Just a curiosity, but my right paddle shifter (+ upshift) is ridged on the back side (where my fingers touch it to shift), but my left paddle shifter (- downshift) is smooth on the back side!

I can't figure why Honda did this, unless they were phasing in a new paddle design (smooth or ridged) and didn't care about the mismatch.

Personally, I'd like to have mine match unless there is a good reason for the mismatch. Honda should be more on the ball.

Anyone else find the same thing?

 

it's probably so u can tell which one is upshift and which one is downshift by feel...

 

Yes you are right!!! That's is what exactly why Honda did that. They did that by purpose, becasue when you make a turn it is hard to figure out which is upshift and which is downshift, so they make that for the driver.

 

haven't tested mine yet

 

haha I read this thread last night and went to my car this morning to check it out.. yep, it's exactly as you say.. ridged on the + and smooth as a baby's butt on the -

 

Acura's are the same - ribbed on one side - smooth on the other!

 

Yep, like on some keyboards and calculator pads - a little bump for the fingers to tell your brain where your hand is without looking. Very smart.

 

this makes the most sense. when your wheel is upside down cuz of hard turns, its hard to know which is left and right. however, u shouldn't be shifting during a turn anyway

 

Why not? Plenty of professional drivers shift during turns. They either downshift when going into the turn or when coming out of the turn - and thats just what's most common.

 

very cool to know!!!

 

That's a nice design feature.

 

Wrong. Professional drivers do not shift during turns. Many drivers shift BEFORE they enter the corner... and they might shift AFTER clearing the apex. But no one really shifts in midturn because it throws off the balance of the car.

 

Did you read what I said? I said exactly what you said. When going into the turn or coming out of the turn.

 

As the original poster here, I appreciate the clarification on what the ridged surface is on the upshift paddle.

However, the chances are very remote that anyone in mid-turn is going to be able to quickly find the upshift/downshift paddles and still be effective.

Look at the angular span represented by one paddle - about 30 degrees within the steering wheel. When someone's in mid-turn, the paddle location is probable lost, and 85% of the time, the driver's hands will not be on the paddle when they decide they want to shift in the turn. The driver will have to "hunt" for the paddle, feel for the ridges, decide if it's the right one, and shift before they're out of the turn! IMPRACTICAL!!!

"Cool" in theory, but quite silly in practice for the typical Honda Fit driver.

 

Yes I read your post. But I was clarifying that "plenty" of professional drivers do not shift during as you stated in your post.

 

Very true. In race cars, the paddle shifters are attached to the steering column instead of the steering wheel. The upshift paddle is usually extended to give more of a range as the driver steers. It's impractical on the Fit but very fun for any wannabe racer.

 

The gearshift on my manual will always be right where I left it, no matter what I am doing with the steering wheel.

 

You can shift before you turn, or as I found out, most of the time I don't need to remove my hands from the steering wheel to make a turn. The only time that I really need to remove my hands from the paddle positions are making right turns at intersections or coming out of a driveway, in that case I shift before I turn when needed.

Edit: A bit of clarification, I usually upshift before right turns when I am coming from a standing stop, ie., at an intersection, because at mid-way my engine revs would be kind of high in 1st gear, and trying to find the upshift paddle is kind of hard at that point as it would be on the left side of the steering wheel. If I am slowing down to do a turn, I just down shift before I make my turn.

On left turns, my right hand does not move from the upshift paddle shifter so it just stays on the steering wheel as I spin counter-clockwise. In that case, I can upshift whenever I want to.

 

check'd mine, its got the ridges too

 

I agree, most of the time my hands stay on the wheel pretty well too. I have yet in my life had to do any pylon racing where I need to get crazy with the turns. That being said, I expect the ridged bottom to the upshift paddle is really just for the "coolness" factor.

As I stated previously - the ridged paddle on only one side is nice in theory, but quite silly (and impractical) in actual use.

I'm just curious - how many new Honda Fit owners really think they just bought a racecar?