tucsonbroker

Anyone know if its on the steering column like the base model or did they find a way to put it on the on the transmission tunnel? Won't matter to me either way, just curious.

DriveAMG

I know it looks better on the centre console but it’s much more functional
on the steering column.

Edifice

It's still on the steering column.

Blue63s

Agreed

Clk63blkseries

why would you want to take your hands off the wheel to shift?

Bueller

The paddles on a street car or even a sports or saloon race car should have fixed paddles mounted on the steering column. In an open wheel car you are rarely turning the wheel more than 90 or 100 degrees in each direction. Your hands stay put on the wheel so paddles that move with the wheel are fine. In a sports car there are times where you need to move your hands from 9 and 3, especially on a tight circuit. That's where a second shifter on the floor comes in real handy because it is hard to find the proper shift paddle with your hands moving on the wheel. If the paddles were larger and in a fixed position then I would say a second shifter is superfluous. A rally car is a good example

Some may argue that you should only shift while going straight, so moving a hand off of the wheel is not a big risk. However the new automated manuals and shiftable automatics shift so fast and match revs so well that it is really hard to upset the car while shifting in a turn. At least in the dry. And with all wheel drive, you can probably shift while turning even when it's wet.

Bueller

signes

Paddles should always be on the steering wheel along with your hands. Even in a low speed tight hairpin or chicane it's rarely the case that you go past a 180 deg turn of the wheel. Pulling your hand off the wheel to reach for a paddle makes no sense at all. Agree that there should be a console mounted lever as an alternative.

E634Me

My first car had a three-on-the-tree shifter. Three speed steering column mounted gear shift lever.

It was great in a way, your hands didn't have to leave the general vicinity of the steering wheel. Also freed up room on the seat area so your girl friend could snuggle up closer whether driving or parked

Downside compared to a floor mounted 3-speed was that the steering column shift mechanism wasn't as crisp as a floor mounted shifter.

In these days of electro-mechanical shifting, having a console mounted shifter to me seems a waste.

1) this isn't a race care, it's a sport sedan that's going to see very limited track use.
2) it's rare to need to turn the wheel that far at speeds where you're feeding in gears like crazy.
3) it's all wheel drive, so unless you enable drift mode at the track, you're not likely to really be spinning the steering wheel madly as you try to correct for right foot induced oversteer while at the same time performing gearshifts.
4) I haven't personally had to deal with this, but I'd think its not that hard to find a wheel mounted paddle versus taking your hands off wheel and reaching well away to find a console mounted shifter and manipulate it.

In any case, it is what it is, I'll just find a way to deal with it.

It's got to be easier than relearning a reversed shift pattern on my track bike, and then switching forth and back between street bikes and race bikes with the two different patterns. Backshifting at full tilt boogie while knee down in a 130 mph corner can be exciting . . .

Clk63blkseries

" However the new automated manuals and shiftable automatics shift so fast and match revs so well that it is really hard to upset the car while shifting in a turn. At least in the dry. And with all wheel drive, you can probably shift while turning even when it's wet."


Not true if you are driving hard its not smart to shift mid corner. It upsets lots of factors on the car . If its a double apex turn you can play with a mid corner shift between apexes . Otherwise hold the gear

nevsky

I am interested in this car, wondering if its at all possible to shift from the centre console? I often use that on my 550i when I turn left on the light, and I have a lot of steering wheel lock to the left, so using the paddles doesn't work to shift from 1st to 2nd. I take my right hand off and put my hand on the sequential shifter on the transmission tunnel. If anyone can tell me this before I would appreciate it.

E634Me

limeypride

+1 with vigor