As an auto, it's not mediocre. It's quite clever, I think. I think most people compare their mom's V6/V8 Buick with a 3 or 4 speed to the Fit's 4 with a 5 speed and complain because the Fit isn't as responsive.

Mediocre is the 2speed powerglide on my first car, a 65 chevy with a 283.

I think the manual Fit is mediocre what with the throttle-hold and odd clutch delay mechanism. Plus the springy feel to the shift mechanism. But these factors are not the gearbox itself. I drove one before I bought and thought there was something wrong with it. I've driven a long line of manuals and wanted to like it. But the mechanical strangeness and the fact I commute in metro Atlanta made it undesirable, for me

Don't get me wrong. I steal my son's car frequently. I seriously daydream about selling the Fit and getting a 15 year old Miata for 4 grand. Now's the right time of year too. My wife's camry is getting rather long-of-tooth. Maybe I'll gift her the Fit and fulfill my 3/4 life fantasy.

 

The paddles are the means to shift gears when you want to without letting go of the steering wheel. Its a control thing. When you are driving very quickly there is a real need to shift gears very quickly and when the shiffter is right under your thumbs its a cinch. Thats why the modern GP cars and most really high performance vehicles have paddle shifters.
Automatics are nice but seldom shift when there needs to be an upshift or downshift.
The paddles work in auto but only briefly to let you downshift for a quick pass and return to auto then. In short they are a convenience for the corner carvers among us; you don't have to use them but on the other hand,

I'm curiousd why you brush the paddles; considering their position why do you move your hands there?

 

The tranny shifts better than I do, so I leave the paddles alone for the most part, they are handy to drop a gear on the fly occasionally and they have never gotten in my way at all.