Paddle Shifters on the steering wheel

[Datsun15]

my dad works for Nissan and he brought a nice SL awd Rogue home and it had paddle shifters on it and i was messing around with it and it was so weird they had the paddle shifters on the steering wheel and not on the column. so if you tried to shift during a turn you had to take time to look down and find the paddles

ha why did they do this?

[RubenTheRogue]

cuz most ppl arent Indy drivers and wont use them for performance shifting anyway

I think I have used mine 2xs since I bought it in April

[Nick 568]

Yeah, it's not really a performance vehicle. The paddle shifters were one of the main attractions to me though, but I so rarely use them now. I use them most often to downshift when coming to a light to slow down. But they are nice to have to downshift a gear or two to pass someone.

[cdmuile]

I tried hanging my fuzzy dice from them, but that didn't work.

[Roguemeister]

If they were on the column if you tried to shift in a turn you might break your arm that is inside the wheel trying to shift

My MX5 has the paddles on the steering wheel as well; haven't seen a car with them on the column yet.

[philipa_240sx]

Paddle shifters are a bit gimmicky for me. I do wish the manual option on the gear shift was available on all models though. Starting out in 2nd gear would be very useful for driving in snow.

[RubenTheRogue]

The computer does not allow you to shift to second while still, you'd need to roll a bit in 1st before jumping up to 2nd. I have tried this myself.

[philipa_240sx]

Hmm, shoots down my theory. Oh well!

[EddNog]

my dad works for Nissan and he brought a nice SL awd Rogue home and it had paddle shifters on it and i was messing around with it and it was so weird they had the paddle shifters on the steering wheel and not on the column. so if you tried to shift during a turn you had to take time to look down and find the paddles

ha why did they do this?

Many (dare I say the majority) of cars with paddles for shift control have the paddles wheel-mounted rather than column-mounted because there is only so much space on the column before the paddles would interfere with the wiper and light control stalks. By keeping them on the wheel, close to the back of the steering wheel, they are taking advantage of less cluttered space and preventing possible miss-hits of controls (getting the high beams by mistake instead of downshifting). I get around this by simply having accustomed myself to shifting manually with the gear selector instead of the paddles during spirited driving or when on twisty mountain roads where I like to keep gearing short for engine brake control. I'm sure that was Nissan's way of getting around the problem with the paddles constantly moving about when the wheel is turned.

I test drove a first-generation (in the U.S.) Honda Fit Sport with the paddles and they, too have their paddles wheel-mounted but do not also include controlling gears through the shifter, which absolutely boggled my mind because of the chance that one might shift in the wrong direction with the wheel turned 180! For this reason I prefer designs where the paddles are push to downshift and pull to upshift on both sides, rather than left paddle to downshift and right paddle to upshift, to prevent confusion as well.

Granted, in an ideal world, the paddles would be column-mounted, pull to upshift, push to downshift (on both sides) with an option to control manually through the console gear selector.

-Ed

[takeshi]

my dad works for Nissan and he brought a nice SL awd Rogue home and it had paddle shifters on it and i was messing around with it and it was so weird they had the paddle shifters on the steering wheel and not on the column. so if you tried to shift during a turn you had to take time to look down and find the paddles

ha why did they do this?

You haven't driven many cars with paddle shifters, have you?

As a rule of thumb it's generally best not to shift mid-turn anyway.

[gi'me]

The paddle shifters, as they relate to this car, are gimmicky. I stopped using them after day 3 of ownership. When I want to "downshift," I merely floor the gas peddle.

[Roguemeister]

The paddle shifters, as they relate to this car, are gimmicky. I stopped using them after day 3 of ownership. When I want to "downshift," I merely floor the gas peddle.

Not a good idea if you are going downhill! I use the paddles when I am going down a steep hill and I don't want to use the brakes.