A Week of A/T Manual Shifting Mode
 

For times when I have to do hard cornering I use the shifter to up or downshift 'till I get out of the curve. Hope it helps!

yeah I never use my paddles hard to turn with them..always use the floor shifter.

Hah I went through something similar when first commuting with my dual-clutch GTI. Lifelong manual driver trying to get used to shift paddles (damn new-fangled technology).

The good news is once you get used to shifting with the paddles, the rest should be cake. It should be almost the same as how you'd drive a manual.

If you can lay your hands on a driving video game with a steering wheel controller it could be a nice safe way to get used to which paddle is upshift and which is downshift.

I too use a combination of the paddles and shifter. I got used to it rather quickly.
The learning curve for me was deciding which to use and when. After a few weeks of really only a few days a week of driving for me, I had it down.
When driving aggro style, it's a little more challenging to get the coordination down pat.
I often leave it in sport mode as I'll toggle between manual and AT

Like you posted. There's nothing wrong with winding out first gear :)

I use a combo of both took a bit to get used to the paddles but youll figure out when to and when not to use them. I normally use the floor shifter.

floor shifter is much easier, esp in the corners

I find myself using the console shifter during most times... just out of being used to a manual and my hand rests there. Unless I'm doing higher speed stuff or like canyons I tend to use the console shifter. My brain just reverts to "move down to change!) However when I have forced myself to use the paddles almost exclusively and only use the console when necessary- it turns out to be rather fun and really nice to keep two hands on. But.. its sucks because where as the paddles can take over In drive, the shifter (obviously) can't. So there are a few times if thrown the car in neutral trying to up shift hahaha. Once used to it I think I use a combo. God I want to drive this trans w a turbo! Drove an is350 (beast in a silk coat) w this trans almost and it was sick

I drive manual so every day out of the week I look for lots of gravel on the road to prefect my driving skills as the back end comes out at low speeds. We must both practice.

I tend to use the paddles only in the straight aways or mild turns, but, tend to use the floor shifter otherwise.

For most spirited driving I also put it in sport mode as well as VSC Sport mode.

I even tried putting it in full auto, but, still having it in sport mode and VSC Sport mode and that was a very different experience. It got most things right and although it didn't fully anticipate what I wanted to do, it worked pretty good other than shifting up a little early out of first gear (but yet it will redline every other gear (maybe it is maximizing performance, but, I also prefer the sound of the engine at full wail)).

It was still a little uncomfortable leaving the control in its electronic hands and I think I still prefer doing it myself and mostly gravitate to the floor shifter.

So, I got the AT because I can't drive MT (and didn't want to learn *Wearing flame suit) and I caught some crap for it from my brother and some friends, but whatever.

I've driven it in M mode a couple of times now because I'm at least curious. I've learned from reading here, and watching how the car shifts itself how shift intervals work, so I kind of understood when to shift up, not so much on the down (kept shifting too early, got a little jerky) but it's good that it down shifts for you if you mess up. It does make me nervous because I'm always afraid I'll forget I'm in M mode and mess something up. And I also haven't figured out quite how to hit the paddles on the turns. I tried using the opposite hand, thinking I had turned far enough to reverse them but I guess I kept hitting the - paddle because it wasn't shifting up. It certainly takes getting used to doing it.

I use the Manual mode for autocross and the high performance schools. I'm too lazy to use manual mode in normal traffic, but for when I want to loosen out the back I switch it to manual mode once in a while and turn on sport vsc

My daily commute is half bumper-to-bumper freeway and half canyon carving. For the twisting canyons, the paddle shifters are the only way to go because I need both hands on the steering. Otherwise, it's the floor shifter.

And yeah, push UP to UPSHIFT, pull DOWN to DOWNSHIFT.

There's a DYI Fix for this somewhere

I totally agree, to my brain BMW and Mazda have it backwards (pull down to upshift). Maybe they are trying to emulate grabbing for second gear. :iono:

I play a lot of driving games, and my wheel has paddles that I use when the car I'm "driving" has them in real life (MY BRZ is M/T though). When I tried and A/T FRS few months back is felt very natural and seamless, and I must say I quite enjoyed it. So it's all in getting more practice.

No need to fix what already makes sense.

i thought the car holds the rpms, and won't upshift or downshift unless you press the paddles?

also, this problem would be solved if they didnt attach the paddles to the steering wheel

Oh wow. Another good reason to focus on the paddles. I didn't even think about the obvious lack of ability to use the floor shifter for override while in auto mode. I could see myself doing that upshift to neutral thing. That would be an eye opener.

My last car was a 335i Sport Coupe M/T. I found some turns on an unused shortcut in town that always had dry sand washed up on the road. I always took off traction control there to practice slides.

It only holds it in Manual mode...

In full manual mode it pretty much does. It will downshift itself when RPMs are ridiculously low and won't allow downshifts if vehicle speed would result in exceeding redline. It also won't allow upshifts if the resulting RPM would be ridiculously low. However, I understand it will not upshift by itself and you just bounce off the upper rev limiter. I'll just have to wait to do that by mistake to find out for myself.

What the poster is referring to is the ability to use paddles to upshift or downshift even while staying in auto shift mode. It temporarily overrides and will hold the selected gear for a short time before lapsing back to auto shift mode. Great for downshifts in anticipation of passing or when hard braking before a turn. Those things an automatic transmission doesn't know you are about to do and where the shift just can't wait.

As answered- Only hold in manual mode, or for a limited time if you hit a paddle in either sport or drive mode. Sport has much more aggressive shift points that seem to adapt to exactly how aggressively one is driving. I'm curious if it tracks all the inputs etc to determine how long it holds gears, but when driving hard, I often find it just as efficient as me running the gears. I had also considered this when I was getting annoyed with the rotating paddles but I just don't see it as a fix all solution. IMO the rotating paddles have a higher + to - ratio than some that would be fixed if you know what I mean there. For the same reason that steering wheel controls aren't at your fingertips, but ON the wheel. (Except in the S2K :P Whose layout I love tremendously) I don't know though, perhaps either would be equal given adjustment period. Also to anyone who hasn't driven an auto... DO EEEET

I too tend to go to the floor shifter in manual mode. It just feels more right to me. Go figure, it was that way with my previous E46 M3 with SMG. I just hate how they dumb'd down the shif pattern by making you push forward for upshift and back for downshift. The proper way is push forward for downshift and back for upshift. :slap:

On a side note, does anyone know whether there's a difference between "sport" on and manual and "sport" off? Does going to manual automatically put you into sport mode? Always wondered.

sport mode has no effect in manual mode, sport mode pretty much makes it hold gears longer and shift a little harsher

I like that the paddles is connected to the wheel. I would never need to upshift in a turn anyway.

Pretty sure sport mode changes the throttle mapping and shifts are faster (and less smoothed out). Also, manual mode does not automatically engage sport mode (otherwise the dash light would come on).

Apparently there is a DIY for your perceived backwards shifting. Personally, I like it the way it is, but, each to their own preference.

Maybe I am mixed up, but, the shifts seem to feel faster in sport mode.

I'm sure everyone has their own personal preference, but that's the way it's done in race cars. I can't say I know the true reason behind it, but it may be because all the g's that race cars go through. Plus, I guess you'd be braking as you downshift so pushing forward makes sense I guess.

It finally makes sense. :thanks:

I guess I need to drive more powerful cars. :burnrubber:

We should feel it. I found this same quote in a couple different reviews that seemed authoritative enough. "...a Sport Mode that quickens shift times and throttle response as well as shifting at higher rpm."

The owners manual in describing sport mode states "lower gears are used and gears change at a higher engine speed." It also states the obvious that sport mode controls are not carried out while in manual mode. No mention of quicker shifts and throttle response. But, the owners manual glosses over a lot of details.

I can't find anything that says whether or not the quicker shift times and throttle response of sport mode are also utilized in manual mode. Without yet having tried to discern this for myself, I would guess that manual mode works in one way without regard as to whether it is activated from normal mode or sport mode, and that manual mode would always take advantage of the quicker shift times and throttle response.

I suppose the shift response in manual mode could change depending on whether sport mode is on or off. Or maybe it only makes a difference while in temporary manual mode. I rather doubt all that.

I'll have to wait a week to compare the different modes so as not to disrupt my religious vow to drive only in manual mode all week.

Has anybody found documentation or had a clear experience to determine if manual shift mode utilizes the quicker shift times and throttle response of sport mode?

Sport VSC == Vehicle stability control and throttle response, so it's seperate to "Sport" mode on the transmission. this is one of the few cars left where the transmission isn't controlled by the ECU directly. Two seperate brains! I've driven some older cars the same with a "sport" mode for the traction control and a seperate brain for the engine-- Turning on "Sport" traction control/power delivery and "winter" on the trans confused the shit out of a turbo Volvo. :D

(So you know, manual cars have the sport VSC and traction control buttons)

I wish that the gear you are in would also show in addition to "D" when in drive. That would allow better use of paddles especially for downshifts when you want to get into the torque band.

The trick to using the paddles when doing sharp turns where the paddles may be out of position is to upshift early before you start to turn. 1rst gear is really probably lower than it needs to for the engine(uses a lot of fuel), whereas the engine can pull easily in 2nd.

I'm aware of the buttons on the M/T. Nothing being discussed here regards the vehicle nanny features. It may be that VSC = throttle response. At least for purposes of the nanny function for throttle cutoff to regain control when tires break loose. But clearly the A/T has throttle response features apart from VSC as the A/T has a rev matching feature that is only present in the A/T. The quote I cited from the review referenced throttle reponse with regard to A/T shifts. Short of some abrupt nanny intervention, nothing in my experience or research has pointed to VSC as controlling the shifting performance of the A/T.

Amen to seeing the gear number while in drive. It is difficult to know what to expect when initiating temporary manual control while in normal or sport mode. As I am exclusively using manual mode, I am learning what engine sound, torque feel, tach reading and MPH add up to the gear number displayed. I expect I'll know what gear I'm in even in normal or sport mode. But really, couldn't we just have the gear number display. Cruising quietly along at 40 mph in normal mode, I'll never know if I'm 2 or 3 paddle slap downshifts away from a 3rd gear passing maneuver.

So far I'm opting for the late upshift on slow turns after the wheel returns to near straight ahead. I'll try the early shift and see how that goes.

I have found that using the floor shifter, there is a certain degree of NVH transmitted through even the AT that I can execute a well timed gear change better than when using the paddles. You may notice the same.

At WOT on a straight away, or downshifting for engine braking, the paddles start to make more sense.

This is only true in Manual mode. In Auto mode you can use the paddle shifters (but not the stick) to initiate shifts.

I've tested this in AutoX. It will bounce off the rev limiter, and if you hit the limit too many times it seems to throttle the motor back on you. :iono: