prefer something that you can just stick in Drive and forget about until you need to park.

[jeremyp]

But if you are constantly having to think about how you need to over-ride it, that totally defeats the object of an automatic.

But you aren't constantly having to think about how you need to override it.

I'd prefer something that you can just stick in Drive and forget about until you need to park.

Have you even been reading the posts by me and others? Let me try to put it more simply:

If you look at the gear selector in my car, it looks much the same as that of any automatic, it has positions for park, neutral, reverse and drive. If you put it in drive or reverse, it is just like driving a conventional automatic.

My car also has a position for manual. If you put it in manual, you can manually change gear either through the paddles or by using the gear stick as a sequential changer (push to go up or pull to go down). Here is the important point: it is not compulsory to use manual mode.

Even when the car is in drive (full auto), you can override the car's gear selection with the paddles, but here is another important point: it is not compulsory to override the car's gear selection.

[L.A.]

But you aren't constantly having to think about how you need to override it.
Have you even been reading the posts by me and others? Let me try to put it more simply:

If you look at the gear selector in my car, it looks much the same as that of any automatic, it has positions for park, neutral, reverse and drive. If you put it in drive or reverse, it is just like driving a conventional automatic.

My car also has a position for manual. If you put it in manual, you can manually change gear either through the paddles or by using the gear stick as a sequential changer (push to go up or pull to go down). Here is the important point: it is not compulsory to use manual mode.

Even when the car is in drive (full auto), you can override the car's gear selection with the paddles, but here is another important point: it is not compulsory to override the car's gear selection.

Obviously there isn't a 'Right' answer, it's just personal preference. I've been driving cars with manual gears for most of my adult life and shifting gears has become a reflex. You just do it without thinking. Likewise, I have driven automatics in America, and that is equally effortless.

For me a car is just a tool for getting from A to B. I really don't want to be bothered with extra knobs or gadgets. I just want to get to my destination with minimum effort.

Obviously I accept that you don't have to use these things - but generally you would pay extra for a car with add-ons - so I'd prefer to go for the (generally cheaper) basic model.

[Bubbles]

I've only driven one automatic, it struck me as like driving a milk float .......

I think what put me right off them was when my neighbours automatic Volvo ( neighbour as in semidetached) suddenly went out of control spun around in the road taking out and bouncing off a concrete street light and smashing my car into the garage ( literally the door was folded back up and my car was half in) and carried on to take out a row of fir trees and a six foot fence.



She was just going to move it a bit, put her foot on the accelerator and it took off, out of control. ( I think it got stuck or was faulty)
She had no clutch and couldn't seem to react fast enough to bring it under control.
She also seriously damaged a concrete street light.

She wrote off her Volvo.

Ours was smashed up front and back.

Someone could have been seriously hurt or killed.

Fortunately they weren't, but it didn't inspire any confidence in automatic cars.

The car of ours she hit, we had only owned about 3 days and it was my first and only automatic.

I never took to it after that incident.

Just think if that had happened near a cliff edge ......... 

[wigginhall]

It's true that automatics don't have a clutch, but they do have neutral gear.   But you can't really tell what happened from a story like this. 

[jeremyp]

It's true that automatics don't have a clutch, but they do have neutral gear.   

In a panic situation, for most British people used to manuals, dropping the clutch is a very natural thing to do in an emergency. However, most drivers of automatics never use the neutral gear ad therefore to think of it in a high stress situation might be too much.

But you can't really tell what happened from a story like this.

I met an engineer from the Rover company about 20 years ago who had once been in court for a negligence case. A woman had driven into a brick wall and was claiming that the fly-by-wire system had switched the throttle to maximum. He had to testify that all Rovers had good old fashioned cables as the throttle linkage.

[Bubbles]

In a panic situation, for most British people used to manuals, dropping the clutch is a very natural thing to do in an emergency. However, most drivers of automatics never use the neutral gear ad therefore to think of it in a high stress situation might be too much.
I met an engineer from the Rover company about 20 years ago who had once been in court for a negligence case. A woman had driven into a brick wall and was claiming that the fly-by-wire system had switched the throttle to maximum. He had to testify that all Rovers had good old fashioned cables as the throttle linkage.

My neighbour had only driven automatics. ( automatic license)

I'm not sure exactly what happened but they told me that the accelerator was stuck on flat out.

I have heard of it since with automatics , however I had only been driving an automatic a few months myself and it worried me a bit.

Happily we went back to a manual.

It's just first impressions I suppose, my worry stemmed from the fact I was only getting used to an automatic myself.