3.3TT Downshifting with paddles

[GeoUTA]

Hi all, this is my first post to the forum and glad to be here.
Hopefully this hasn't been discussed already, I looked about 10 pages deep.

This is my first car with paddle shifters and so far I've been hesitant to use them due to inexperience. I've read the thread on upshifting with the paddles but I'm curious how/when everyone downshifts, if at all. I've noticed that the car takes over and will downshift for you but I am wondering if that is past the point that you "should have done it already" and perhaps it isn't best for the transmission/engine.
In particular I took a turn slowing down to less than 10mph in 4th and it automatically shifted to 3rd for me. Any insights on best practices would be appreciated.

I thought I'd add a poll to see how often you all use your shifters. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ShannonC]

I like to manually downshift when approaching stop lights. Also while going into a bend or tight corner as it "feels" better and gives greater control. Also love the sound of bi-modal on down shift.

 

[Callum]

I use the paddles most of the time when I drive. I'll "short shift" leaving the light for a little fun and downshift coming to the stop lights. When I'm driving/cruising I hold the "UP" paddle and put it back in drive.

It makes things a little more engaging! Give it a shot, you can't hurt anything, the car won't let you over rev the engine. It takes a little practice! Every car I've ever owned has paddles, so it's second nature for me.

 

[GeoUTA]

I use the paddles most of the time when I drive. I'll "short shift" leaving the light for a little fun and downshift coming to the stop lights. When I'm driving/cruising I hold the "UP" paddle and put it back in drive.

It makes things a little more engaging! Give it a shot, you can't hurt anything, the car won't let you over rev the engine. It takes a little practice! Every car I've ever owned has paddles, so it's second nature for me.

That kind of leads to a second question. I’ve read many times over the years (I’ve owned more manual than automatic) that you are better off braking to stoplights than downshifting due to wear and tear on the transmission as brake pads are cheap in comparison. Do you feel that is true or just hand wringing?

Also, thx for the tip on holding the +paddle to disengage. I didn’t remember that from the manual.

 

[Callum]

That kind of leads to a second question. I’ve read many times over the years (I’ve owned more manual than automatic) that you are better off braking to stoplights than downshifting due to wear and tear on the transmission as brake pads are cheap in comparison. Do you feel that is true or just hand wringing?

Also, thx for the tip on holding the +paddle to disengage. I didn’t remember that from the manual.

I believe these modern transmissions are capable of being driven in "manual" mode 100% of the time without additional wear. This transmission blips and rev matches so the wear should be less.

What trim level is yours? Depending on the shifter you have (GT2 for me) I don't have the T-Grip shifter so I have to hold the paddle "UP" to go back into Drive. If you have the mechanical you can just pull it to the left and you are in manual mode

 

[sym]

I believe these modern transmissions are capable of being driven in "manual" mode 100% of the time without additional wear. This transmission blips and rev matches so the wear should be less.

What trim level is yours? Depending on the shifter you have (GT2 for me) I don't have the T-Grip shifter so I have to hold the paddle "UP" to go back into Drive. If you have the mechanical you can just pull it to the left and you are in manual mode

Even on the GT2 just pull the shifter back and it will put you back in drive.

I find myself doing it a lot because it lets you shift back to D without forcing an upshift (which holding the paddle ends up doing).

 

[xot1]

I use paddles all the time when I am in full throttle

 

[cncBilly]

Also my first car with paddle shifters. When I decided to buy a new car paddle shifters was definitely on my list of must haves. I am constantly using them whether it to up or downshift, around corners, up hills and my favourite to bang gears at high rpm in sport.

 

[GeoUTA]

Also my first car with paddle shifters. When I decided to buy a new car paddle shifters was definitely on my list of must haves. I am constantly using them whether it to up or downshift, around corners, up hills and my favourite to bang gears at high rpm in sport.

Well it is just plain obvious to me that I am babying my car and driving it like my grandma would. I have probably revved the engine over 5000 twice in 9000 miles. Lol! I’ve just found that anytime I attempt to have any fun with it I’m speeding within seconds. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to aggressively pass someone and I look down and I’m doing 100 mph while it feels like I’m doing 70. It’s an amazing ride.

 

[GeoUTA]

I believe these modern transmissions are capable of being driven in "manual" mode 100% of the time without additional wear. This transmission blips and rev matches so the wear should be less.

What trim level is yours? Depending on the shifter you have (GT2 for me) I don't have the T-Grip shifter so I have to hold the paddle "UP" to go back into Drive. If you have the mechanical you can just pull it to the left and you are in manual mode

I have a GT. I wish I had the money for the GT2. So many toys! I prefer to just the shifters than moving the shifter left/right. I feel like it’s just another movement causing wear and tear. Obviously, I baby my cars. So I’ll see how disengaging by holding the +paddle works for me.

 

[cncBilly]

Well it is just plain obvious to me that I am babying my car and driving it like my grandma would. I have probably revved the engine over 5000 twice in 9000 miles. Lol! I’ve just found that anytime I attempt to have any fun with it I’m speeding within seconds. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to aggressively pass someone and I look down and I’m doing 100 mph while it feels like I’m doing 70. It’s an amazing ride.

I agree. Living in the city it's impossible to find the space where you can even give it a good shot of go juice for 5 seconds.

 

[Callum]

Even on the GT2 just pull the shifter back and it will put you back in drive.

I find myself doing it a lot because it lets you shift back to D without forcing an upshift (which holding the paddle ends up doing).

This is true, I was trying to keep it simple and not explain something that did not apply to the OP

 

[Shrikecorp]

Well it is just plain obvious to me that I am babying my car and driving it like my grandma would. I have probably revved the engine over 5000 twice in 9000 miles. Lol! I’ve just found that anytime I attempt to have any fun with it I’m speeding within seconds. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to aggressively pass someone and I look down and I’m doing 100 mph while it feels like I’m doing 70. It’s an amazing ride.

Truth.

 

[Thwack]

I've actually just started to make an effort to use them recently after months of owning, 1st paddle shift car I've owned. My problem is that I drive in urban areas and tend to shuffle-steer, so when starting at a light and turning left or right, I'll be halfway through a turn and need to upshift, but the paddle is not under my hand, and I can't find it easily like i would a shifter. So I either need to go through the turn slowly or end up reving the hell out of it while going 18 mph.

I'd like to use them more, but changing the way I shift AND the way I steer feels pretty foreign to me, and I dont get much benefit besides feeling slightly more connected. I'm givign myself a few more days to see if i adapt.

 

[cncBilly]

I've actually just started to make an effort to use them recently after months of owning, 1st paddle shift car I've owned. My problem is that I drive in urban areas and tend to shuffle-steer, so when starting at a light and turning left or right, I'll be halfway through a turn and need to upshift, but the paddle is not under my hand, and I can't find it easily like i would a shifter. So I either need to go through the turn slowly or end up reving the hell out of it while going 18 mph.

I'd like to use them more, but changing the way I shift AND the way I steer feels pretty foreign to me, and I dont get much benefit besides feeling slightly more connected. I'm givign myself a few more days to see if i adapt.

This deserves a comment. I'm speechless. Hopefully!! Merlin has the time to provide some wisdom here.

 

[Manaz]

Hi all, this is my first post to the forum and glad to be here.
Hopefully this hasn't been discussed already, I looked about 10 pages deep.

This is my first car with paddle shifters and so far I've been hesitant to use them due to inexperience. I've read the thread on upshifting with the paddles but I'm curious how/when everyone downshifts, if at all. I've noticed that the car takes over and will downshift for you but I am wondering if that is past the point that you "should have done it already" and perhaps it isn't best for the transmission/engine.
In particular I took a turn slowing down to less than 10mph in 4th and it automatically shifted to 3rd for me. Any insights on best practices would be appreciated.

I thought I'd add a poll to see how often you all use your shifters. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Basically, the first thing to realise is that the programming of the gearbox won't let you cause any damage. Don't be scared to shift when you feel it's necessary!

Modern auto gearboxes downshift more readily than older ones, as they've become better at keeping the car at appropriate RPM for speed and load conditions. So, by all means, let the car do its thing - there's no harm in this, at all, it's how most automatic gearboxes have operated for years.

But one thing even the best modern auto gearboxes can't do is read minds (though they can become pretty good at predicting things at times based on previous behaviour). So, if you feel that you want more revs (because you're about to accelerate, or go up a hill, or there's a load that is making the car "sluggish" or stressed), or know that you're not pushing things and want to be in a higher gear, then down/upshift as you want.

The more you do it, the more you'll become accustomed to the way it causes the vehicle to behave, and the better you'll get at naturally and instinctively telling the car what to do. If you find it fun, then great. If it doesn't interest you, no fear, don't feel it's necessary to do it.

 

[Manaz]

I've actually just started to make an effort to use them recently after months of owning, 1st paddle shift car I've owned. My problem is that I drive in urban areas and tend to shuffle-steer, so when starting at a light and turning left or right, I'll be halfway through a turn and need to upshift, but the paddle is not under my hand, and I can't find it easily like i would a shifter. So I either need to go through the turn slowly or end up reving the hell out of it while going 18 mph.

I'd like to use them more, but changing the way I shift AND the way I steer feels pretty foreign to me, and I dont get much benefit besides feeling slightly more connected. I'm givign myself a few more days to see if i adapt.

My current car (the Stinger hasn't arrived yet) has the paddles attached to the steering column. When I first got it, I thought "that's arse-about, my hands should basically never leave 3 and 9 o'clock, that's where the paddles should be", but I became accustomed to the column-mounted paddles, and as you've noted, it's now very easy to know (in relation to my body position) exactly where the paddles are, without having to think about it).

However, as much as there's a theory that we should never have our hands away from 3 and 9 o'clock, that's not reality on public roads. When I test drove the Stinger the first time, I struggled to reliably find the paddles when I wanted them - partly because of muscle memory in reaching for the position to the left and right of the steering column, and partly because I was, particularly at low speeds in tight corners with light and slow steering, forced to cross-over, and because I wasn't following strict motorsport behaviours (you only ever grab the wheel at 3 and 9 o'clock, even when crossing over) in my arm-crossing, missed the paddles a few times.

I'm hoping that I become more accustomed to the wheel-mounted paddles, and I suspect I will. But I do know that it will take a bit of time.

 

[GeoUTA]

I've actually just started to make an effort to use them recently after months of owning, 1st paddle shift car I've owned. My problem is that I drive in urban areas and tend to shuffle-steer, so when starting at a light and turning left or right, I'll be halfway through a turn and need to upshift, but the paddle is not under my hand, and I can't find it easily like i would a shifter. So I either need to go through the turn slowly or end up reving the hell out of it while going 18 mph.

I'd like to use them more, but changing the way I shift AND the way I steer feels pretty foreign to me, and I dont get much benefit besides feeling slightly more connected. I'm givign myself a few more days to see if i adapt.

For sure, one of the knocks from the car experts I’ve consistently read is that the shifters are waaaay too small. I’ve had that same problem of being in 1st and having to make a turn slowly because the shifters are hard to work with in a turn.

 

[Manaz]

You can get paddle extensions...

Kia Stinger Aluminum Paddle Shifter Extensions

 

[Thwack]

This deserves a comment. I'm speechless. Hopefully!! Merlin has the time to provide some wisdom here.

Huh?
Hopefully he can drop some wisdom, or you can just say what has you so speechless... Did I say something unreasonable?