A fat man's first impressions on his new Viffer 1200 with DCT

I do drive a car with paddle shifters... I guess I have for a while now. And it's one of the reasons I really like this setup. The car in the photo is either my '09 Nissan Maxima or my '08 Nissan Admada. My first car with the paddles was an '04 Acura RL. In the few years between the RL and the Maxima the system is soooooo much nicer. I'm an avid racing fan as well when it comes to Formula1 and some others... and paddle shifters in Formula1 have been the norm for some time now. I recall the season a few years ago when they really were in full-force and running at 100%... they were doing an analysis of how fast the shifts were on the McLarens and Ferrari's compared to one of the teams using an older system... and it was mind blowing. Combine that today with the ECU that works in perfect harmony with the tranny and you've got today's paddle shifting that is making it's way into luxury and entry alike.

When you're in D or S mode, and you hit one of the shifters it does go right into manual mode. I've found this to be very valuable when riding on highway type roads where you're in high gear and minimal throttle... say the 4-lanes we all know so well in the 40-55 range. Cracking it down a few gears to pass happens so fast when hitting the shifter and when you're ready to pull back over you simply hit the manual/auto paddle and you're back to D or S depending on where you left off.