As I mentioned in my previous thread, I expected to be using the paddle shifters a great deal while driving in the mountains, as well as other times. But, for reasons both negative and positive, I find myself using them almost not at all.

The negative -- For me (and I recognize others feel differently) the design is all wrong. Not the paddles themselves, but how they operate. From my air combat training days long ago, I know that when doing an activity requiring constant action and reaction, particularly where safety is involved, the more that is intuitive with less thinking required, the better things work. For example, most people know that when pointing out an object while flying, such as a bad guy (bandit), you give a clock position relative to yourself. What most people don't know is that when the action gets tight and the adrenaline starts flowing, its very easy to transpose the numbers, ie say 2 o'clock when you mean 10, or 4 when you mean 8. So what you do is always say right or left prior to the clock position. For example, left 2 o'clock means 10 o'clock, and requires no thinking. Its so intuitive that it is understood immediately by everyone in the flight, cutting reaction time significantly. To me, the XK's paddle shifters do just the opposite in two ways.

First, having one paddle for upshift and another for downshift requires some, even if minimal, thinking. There is nothing natural about right being upshift and left down, or vice versa for that matter. On the other hand, it would be perfectly natural for a forward push to be and upshift, and a pull back to be a down shift. No thinking required. This also has the benefit of allowing either had to perform the action.

Second, and I know there has been much disagreement about this, fixing the paddles to the column rather than the steering wheel would mean not having to consider where the shifters are while in the middle of continuous turns. I don't know about everyone else, but my hands do not always stay in the same place on the steering wheel during active driving, so I have to either look or think about where the paddles are. Not the most effective way to drive. No doubt over time it would become more natural, but never as intuitive. Particularly since.........

The Positive -- To my surprise, even though I have spent nearly 50 years driving traditional manual transmissions on everything from the highest performance European cars, to US pony cars and trucks, to the original VW Beetle, I think the sport automatic mode on the XK is just great. For mountain driving, it seems to pick and maintain the perfect shift points, both up and down, and execute them nearly flawlessly. Real "shock and awe" for me, not what I was expecting at all. So, in spite of my criticism above of the paddle shifters, which I feel strongly about, on balance I truly like the transmission because of the sport automatic mode. Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks.

Cheers, Mark

 

The ZF 6HP26 transmission is a very good unit, with quick, smooth shifts. And in Sport mode, it holds lower gears and keeps the revs up for faster response. The 6HP28 in the 5.0 models is even better.

I've tried driving with the paddles, but I just can't be bothered. The TCM is better than me at picking shift points in most circumstances, and I hate having to fumble for the paddle in corners. If I want to whack it down a gear because I want more engine braking on a long down grade, I can do it, but the rest of the time, I let the TCM deal with the gears while I concentrate on braking points & apexes.

 

The layout and basic design of the 'paddle shifters' began in Formula 1, thus the RH side for upshifts and the LH side for downshifts.

 

Agree re fixing the positions - Ferrari have fixed paddles and its much better.

That said I'm very impressed with the system though - speed of change, blipping and the noise! Fun.

 

Disagree on fixing the paddles to the column. During 99% of track driving, hand positions on the wheel are not changed. On a slight curve, the normal hand position of 9 & 3 would be at 12 & 6, completely WRONG for fixed paddles. Yes, there are more times while city driving that a hand position change would cause some confusion on paddle location, but why is shifting such a big deal in a parking lot?

 

I use the paddles almost exclusively. For me, it's not about whether or not I can shift better than the auto mode. It's about having control. Driving the car!

I like to drive my cars, not have them drive me!

 

I look upon modern auto boxes as equivalent to advances like synchromesh, automatic start enrichment, power steering, vacuum-assisted brakes, etc. All of these were criticised by purists as "coming between the car and the driver" and thus diminishing the skill required to drive. Yet, over time, they become just an accepted part of the driving environment.

I think the DSG box has a little way to go before it's as good as a human, because I've been able to catch out several different versions. But I think that the conventional hydraulic auto, with the extra flexibility of the lock-up torque converter, is better at optimising gears than me. It will not always be right, but neither am I; on balance, I've found myself not quite in the right gear more often in manual cars than auto.

It's taken time to come to that realisation; as a young man, I always said I'd never buy a car with a "slush box". But the 6- or 8-speed units of today are a far cry from the 3-speed slugs back then.

 

The manual gearbox cars I had very-ed regarding their shift ability. 3 English cars and a few Corvette's. Then the Ferrari gated 5 sp. They were all fun but as I got older and sloppier the autoboxes became more of the norm for the family sedan. Although the Ferrari trans-axle was fun it was a very notchy gearbox and hard on the syncro's. The Corvette was the toughest and you could slam that one around without any problems and parts were cheap. I think this 6 sp is great and most time I don't want to use the paddles . In fact I usually use them to slow down just to get the exhaust note. But all in all I don't miss the MT at all and enjoy more of the driving experience.

 

Same here! Had manual transmissions in a lot of my cars over the years, but the 6 speed in the Jag with rev-matching and paddle shifters is perfect for me now. I also usually use the paddle shifter to slow down to get that exotic exhaust note. The automatic transmissions today are so responsive, fast, efficient and trouble-free, I probably won't ever have another manual.

 

Could it be a natural tendency to prefer autoboxes as you age? Rowing gears is a lot of work! I am not even 30 and I would probably not want to row my own gears on a daily driver. The paddles are a good compromise. I fully expect that by the time I hit retirement age I will only want to drive full size sedans with slushboxes!

That being said, I find it hard to believe that you feel the same level of connection with a car leaving it in auto mode that you would paddle shifting or manually shifting/clutching!

 

Perhaps, but I don't think it is. I have no desire to drive a barge, auto or manual. It's more that I've noticed over the years that I've occasionally found myself in the wrong gear in a manual car. Not because I'm too dumb to figure it out, just because the situation has suddenly changed - particularly in those split-second "Do I hit the gas or the brake?" situations. If you're in a manual car and cruising along in high gear, hitting the gas may not have the desired effect. Kickdown has got me out of a couple of nasty situations.

When I'm in 'press on' mode, I'm feeling the car's dynamics - turn in, lateral G, understeer, oversteer. Gear selection is something I don't have to worry about; the sophistication of the 6HP28 is such that it will more consistently pick the optimum gear for the current situation than I will. And if I know something that the TCM can't be aware of (like I'm starting a long down-grade where I want engine-braking to avoid cooking the brakes), I can always switch to manual.

Self-selecting the gears all the time is something I miss as little as I miss having to remember to push the choke in, to switch the lights or wipers on/off, to turn the alarm off before I unlock the car, to cadence-brake to avoid lockups (before ABS) and to modulate the accelerator to avoid uncontrolled wheelspin (before traction control). A couple of years ago, an ABS sensor went on my XK8 and I lost both ABS & TCS. Wet braking and acceleration suddenly required the revival of some long-neglected skills!

 

My parents 2010 SHO have the paddles setup where you push to downshift and pull to up shift on both sides of the steering wheel I HATE IT as did most everyone else. Ford changed them to the standard down on the left and up on the right for 2011.

 

I really found out a year ago how little I missed rowing around the 5 or 6 speed manuals when a friend called and asked me to go with him to pick-up his just purchased Honda CB1100 MC and drive his Nissan 350Z 6-speed following him back to his home. I was the only person available that could drive a manual. We had to go through about 35 miles of Atlanta traffic at 5:00pm EST. It was not fun even though I had done some of that same type of commute years ago in a Datsun 280ZX and Nissan 300ZX with 5-speed manuals, and yes, I was a lot younger then.

 

I guess the difference for me is the "correct gear" for me is always the one I want it to be! Even if it's not "optimal". An automatic car will never be able to do that for me. Unless somehow it is connected to my brain through some sort of telepathy!

 

I agree the 1500 minimum rpm to change gear irritates me if I want to short shift at 900 rpm in a car that has almost 500 ft-lbs of tq that shouldn't be a problem. I did it in my lowly STi that had 300 ft-lbs of tq without issue.

 

Fair enough. I prefer to be in the gear I need to be in, rather than the gear I happen to be in at just the wrong moment. However, since the ZF boxes still allow kickdown when in manual, something I wasn't originally aware of, that's less of an issue in an XK/R.