Paddle Shifters
 

Hopefully this thread doesn't get to long or to intense LOL. I have the obv paddle shifters but cant really figure out how to use them. When I downshift to turn a corner or slow down, my engine ROARS SO LOUD. Is this bad for the engine?...or is it supposed to be that loud when you downshift incorrectly and everything will be ok. How do I know when to downshift and upshift so I dont break or screw up the engine...maybe i cant break the engine but sometimes it sure sounds as if I am tearing it up LOL. I am an extreme rookie when it comes to anything other than automatics, ive never even had tiptronic. Can someone who knows these paddle shifters or has them shed some light for me. It sounds great when my engine roars but i feel like im hurting my baby..not to mention when i upshift my car almost kicks because i dont think im doing it correctly. Thanks Guys. Let the teaching begin

Given the picture, you don't have the sport package, so, I don't know why you'd hear it "roar"...

Also, for an automatic transmission, it does "kick" pretty hard between gears with using the auto-stick deally.

Everything is normal. When you downshift the 370z blips the throttle so you don't lose momentium which is that "kick" you feel with the engine roaring. The 6 speeds have the SRM which pretty much does the same thing but it's new to the manual world. Auto's have been doing this for sometime now.

So in short, it's not going to ruin your engine... it's designed to do it. Keep the needle out of the redline when you downshift and you'll been fine.

Actually the auto does rev match. The car roars to match the revs needed for the lower gear. If you downshift aggressively it will be more noticeable. the car will protect itself but do some reading on when to shift and the rpm you should shift at. You will get it in time. It may also take you some time to get used to a higher reving engine I know it did for me. Go out have fun and do some reading on shift points. you will learn and have some fun at the same time.


Just on't practice your down shifting on a dead end road with a cup of coffee. Don't ask long story.:mad:

I know...I have an automatic. What I'm saying it the rev deally is part of the sport package.

I will read up on "rev points" but I will give you an example and maybe you can help me. Im driving down a road with the paddle shifter engaged, im in 5 cruising but im coming up to say a red light right turn so i need to slow before right turning back into traffic. my foot on the brake triggers my hand to wanna downshift and thats when i get that VROOM that seems to stay. i get nervous and then kick the shifter back into normal driving mode and then proceed to make my right turn and accelerate back into traffic. The VROOM sounds incredibly mean and sexy, but again, the rpm's shoot up along with the roar and i then just push the shifter back into normal driving mode. So in short.....im driving....i need to slow down so i downshift....the engine roars...i get nervous.....i move the shifter back into normal driving mode quickly to relieve my anxiety lol. I am really depserate to learn these because they look incrdibly fun on a weekend night cruise around

That roar is the system rev matching, if you want I believe the automatic can downshift for you even in manual mode but not sure (I own a 6 speed) and if you want a more aggressive drive you can downshift yourself which will create the rev matching and the "VROOM."

dont shift back up you are fine. it just not what you are used to. and the guy above is right even in manual mode it will down shift for you. it will not let you stall the car.

But it will let you ride the redline. Did that a few times before I realized I still had it in manual mode and learned not to do that - lol.

When in manual mode, it will stay in the gear you put it in until you change it, or the RPM's get low enough, it'll downshift for you (gently), if you jump on it again, it won't go back on it's own, you'll have to upshift it...(that's how I messed up - I'd be in traffic, and have to slow down, and forget I was in manual mode...)

With the paddle shifters, you can leave it in "D" for a more gentle experience, and after a while it'll go back into automatic mode. Very handy for helping the car figure out what gear it needs to be in for passing someone...

I really don't recommend switching back and forth between D and M constantly. It's a really confusing way to drive, and makes it hard to predict what gear you'll land in during the transitions. I use the M mode pretty much exclusively, but if you've never driven a manual before you'll need to learn some new things, like watching the RPM gauge and knowing when you want to shift.

The 7AT will protect you from most stupid mistakes (it won't let you downshift low enough to exceed the rev limiter, and it won't let you stall out the engine by upshifting or staying in too high a gear as you decelerate). As noted above, it will let you sit on the redline if you fail to upshift in time though, which is pointlessly abusive if you do it.

For those with the 7AT that have only driven a plain automatic before, I'd suggest setting aside some time on a back street somewhere with no traffic to acquaint yourself with shifting.

From a dead stop, put the gear selector in "M" (the gear indicator on the dash will show "1" for first gear), then put your hands on the wheel so you can reach the paddle shifters and take off slowly at light throttle. Accelerate up to somewhere around 4-5K rpm, then slowly let back off of the gas pedal and watch the revs fall as the car stays in gear and slows down. Now do it again, but use a little more throttle and click the upshift (right) paddle when you get to about 5K rpm, you will now be in second gear, and the revs will drop off to a lower number. Don't let off the gas when you shift, just leave the gas pedal steady. Accelerate (again, not full throttle, you're trying to learn) up to about 5K rpm in second, then pull back on the gas a bit and decelerate through second a bit. When it gets down around 2.5K rpm, click the downshift (left) paddle. The car will shift back down to 1 and the revs will blip back up to a higher value.

You get the idea from there. Play with upshifting and downshifting. Keep an eye on the gear number indicator and the RPM gauge, and learn how it works and how it reacts. Pay attention to what you're doing with the gas pedal too. You'll notice some pretty dramatic effects on shifting speed and engagement force depending on whether you hold the gas steady, push it in more, or let it off, in the middle of a paddle-click.

At any given speed, you usually have 2-4 reasonably valid gears to choose from that will result in different engine speeds (RPM) at the same wheel speed (MPH). Choosing a lower gear will make the RPMs higher, choosing a higher gear will make the RPMs lower. Generally speaking, the lower you keep the RPMs, the more fuel efficient you'll be. The higher you keep the RPMs, the more power and responsiveness you'll get from the engine. Higher RPMs also increase engine wear to some degree, and increase oil temperatures. It's all a tradeoff.

When you're in the D-mode all of this is being done for you by the computer guessing your intent from the position of the gas pedal. Gas pedal held lightly = it goes to the highest reasonable gear it can to save fuel. As you push the gas pedal in deeper, it downshifts to give you more power. The problem with D-mode (on all automatics) is that the engine has only the current speed and gas pedal position for information. It has no idea about all the other things you know that affect what gear you want to be in (like that turn coming up 60 feet down the road, or that you're going to pass someone in about 3 seconds, etc). Also, if you rely on D-mode doing the downshifting for you as you push in the pedal, it's hard to predict exactly when and how much it will downshift. You don't want to be "surprised" by the downshift engagement in the middle of a corner for example. It's much better if you control the downshift so that you know what to expect and can compensate accordingly at the steering wheel.

Regarding D vs M - I flip back and forth. If you're cruising down the highway, it'll drop to 5th.

If you're going slower, it'll drop to whatever gear it's in, -1. So, if it's 5th gear and you're rolling, it'll drop to 4th.

I can usually mash the gas and accellerate at a decent rate - nothing much more that if you do the same thing with any other car with an automatic - downshifts one slot, and you go.

However, with the ratios, you can drop it another gear and haul...

The thing that took me the most getting used to (and still is) is how you push the shifter away to hit the next gear, and towards you to downshift. I don't know why but it makes sense for it to go the other way for me - probably because I'm used to driving a manual, and going from 1st to 2nd is a downward motion, as is 3rd to 4th (and the reverse of which...), which are my most common shifts...


You can leave it in "D" mode and use the paddle shifters to the same effect, just the shifting itself isn't as aggressive.

Also regarding "D" mode and how it calculates which gear to go into - if you mash the throttle, it takes a second to figure out what you're up to as it hunts for the correct gear. I think of it as a cat about to pounce...lol

Doing it manually, you know what you're going to do, it's just a matter of correctly telling the car what you're going to do.


One thing that I've had a hard time with, going from sticks and lower performance cars, is how much LAG there is in the shifting of the 370z while in D - thing I do in my VERY LOW performacne truck - gun it, then back off, this car does NOT handle well - ends up jerking you and anyone else in the car around. I get around this by using the M mode or the paddle shifters. Gun it, then quickly shift just before I left off. No more jerk-forward as the tranny thinks about it for a second then jumps into whatever gear it's supposed to be in...lol

I think the car has to learn as much about me as I have to learn about it, when it comes to driving. It's kind of a wild horse in that sense - lol...

All 7AT's rev match. It's not part of the Sport Package, unlike the 6MT.

Re: the throttle and shifting lag, I think it has to do with hydraulic pressure issues. The way to induce it the worst is to run through a gear at full throttle, and then just as you click to upshift, drop off the gas (as in, I want to run hard through this one gear, then coast in the next). It will take forever to make the shift in that scenario. If you want to keep the shift time reasonable, you have to stay on the gas through the upshift and then back off afterwards. To get fast downshifts, it helps to floor the throttle a split second before you start clicking down, instead of trying to wait until it's in gear.

That, I did not know.

Is this for real?