Paddle shifters on 2020 GT's & up

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Phoenix
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2021 signature
A lot of people are debating 2019 vs 2020. Not a lot of improvements, but one that was important to me the paddle shifters. Well, not the shifters themselves but rather, the way they work.

In Manual mode on the shift lever the car stays in the given gear way too long (before automatically shifting itself again) if you don't manually shift it, for my liking when increasing if decreasing speed. The paddle shifter work a bit different. If in normal drive more, after you down shift (I tap the down 2x for seamless added power), it returns to normal Drive mode after a few moments if it doesn't feel any noticable driver input. - in other words, you don't have to paddle shift up again.

Did this make sense?
 
That's an interesting observation (I'm currently on the market for a 2019 GTR).

If you were to manually shift with the shift lever, then pop it back into Auto right after the downshift, would that give you a similar experience? What about using the Sport button to initiate the downshift, then switching out of Sport mode?

I ask this because years ago I have a Subaru Legacy with 3 shift modes: Auto, Sport (shifter moved to left but not downshifted or upshifted), and Manual (shifter moved up or down). Because the car was slow to downshift in certain situations, I would pop it into Sport as I slowed down and needed to accelerate quickly, then immediately pop it back into Normal after the downshift.

I would expect the CX-5 might exhibit similar behavior. I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
 
Yes, can pop the shifter right back in to auto and goes back in to the appropriate gear when you pop it back. Also, sport mode works very well, stays in lower gear until you take it out, thought it seems less convenient to use the sport mode to actually shift in and out.

That's where the paddle shifter works nicely. It's there when you want it and goes back into normal driving mode after a few seconds of non use/steady driving. For, um, 'spirited' driving in traffic when I may want to, ahem, get ahead in stop-and-go traffic, keeping it in sport is very nice.
 
I drive a lot of different vehicles and find that to be typical operation for paddle shifters - pulling a shifter in "drive" initiates a temporary gear request, but it will revert to fully automatic operation once the vehicle detects you're no longer using engine braking and you press the accelerator. In "manual", the paddle shifters will allow you to shift to any valid gear and hold it until you slow down at which point it will downshift automatically. One difference with the Mazda is that it will not upshift automatically in manual mode - the engine will bounce off the rev limiter. Many other automobiles will automatically upshift near redline if you don't do it yourself in manual mode (such as the Hondas I had).
 
Nice observation, I rarely used the paddles on a former 2016 Mazda 6 but there are times when a little extra control over the shifting (highway uphill onramp) would be nice on my 2019 CX5 GT.
Your experience is a perfect example of the nice thing about the paddle shifters and keeping hands on the wheel at all times (as opposed to needing to find Sport mode button or giving more throttle to initiate a downshift)
 
Horses for courses. One of my pet peeves about 'manual mode' on automatic cars is that they DO override you and change gear for you, even when in manual! If I put it in manual, I expect it to stay that way and lug or hit the rev counter if I'm stupid enough not to shift correctly.

Oh well.
 
Nice observation, I rarely used the paddles on a former 2016 Mazda 6 but there are times when a little extra control over the shifting (highway uphill onramp) would be nice on my 2019 CX5 GT.
Your experience is a perfect example of the nice thing about the paddle shifters and keeping hands on the wheel at all times (as opposed to needing to find Sport mode button or giving more throttle to initiate a downshift)

Just checked it out again today. - paddle downshift for that smooth throttle response to zip in front then just cruise and it goes back to drive
 
A little bit late to this topic. I have a 2020 cx-5 with paddle shifters. That's it. I personally find them useless. I think they look cool but not really practical. I rarely drive with my both hands on the steering wheel and unlikely to have them in the 10:10 o'clock position to be able to reach the paddles. A cool feature taken from racing cars that have square like steering wheel and that's about it for me. I would trade in the paddles for some other feature, like maybe the newer infotainment screen from 2021, although I hear there is no touchscreen. Perhaps few extra hp. :)
 
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