Paddle Shifters Work In Normal (D) Shifter Position

[Roguemeister]

While I was driving the Rogue normally in the "D" position one day I pulled on one of the paddle shifters just for the heck of it. To my surprise, the vehicle shifted gears! I had a 2007 VW Eos with paddle shifters and I have a 2008 Mazda MX-5 with paddle shifters, and both of these vehicles require the shifter to be placed in the manual mode before they work.

So I says to myself "that's weird" and pulled out the good 'ol manual to see if something was wrong with my Rogue.

BUT, as per 5-14 in the manual it states "When you pull the paddle shifter while in the D (Drive) position, the transmission will shift to the upper or lower range temporarily. The transmission will automatically return to theD (Drive) position after a short period of time. If you want to return to the D (Drive) position manually, pull and hold the paddle shifter for about 1.5 seconds."

I am guessing that it does that just in case you need to gear down or up in a hurry? say you are passing a car and need an extra boost of power? What do you guys/gals figure?

[kazzan11236]

lol sucks when ur makin a turn. and hit it on accident

u stuck in 1st gear but trynna make a hard turn so need both hands.

good times on the dirt lots...

[ncc1701]

I like it because of exactly what the manual says. When going down hill, I can hit the down shift paddle and use the engine brakes. Then when I'm back to normal driving, it goes back to D own its own.

I wish my Altima has this feature as well.

[eric_c]

I've only ever used the paddles when in drive to get some engine braking on long downhills, although sometimes the CVT seems to be smart enough to know when to apply some engine braking on its own.

But yes, its nice to just temporarily pop into manual for a little bit, then have the system go back to automatic on its own. The transmission seems to have some smarts because when I temporarily pop over into manual to engine-brake on a long downhill, it will hold the gear for the length of the hill. If I do the same on the highway, it pops back into auto relatively quickly once I touch the gas.

I played with the paddles for passing at first, but honestly I find it best to just leave it in full auto.

[philipa_240sx]

I drove a Rogue with the paddle shifters and quite honestly I did not care for them. It's not the shifter placement that bothered me, but rather how the transmission reacts. Driving a conventional manual for years, I find it's a very interactive experience with the clutch, gas and gear shifter. The paddle shift was very artificial for me and I routinely found myself forgetting to shift.

The CVT does very well on it's own so I opted for a lower model without the manual/paddle shift option.

[Pescakl1]

I drove a Rogue with the paddle shifters and quite honestly I did not care for them. It's not the shifter placement that bothered me, but rather how the transmission reacts. Driving a conventional manual for years, I find it's a very interactive experience with the clutch, gas and gear shifter. The paddle shift was very artificial for me and I routinely found myself forgetting to shift.

The CVT does very well on it's own so I opted for a lower model without the manual/paddle shift option.

It is funny, it is for the exact same reason I opted not to take the premium package: Test drove with the paddle shifters, found it funny to play, forgot to upshift few times, did not see the point having them except for messing up and having some fun, decided not to take the option.

A post of Kerrton, I think, confirmed me I did the good choice when he showed the best fuel consumption was made when leaving the car in auto mode. Trying to outsmart the shifting of the car only brought worst fuel mileage.

BTW, I found sometimes the engine braking annoying when I want to let the car goes a little bit faster downhill to get a good start for the coming uphill. Never found a good way to temporarily disable this. Apart from this exception, having engine braking on an automatic car is great, save the brakes a bit.

[ahhbeebee]

Hmm, I feel opposite about paddle shifters in general. In the VW GTI and the Audi A3, its incredible. The response is so fast that I'm able to do get in and out of turns with down and up shifts I simply couldn't do with a stick.

In the Rogue they sorta suck because response is slow and delayed so there really isn't much advantage, by the time you down shift into a turn and the transmission responds, you've already completed and pulled out of the corner!

[Roguemeister]

I agree. Like I mentioned I had paddle shifters on my previous VE Eos and I have them on my current Mazda MX-5. They respond immediately and makes driving a little more fun when you want to take it off full automatic. The Rogue is a little slow in response to the manual shift but I like them as an option. Like eric_c said, I can see now using the paddle while in D to downshift when going down a hill.

Cheers!

[Nick 568]

The VW and Audi paddle shifters are much quicker because the transmissions are automatically shifted manuals with dual clutches. The first clutch is set-up with the gear you're in, and the other clutch is set-up with the next gear in line, so when you change gears, it just switches clutches. How it knows if you're going to want to downshift or upshift though, I don't know. But I too drove a GTI with it, and I just loved that car to bits, and would've gotten one, but I had heard too many bad things about the reliability, and the only dealer for 2000 miles.The Rogue's paddle shifters do shift faster than most automatics. So do the ones on the Mitsubishi Lancer GTS with the CVT; though the Mitsu changes gear ratios faster than the Rogue, and better simulates a manual. In general, when in manual/sport mode, CVT's change gear ratios faster than automatics change gears. I drove a 2005 Subaru Legacy GT one time with the automatic, and when in manual mode, the transmission took forever to shift. And with that 243 HP turbo, you need to shift to 2nd gear damn quick, so you have to learn to shift before you need it to actually shift in order to get it to shift in time. Or just leave it in automatic mode which was my preference because when in full-auto, the car seemed to shift better on its own. I loved that car though, sooo quick.I've also driven a Honda Fit with paddle shifters which is an automatic with manual shift mode. It shifted fairly quick, almost as quick as the Rogue.Also drove a Mazda 3 with manual shift mode, didn't change gears as quick as the Rogue.

[eric_c]

Out of curiosity, without the paddles is there a manual mode like in a common automatic (1, 2, D, N, R)?

[philipa_240sx]

Out of curiosity, without the paddles is there a manual mode like in a common automatic (1, 2, D, N, R)?

Not really. The gear shift gives you P-R-N-D-L and an overdrive lock button.

L position runs the CVT at lower gear than normal. But it's not a fixed ratio like the paddle shifters, it still varies the gear ratio. You can't really use it as a manual mode since the ratio still varies. It does work well for towing though as it provides more grunt and additional engine braking, esp in city driving.

The overdrive lock button (located on the LH side of the shifter) limits the highest gear the transmission can go, I assume a 1:1 gear ratio.

[eric_c]

Interesting. For me that's one reason to opt for the paddle shifters; not for aggressive driving, but rather deep snow. I fully plan in bad snow conditions to pop-over into manual mode to keep her in 1st~2nd. Admittedly, our situation is perhaps a bit unique in that we live on a country dirt road and we go to the cottage-year road. In both cases, it sometimes means that the roads are unplowed and the snow is fairly deep.

I don't know that I'd opt for the paddle shifters otherwise. I find the shift times much too slow, and the car just seems peppier/faster if I just leave it in D. I'm guessing in your case that turning off the OD achieves some degree of engine braking, so you can duplicate that aspect of having the paddles. That's what I used to do in my old Pathfinder.

Not really. The gear shift gives you P-R-N-D-L and an overdrive lock button.

L position runs the CVT at lower gear than normal. But it's not a fixed ratio like the paddle shifters, it still varies the gear ratio. You can't really use it as a manual mode since the ratio still varies. It does work well for towing though as it provides more grunt and additional engine braking, esp in city driving.

[philipa_240sx]

Do you leave it lower gears in snow? I do the exact opposite. Higher gear = less torque to the wheels and less chance of wheelspin. Usually I start in 2nd gear and it seems to help alot. I did this in every vehicle I've owned.. either 5spd MT or 3/4 spd AT.

[jmbones]

1st-2nd for going down steep snow/ice covered roads where you don't want to brake alot, if any. Just normal driving in snow = "D" on the shifter.

[eric_c]

In the Pathfinder I just left it in D but it was a 4-speed auto so it generally stayed in first or second gear. In my Subie, I'll lock the center diff and keep it in 1 to 3, but its geared quite short. Keep in mind, I'm talking about making my way down an unplowed road with deep-snow, going 15 to 20 km/h. In my way of thinking, its all about maintaining forward momentum, and better to be in low gear where you can muscle your way thru.

After one of the big storms last winter, I made it down the road here at work which had yet to be touched by the city using this technique. Belly of the Subie was dragging in the snow and there was wheelspin, but she made it. Guy in a CR-V didn't even make it 20 ft. Snow tires and locking center diff, I guess.

I haven't driven the Rogue in what I would consider deep snow yet, but my reasoning for putting it in manual is I don't want the CVT to misinterpret "More Power!" with "Go Faster!". I want to go relatively slow in a low gear with a decent amount of RPM. I also plan to lock the center diff and turn off the TCS when I encounter these situations. I am talking about situations that only occur 6 or 7 times a winter. The vast majority of time I plan to just leave her in D with all the safety systems on.

Starting off from a stop at a slippery intersection however, I generally short-shift and get into the higher gears quickly to avoid too much spinning and fish-tailing.

Do you leave it lower gears in snow? I do the exact opposite. Higher gear = less torque to the wheels and less chance of wheelspin. Usually I start in 2nd gear and it seems to help alot. I did this in every vehicle I've owned.. either 5spd MT or 3/4 spd AT.

[Nick 568]

Guy in a CR-V didn't even make it 20 ft. Snow tires and locking center diff, I guess.

The Honda AWD system in the CR-V and Element are a mechanical-engaging system. You can't actually lock it in AWD like you can on the Rogue. It's some sort of hydraulic disc or something that engages when the front center axle is spinning at a different speed than the rear one. I'm not sure I've exactly explained it right, but it's something similar. After spending about 3 months in the car market, I looked at everything. That was one reason I decided against a Honda (that and they just are kind of lame cars with the exception of one or two of them), I knew their AWD system wouldn't do so good when driving in really low traction conditions such as up twisty mountain hills with 6+ inches of fresh snow.

[eric_c]

To clarify, by locking centre diff I meant my Subie. As you point out, CR-V doesn't have the ability to lock the centre differential. Its a pure "slip-n-grip" system. Much like yourself, this fact eliminated the CR-V from my shopping list.

The Honda AWD system in the CR-V and Element are a mechanical-engaging system. You can't actually lock it in AWD like you can on the Rogue. I knew their AWD system wouldn't do so good when driving in really low traction conditions such as up twisty mountain hills with 6+ inches of fresh snow.

[Roguemonster]

I use the paddles in "D" to get a quick power boost without having to punch the gas.

It kicks the rev up and goes back to auto mode when it feels I'm not trying to accelerate anymore.

I find it to be handy because sometimes the Rogue and I disagree on what exactly I'm trying to accomplish on inclines...

[takeshi]

It is funny, it is for the exact same reason I opted not to take the premium package: Test drove with the paddle shifters, found it funny to play, forgot to upshift few times, did not see the point having them except for messing up and having some fun, decided not to take the option.

I find them useful for quickly passing. Obviously, YMMV. Luckily the Rogue isn't my primary car and I have a 6 speed that's very fulfilling.