who ever uses these paddle shifters located on the steering wheel, i for one will never use them in my 2024 forester and i never once used in my 2017 ford escape se that i traded in for my 24 forester, as far as I'm concerned there a useless feature for the normal deriver as 80 % of my driving is in the city just wondering what everyone else thinks of the paddle shifters .
Manual paddle shifters .
- Thread starter jigalow
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I find that I use the manual paddle shifters on long decents in the mountain areas so that I minimize the use of my brakes. I also use them on really twisty roads in the mountains when I am also facing climbs and decents. Aside from helping ease the stress on the brakes, it keeps the transmission from shifting in and out of gears quite so much. As to city driving, I don't recall ever using it in the cities. So, in answer to your question, it depends on the terrain and type of driving.
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I see it as a gimmick mostly. It's there for sales and marketing purposes. I'd much rater see them put the money to better use say add a memory stick option to use the existing cameras as dash cams.
I don't disagree with you in a general sense. However, I do a lot of mountain driving and have found that driving mountain roads that twist and turn AND involve either going up a steep climb or decending a steep slope, if I don't use the manual option, the transmission is continually shifting gears and I'm using my brakes a lot. In this kind of a stituation, I find the manual beneficial. That said, it's use is short in duration i.e. for that portion of the road that demands it. It's also beneficial, I find, to use compression on a long, steep decent when riding the brakes becomes a concern. Bottom line, while I don't disagree with your concern in a general sense, I am glad that I have the manual when I need it. I just pick and choose when it's really needed.
One wants the vehicle to be in the "proper" gear for the situation. Automatics have a terrible time with that, in general.