Coming off of a 3 peddle car I found that the paddles aren't the same from a feeling perspective. There isn't a need in my driving style to use the paddles and there is nothing in the system that forces you to use them . Even talking to some of my old Ferrari buds with the F1 transmissions they say they use the paddles less and less. It seems the days of the manual gearbox are dying even with the ricer crowd. So this brings me back to the question of how many of us use the paddles on a daily bases or even once in a while. In fact any time I'm in a speed limit over 30mph I use CC.

 

Pedal not peddle. As for paddles....I don't use them either.

 

The paddles did nothing for me in the XK... Rarely used them.

 

Having never owned a 3 pedal car (yeah, I know, what a wimp ), I've found the paddles intriguing, and have been using them a little in this second year of ownership, but mainly when decelerating to a traffic stop, just to have a little entertainment from my 'sound system'.

 

I came from a manual-transmission car to the XKR. I use the paddles when out for a blast, don't bother in town or cruising normally.

 

I use them when I know I'm going to need acceleration, but not quite *yet*.

I also use them for gentle engine braking downhill, or for softly slowing down. Hitting your brake lights on an interstate suddenly makes lots of people hit their break lights, if this can be avoided by a shift from 6th to 5th or 4th, the overall speed of traffic flow stays higher.

 

I find myself using them frequently when doing some "spirited" driving, especially in the NC mountains. Otherwise very seldom in normal day to day driving..

 

About 80% of the time when I'm driving its awesome once you get the hang of it.

 

I did exactly this yesterday; Had a loud little Subaru WRX who kept zagging through traffic to get next to me on a state highway. Finally he was and we both slowed to get a bit of a gap in front. Of course I had put it in Sport and Trac...
I let him hit first at about 25 mph and I reacted and hit Down on the paddle which was already in third(???). Can't remember if it actually downshifted or not. I immediately passed him and pretty much made him look the fool. Of course he did the "Ricer Flyby" after I had slowed and then he made himself scarce in the traffic ahead.
Funny Stuff!

 

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

At my age spelling is not a priority . All I need to do is get the message across.

 

I use them pretty often, both downshifting for the sound (a gratifying burble of the exhaust) and the braking power along with preparing for instant power demand while driving.

Locking that gear in at a high rev in anticipation of a pass or acceleration demand is fun! I find my '12 with the newer ZF tranny to be pretty responsive to the paddles, I lock the selector in S mode so that it stays in paddle shift and doesn't revert back to Auto mode (the D selection will revert back to auto after a bit). I don't have a comparison to the previous generation ZF tranny in pre-2010 models, but my BMW had that same ZF transmission and paddles shifts were not crisp.

Is it as good as a stick shift, absolutely not. But I find that under hard acceleration in paddle mode that if I take my foot of the gas while shifting I can get a decent jump out of 2nd/3rd gear when I punch it back down after the shift.

 

On my XKR I use the paddles almost exclusively. For me I love to rev up that great motor and down shift to make a lot of sound. I also find that....well it is just plain fun!!!


I have owned 3 pedal cars before, and I find the shifters on the XKR superior for responsiveness and reduced driver error.


Dang it now I am going to have to go tearing around my town making a bunch of noise!!!!

 

Looks like someone went to a "gooder college." Sum guise half awl the luk.

I rarely use the paddles either, only on occasion when my wife's nodding off, and I'll let out a little yelp for grins. Gets her every time. Good times...

 

I regularly use the paddles for downshifting, particularly on steep hills and when I want to accelerate with a real bust of speed. I'm up and down a minimum of two steep hills both of which are longer than .5 miles. And they are semi-twistty too.

 

I use the paddles 99.9% of the time. I've grown so used to using them, that it feels unnatural not to do so. As Ralph said in the previous post, I use them to downshift and reduce speed as I would a manual transmission.

 

Half of the time yes.

 

Only when I accidentally knock one.

I have a stick in our other car so I never feel like my inner caveman is missing out.

 

I use them to downshift when overtaking on back roads. Only time I use them really.

 

For those out there that constantly use the paddle shifters please invest in the aluminum extenders best money I have ever spent on my car!

The standard plastic shifters are absolutely hideous and should have never been released on such a beautiful car

 

I use it for one scenario. When im at a red light stopped and i want to take off like a bat out of hell for some good theater. Click the left downshift while in S mode puts it into manual - 1st gear. Usually the jag will go to second real quick but when your in manual you can get up to 4000-5000 and then do a upshift to 2nd that feels much more natural then when the auto wants to do it. You look back and WOW.. everybody is left in the dust. This is not the case in either D or S in auto mode.. its not as quick off the line. This is SUPER FUN and really shoots the jag out like a rocket!!