Do any of you have problems shifting (usually downshifting) with the paddle shifters while in a tight turn with the steering wheel turned more than 90 degrees?

This totally isn't a problem with a sequential shifter on a stick like on my Prelude.

 

Yeah, When is sport mode I guess you HAVE to have two hands on th wheel.

 

when i was talking to the dealer who test drove it at fontana (i think that's where they went to), he said it was hard on the road course because he couldnt shift it in tight corners.

 

When cornerering, you should be in the desired gear 1) before you go into the turn or 2) before you hit the Apex. you shouldn't need to be shifting in mid turn.

 

Yeah, shifting in midturn can be bad for an auto, since you can't match revs like a manual. You don't want that sudden movement midturn.

 

you cats beat me to it

 

Spoken like a true race driver. While this is true on the race track, there are many situations in city driving that do require you to downshift during a tight turn (e.g. unexpected slowdowns due to pedestrians, unpredictable drivers ahead of you, etc). I am sure you have encountered situations like that before.

 

In an unexpected situation you wouldn't be downshifting you would be braking as hard as possible. Brakes stop vehicles not gears.

Unsettling a car cornering is a reciepe for disaster. Do it on a motorbike and your simply dead. Slow in and fast out. If your encountering unexpected situations mid corner on the road then
1) your traveling too fast for the situation
2) not looking far enough ahead through the corner.

 

Thank you for all your comments.

I guess not being able to (easily) downshift with the wheel cranked more than 90 degrees is probably a good thing since the general consensus is that it is bad technique anyway.

 

You don't want to split the load on your tires betwixt too many things at once (cornering load, braking, acceleration, and surely not jolts due to the AT's clumsy downshifts). Try not to do more than two at once (i.e. braking and downshifting is okay, cornering and acceleration is okay, but 3 gets dicey).

vividjazz has it right on the money.

 

I think that the VW GTI with DSG + paddle shifters also has a +/- gate where the standard shifter is. That would've been cool... but then again, this is a 109HP entry-level vehicle, not a piggish 200HP (chippable to 250) monster.

(After my Jetta problems, just couldn't think of owning another VW.)

 

If this is a real problem for you on the track, you can probably buy aftermarket shifter paddles or a DIY extention of the stock paddles. It shouldn't be too hard. I can't say I have driven the AT with paddles but my only concern is the speed of the actual downshift. Like the person above me mentioned, the DSG rev-matches and down shifts quick, but how fast is it for the Honda? Does anyone know?