millersntx

I drive for the most part, in manual, shifting with the gear lever.

I don't like the tiny flappy paddles very much.

RamblingMan

I prefer a manual shift. My wife can use one but has a physical issue that makes manual shifting painful. So my last 3 cars are auto as we share driving on long runs.

markcincinnati

I'm over the manuals -- last one was a 2003 allroad 2.7T. The autos, especially the DSGs are the best transmissions by far I've ever driven. The current 8-spd tiptronics, too, are superior to the stick shifts. However, I love driving sticks, but only if I'm not interested in performance. My 2014 S4 and now my '18 S4 would leave manual transmission versions behind if what I wanted was performance.

Too, traffic conditions make manuals less fun -- and the driver assistance programs, like Traffic Jam Assist, won't work with manual-equipped cars.

I used to say manual transmissions = high performance.

"Used to" say . . .

millersntx

I am actually curious on what mode you're driving your B9 S4's in. I find myself driving most of the time in Manual Mode - unless I have my wife in the car, then it's generally comfort/S

Glisse

Never use the shifter for manual changes, always the paddles. But always using the shifter to shift between S and D - I use the latter as an overdrive / cruise gear. Although dislike 8th gear, feels broken to me. Rarely put it in manual mode, but often drive it manually via the paddles if that makes sense. MMI modes are always Dynamic or Individual, with engine/transmission set to Dynamic in both. I shift to S mode as soon as I start the car. If it is snowing and icy, I use Comfort mode.

I like that there are choices in how to set up and drive the car in a relatively seamless manner.

markcincinnati

"S" Exclusively.

Memory lane:

I drove my 2000 A6 4.2 in D.
I drove my 2001 A6 4.2 in D.
My 2003 allroad was a 6-spd manual.
I drove my 2005 A6 in S.
I drove my 2009 A4 in S.
I drove my 2014 S4 in S.
I drive my 2018 S4 in S.

From time to time, I move the shifter to M -- and have a "frolic and romp" on a somewhat curvy secondary road -- if there are no other cars on it. Sometimes, when I am in "S", I will downshift via the paddle. I do this to avoid "kickdown" which usually causes a sling-shot event the acceleration is so "brutal." If I want a surge but not a SURGE, I use the paddle which gives me the quicker acceleration but not the sling-shot. If you drive a new S4 in D, it feels like it's broken. Don't do it.

millersntx

It's an amazing car, despite some minor annoyances.

I like driving around using the snifter and acting like I have a rally car with a sequential gearbox.
The ECU does a nice job with allowing more overrun and popping during manual downshifts.

I prefer the heft and feel of the shifter vs. the paddles. I don't understand why Audi doesn't mount the paddles on the column. That makes a lot more sense to me.

markcincinnati

Putting the paddles on the column is NOT the correct placement -- the proper place for the paddles is (depending on your view of the clock) about 10 and 2 -- and assuming you drive the way the Audi driving instructors seem to pound into you, with your arms at 9 and 3, you are able to shift the little ears (which I do wish were a shiny metal like they were back in 2014) regardless of the position your arms are in -- navigating a 90 degree turn for instance -- you will have the paddles at the ready. Putting the paddles on the column, a la Maserati or, until recently, Infiniti, has been thoroughly discredited as the "proper" placement for driving on seriously curvy roads at ridiculously high speeds (which is what I fantasize I am doing on my favorite curvy secondary road.)

I remain: Often wrong, Never uncertain.

One more thing, to use the shifter, unless you have three arms, means you have only ONE hand on the wheel which is also NOT the correct number of hands on the wheel.

millersntx

Disagree - before the a rule change, many, if not most WRC cars had column mounted paddle shifters. I like the way the old production Mitsubishi Evo had them mounted - Huge paddles on the column covering a large portion of the arc. That way, the paddles are in a static location, like a shift lever. No guessing about which way is up in case you hand has left the wheel.

markcincinnati

As time passes -- and I am speaking of "retail" cars, that is those sold to folks who will, for the most part, use their cars to drive to and from work, for a night out, or to the grocery store or mall -- cars that used to have either no paddles or column mounted paddles have started offering paddles (attached to the wheel). Some racing cars offered paddle shifters, and many of these cars employed paddle shifters attached to the column. Yet, increasingly, even cars like the Porsche 918 and the Audi R8 put their paddles on the steering wheel. It has been said that Ferrari's reason for column mounting was to "discourage shifting when the car wasn't going in a straight line." BMW's M line has the paddles on the wheel, and if you keep your hand on the wheel even during tight turns, you'll always know where the upshift and downshift paddle is located.

Ferrari, it is said, puts the paddles on the column due to the fact that they want to discourage shifting up or down anytime the car is not heading in a straight line. Shifting, so says Ferrari, should never be undertaken while actually "in" the turn -- that (shifting) should happen before. Then, you have Mclaren, they put the paddles on the wheel as do Audi and Mercedes.

Since I drive with my hands at 9 and 3, I know where the up and down shift controls are (usually up next to my right hand and down to my left).

Not sure if there are any rules (at least for "retail" cars), but it seems that the wheel-mounted paddles are more prevalent now than column-mounted. I understand that we all have preferences -- but this one seems to be in the midst of being settled by the mfgrs, and wheel-mounted is "winning." At least the Germans certainly have seemed to embrace the wheel-mounted approach. Infiniti (thinking here of the RS or "Red" 400) perhaps in their attempt to regain the moniker, "the Japanese BMW" have moved to wheel-mounted, too.

Maybe too, it's what you get used to -- I'm fully used to the wheel mounted and find the column-mounted paddles never to be where I want them (when I want them).

The choices are becoming limited if you want column shifters.