Got 'em but rarely use them. The automatic is such a pleasure.

to some people it might not be as simple as all that...

I was recently driving a 370Z 7AT at COTA, and those paddle shifters threw me off completely. Since I drive a 6MT and have zero prior paddle experience, a lot of my focus was on the paddles themselves and not my lines. I was only in the 7AT for a few laps and was never truly comfortable. When I got in a MT (I got to drive my own Z as well as a stock Nismo Z), I felt completely at home immediately. My focus was on the appropriate racing elements and not the driving fundamentals of using paddle shifters. This was just my recent experience :twocents: With more practice, I'm sure they would be a natural to me as the clutch pedal and stick shift are now.

I tried to practice using my wife's ILX, but even in manual sport mode it won't let you sit up in the power band for an extended period of time, upshifting within a few seconds if you're not goosing the throttle :ugh2:

You could possibly save gas by going into a higher gear earlier when merging onto an interstate but normally the ECU will pick the most efficient gear for you by default.

Another handy use for downshifting is to save your brakes when coming to a stop at a light. Downshifting sooner will require less braking but will subject the car to a higher RPM then if you would have just let the car shift down prior to you stopping. For those like me who run aggressive/dusty brake pads this comes in handy :icon17:

If you try to upshift or downshift in a way that is not good, the car
- won't do it
- will beep at you in judgement
- will flash the gear indicator at you

There *will* be times you forget what gear you're in and try to go up or down before you can, and you'll be fine.

The *only* gotcha is if you want to go down, so you pull the paddle just as the car naturally goes down, and you might go down another notch. Again, nothing terrible and won't ever hurt your car, you just might get a little extra engine braking than you expected. Be kind to anyone behind you and feather the brake so they know you're stopping.

And even then, it's nothing like other cars. My Eclipse will happily drop down into first and lurch me to a near-halt. I've never had anything close to that in the 7AT Z.

Wasn't trying to make it one. The poster above made an incorrect statement.

I wish i got an automatic, would never complain about sloppy shifter and rough coarse engine

Welcome to the party

JungleZ strikes again!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y85...m_trolling.jpg

I"m baaack ill try not to complain to much , still in the lease for a while.

And depoint let me know when you want me to show you I only get 12-14mpg

****. It wasn't a permanent ban, and nothing's changed.

I just don't know how you drive, get such bad mileage and still hate the car

It's a ploy for attention, nothing more.

IBTL? :ugh2: :wtf2: :bowrofl:

It doesn't matter if I granny shift or floor it, or full ac blasting windows down or redline it doesn't matter... I'm getting 12-14mpg.

Well, then, if that's true, FLOOR IT ALLLLLLLL THE TIME and learn to enjoy it!
(And take out the clutch helper spring)