Drove the Ferrari F430. Paddles at the column. Felt awesome.

Tried the +/- on my 09 G37 (not paddle), the delay killed it. Rather drive with DS.

 

You have never drivin a car with the paddles on the wheel for any lenght of time I can tell.

I have a Porsche with the paddles on the wheel and I still have my Z with them on the colum. I will NOT even use the ones (except sometimes for down shifting) on the Porsche as you loose them when doing tight turns. Anyone that has an issues with your hands on the wheel hitting the paddles has serious issues. Have you not driven a stanard where on hand is off the wheel most of the time? I learned very fast how to use the coloum mounted paddles and only drive with them in the Z. I have done Auto X as well as track time using only the paddles. In the Porsche it is just about impossible to do.

Anyway, unless you have a very close ratio steering set up like an F1 car, paddles on the wheel are a fail. Trust me I drive and own both set ups.

 

Hey your opinion is your opinion. I actually have driven a standard, my last car being an 03 6spd Maxima and I will say again when driving hard not normal driving, you are mostly using two hands, the time in between shifts which im not sure about you but for myself i know its pretty quick just putting the car into gear and removing my hand from the shift **** back onto the steering wheel (so thats two hands on the wheel), so im a little confused as to the point you were trying to make stating that most of the time one hand is on the wheel. Secondly, you own a porsche and you can attest to the fact that their paddles are wheel mounted. M variants of Bmw are the same way so with that being said I think everyone would probably agree that you wont get a better driving/handling experience than from these two auto makers. So i would think they must know what they are doing placing the paddles on the wheel. Just my thoughts....

 

If you really want them on the wheel, you could probably get some that were made to be mounted there and wire those up instead. It's basically 2 wires that need to be connected to cause a shift. Look at this thread...
Paddle Shifter Install - Paddles and Steering Wheel Connections
If you are going to do that though, you may want to remove the column mounted ones. Someone here will probably take them off your hands for you, and trade out the trim pieces used on the non-paddle column.

 

Tazicon's got a point. Unless you have the steering ratio, and may I add, the speed and acceleration of a formula car, you won't benefit much from having wheel mounted paddles.

And no, I for one will not agree that BMW has a better driving experience. My buddy owned a G37, traded it in for a X3 35i with M package. He ended up swapping car with me for weeks because he missed the driving dynamic of the G so much. I didn't like X3's wheel mounted paddle buttons and I was desperate to have my car back.

And like you said, other people's opinions are theirs. Every manufacturer & car does things differently. Either you buy what you want in the first place, or you learn how to adapt to and drive the car you bought.

 

When was the last time a Lambo was touted for their performance on a circuit? Leave that for Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs, Subaru, etc...oh and about BMW....They've just sold out to the "Oh-it's-so-pretty crowd." But I don't blame them..they are the ones that have the $$ and it's all about the bottom line....And yes every company has a "Specialty" car....that Lambo was built for the racetrack...But You know how to out run a Bull right? You TURN!

 

Did you just compare an SAV to a G37? Ouch!

 

The column mounted paddles are huge, the paddles in my evo are gigantic.
With both hands on the wheel, I can up shift/down shift with my pinkie or index finger.

If you are using steering wheel mounted paddles, down shift is on the left & up shift on the right.

Now what happens when you turn the steering wheel more than half a turn, you can't tell up from down.
When I did mis shift, at was not at high speed usually 40-50mph range. In the Acura.

It's makes the task very disoriented to use paddles once the steering wheel is not perfectly straight.

Have never missed a shift & can actually use paddles with left fingers or use the twin clutch tiptronic with my right hand.

I won't convince you, but I speak from experience.
Might I add, if you drive a manual one hand is leaving the steering wheel at some point.
Only reason I didn't use them much in the g was the up shift lag.
Once I was tuned, used them constantly.

The trick is to up shift & not upset the cars balance, a badly timed shift can ruin your exit corner speed easier said than done.

 

OK if the column mounted, fixed paddles are huge enough to use them then it's not a prob...some rally cars do have it this way too..but they also have a gigantic shifter "stick" and parking brake too in the center console. But as for turning your steerign wheel more than half a turn I sure hope you still know where your left and right hands (i.e. where the paddles are still at your left and right finger tips) and not seeing them as "up or down." Experience has spoken as well....

 

It's funny how you used Porsche and BMW as your "performance examples" but refuse to acknowledge the fact that Ferrari's, who puts everything on the steering wheel, paddles are on the column. Are you saying that they know how to make a car go around a corner better than Ferrari? You also mention that Lamborghini's are "brutes" so their paddle positions are wrong. However pretty much every American sports car (the definition of brute) that has paddles are on the wheel. I'm guessing Lamborghini's best would beat the GM's best around a track. You also seem to be under the assumption, like most BMW owners, that because their commercial says 'the ultimate driving machine' that must be the truth. These people also typically own the 325 barely making 250hp. As for Porsche, anyone can make a go-kart fast around the track. Ferrari, on the hand, makes a full size car go fast in all directions. End of rant of other cars.
As for the G's paddles, the delay downright pathetic. My mom's maxima shifts faster. And I also don't understand why you are saying it's so hard to take a hand off the wheel for half a second during a turn? If you're having to move to wheel so much to require two hands then you should not be shifting at that time. If you are at the redline that's most likely your fault for incorrectly setting up the turn.

 

I use the paddles when passing to downshift just two or three gears (rather than four or five if left to its own devices), or when preparing to accelerate through a turn, or to engine brake down a hill. For spirited driving (I would choose my Stealth TT 6MT over my G, but...), the shift lag is too annoying and it's too hard to anticipate the revs with so many gears, so I just leave it in DS. For this vehicle I must agree with those who prefer tall paddles on the column since the steering ratio is not like it is in a race car where the driver's hands can remain at fixed positions on the wheel through even the sharpest of turns.

 

Ummm to answer your questions and reply to your insinuations..."find no humor..somewhat wrong...nope...not true...your opinion..true again (see 2nd reply)..totally agree...Ok if you say so...I'm never wrong nor do I make assumptions(the latter was to be interjected in the aforementioned replies)."

Thank you come again...

BTW, I see that you just registered (Welcome) and that was your very first post! Did you register just to post to this thread? My post encourage you to register? I feel soooo special! Your very first post was to me! I popped your cherry, Squirt!

 

I fully concur...