3.3TT Downshifting with paddles

[MerlintheMad]

The Stinger is my first car w/ paddle shifters as well and I don't know how to drive manual either so I'm a big noob.

I strongly urge you to leave your car in auto and stay away from the paddles.

@Geodude: I advocate for FUN. Paddle shifting is fun. Learning is fun. You can't break anything; the car will redline and bounce into an upshift if you don't pull the right paddle quickly enough. You'll look and sound like the noob you are. So what? If that bothers you, go somewhere that you can have a back road pretty much to yourself and practice.

Peak torque on our cars is 1,300 to c. 4,500 RPM. So in a "spirited" corner, full control of the accelerator comes in there. A controlled drift would be achieved in that RPM range. Performance shifting, as @eflyguy says, is something else entirely. And I'd have a lot to learn there as well.

But driving on the street and using paddles has nothing to do with keeping your revs high like that. It's all about upshifting when the engine allows it, i.e. when RPMs are high enough: if you try an upshift at too slow a speed from too high a gear, the engine will ignore all your pulling on the right shifter. If you're passing fast, that's when you pull the left shifter and drop a gear lower, or even pull on it twice to really get the revs high for passing.

 

[irtg]

Bit of a thread resurrection..

I understand the auto box protects itself from over-revving if wrong gear is selected with the paddles.

Is it also the same for lugging (ie you've left it in 6th gear, slowed down and then tried to accellerate from low revs)? Would the car realize it's in too high a gear and prevent power being put down / downshift, or are you at risk of causing damage by lugging the engine?

 

[Snicklefritz]

Bit of a thread resurrection..

I understand the auto box protects itself from over-revving if wrong gear is selected with the paddles.

Is it also the same for lugging (ie you've left it in 6th gear, slowed down and then tried to accellerate from low revs)? Would the car realize it's in too high a gear and prevent power being put down / downshift, or are you at risk of causing damage by lugging the engine?

Can't damage the drivetrain by doing it "wrong". The car will ignore or compensate. Lugging is actually impossible. If you are in the absolutely highest gear possible at a given speed, say 8th at just above 40 MPH, and you demand brisk acceleration, the car will downshift enough to prevent lugging. You may not get rapid acceleration but it won't lug.

 

[rtv900]

My cousin says you can wait until around 3000 rpm before shifting for good midrange power. My bro in law tells me that you should always shift right before redline only. I'm so confused lol.

Both great advice.
My father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roomate told me to always start out with a max power launch when the engine is ice cold, that way you don't bend the johnson rod or foul up the carburetor jets. He's since been locked up for erratic behavior, but I still stick with his advice.