Does anyone use them? Kinda pointless IMO

 

Used it once to redline

 

The feature is coming more for people from Europe and Asia who use to drive stick. It doesn't bring any value for Americans. I still surprised to find paddles, I was under impression they appear only on a sport steering wheel type.

 

I like them and used them when I need a sudden acceleration or steep downhills, ramps , uphills .
I can also use it like engine brake but nothing can substitute a "real brake"

 

Is there any way to disable them. My wife hits them by accident all of the time.

 

good question

 

That's quite an uninformed over-generalized statement you have there. You must be running for a political office.

I use them all the time for spirited curvy road driving (which is my daily commute) to manage the shifting as I want it. Problem is the 2014 transmission programming takes back control WAY too soon/often. Within 30 seconds it can decide you don't need/want 'manual mode' anymore and will start shifting itself. The 2013 programming is much better allowing much more manual control.

 

Shifting with the paddles(on non AMG cars) are as slow responding as a turtle trying to dodge a car while crossing the road. Now every car out there comes with them, Honda,Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, wonder if they shift any faster than the MB. The only time I use them is like JEFFY said, in the curves driving hard, and I only use them to hold the gears longer.

 

I used them the very first day of driving my W212. They are fun once in a while but serve no real purpose for a non AMG Mercedes. After driving many Ferrari's and AMG's with F1 it is hard to drive a E350 like that. It is just not that type of car. The AMG E63 that I might buy next year or so yes I would use them often.


As far as other cars that have them I had some car rentals (Camry, Hyundai) that had the paddle shifters and to be honest the transmission was deadly slow. It serves no purpose. At least when MB non AMG does it or Jaguar it shifts decent. Not fast at all but far from the lag you get in a ho hum run of the mill transmission. The transmission in Toyota, Hyundai ect are not anything special in terms of shifting speed and able to hold power... That is why they put them into a Camry or Sonata lol.


I had a Camry loaner and it was awful! The rental car company told me "How sporty it was and the F1 Paddle shifters were meant to give it more power and you can feel like a F1 driver"


I simply told the young girl that she needs to spend time in a AMG or a Ferrari and then we can talk. Winked walked to the car and began my very boring drive.

 

The paddles on M-B's are almost pointless in the sense that they allow you absolutely no manual control (computer takes over too quickly and doesn't let you get away with much) and they shift snail like in response, i.e slow as molasses.

In the BMW, the paddles have 2 separate formats, one which is "semi-manual" meaning the computer assists more-so and will take back over quickly, and one that is fully manual, i.e you can peg redline and bounce off of it and the computer won't get in your way. In both formats, the shifts are rapid-fire fast and completely responsive.

However, the one and almost only benefit to M-B paddles are how you can hold down the downshift paddle and after the lethargic response kicks in, the trans will place you into the optimal gear at the peak of the powerband. I found that feature very useful. It's a constant annoyance that I believe BMW does't have that same feature.

 

don't have a '14, but still have never used them......maybe once by accident LOL

 

I had paddle shifters on my VW Passat 3.6 and I used them a lot even though it was connected to a torque converter slushbox not a DSG. It wasn't great but it wasn't horrible. It shifted down when I pushed it and kept in manual for a while before switching back to auto on its own or if I forced it back to auto by holding the upshift paddle long enough. If the MB implementation is similar, which I don't see why it wouldn't be, I think I'll manage with it. I'm sure I'll miss rowing my own after the E90 though. This is the first time I'm getting a new car that I'm not overly excited about due to losing the manual transmission but I guess that is where the market is heading. I still have my motorcycle to get in some quick shifts though...

 

I find the paddle shifters in most mainstream cars to be comical - especially the ones in my bluetec, which I used once, laughed, and haven't tried again. What's the point of this? I kind of miss the tiptronic style selector on my E55, which although had the reaction time of a maneuvering steamship, did work - especially good for making noise on downshifts.

"I still have my motorcycle to get in some quick shifts though...":

Gixxer?

 

Are the paddles a part of any type steering wheel or sport only? There was some thread regarding types of steering wheels available, but somehow I can't find it.

 

Ducati Multistrada 1200. No room for Japanese in my garage.

 

Scared by radiation?

 

Lol! Nah. I'm heading to Tokyo in February so I'm not scared of radiation. I'm more worried about sub-par materials and performance.

 

True they are not sports car millisecond quick, and true you cannot lock it in override mode, but what you describe is what paddle shifters are for in a non-sports car - to get you in the right power band before a low-to-high speed traffic merge, rather than incurring the downshift delay during the merge.

 

Oh, some of the brashness earlier made me think ostentatious sportbike

I got close to buying a Monster 796 earlier this year, but backed off when the old car sucked down a wad of cash. That and the ever deteriorating driving ability of people in my area has me only wanting to take a bike on a track or really empty roads.

 

The paddle ****ers on the non-AMGs are not really shanging their gears. They're limiting the maximum gear that the transmission will shift into. So they'd work for downshifting since they'd force you into a lower gear. But you can set them at 4 and they'd make no difference off the line.

 

I use the paddles for braking...and it really does save the pads. I've never used them when accelerating.

 

Useless

 

I don't care that they're on most Mercedes, but WHY can't they be easily disabled?! Yes, they are easily tapped and I wonder how many millions of miles have been put on Mercedes vehicles travelling in too low a gear by wifes, girlfriends, etc..
Oops, sorry, that's sexist! lol OK, lets just say by less than attentive drivers..

 

Not to worry, the car quickly goes back to full auto mode if you don't continue to use the paddles.

 

I have found that on steep downhills the car automatically holds the lower gear (without me even using the paddle to downshift), thus reducing the usage of brakes for me. I found this feature very useful.
I very rarely use the paddle shifters (unless I'm showing it off to my friends / others ).