[Dozer42]

I don't quite get the need for Paddle Shifters on a car with a CVT. What do the JDM ones actually do?

Where I could see them would be in shifting from Normal mode to Sport and back. It wouldn't hurt to be lining up for a corner (freeway offramp), snick it into sport, take the turn and snick it back into Normal mode without taking our hands off the wheel.

I wonder if they could be added aftermarket (inexpensively) and then set up for this function. Sounds simple in theory, but...?

 

[Termin8r]

I heartily agree that having paddle shifters on a car with CVT makes about as much sense as a coal bunker on a diesel electric locomotive.

I do like your idea of using paddles for mode switching, though. Can't be very hard to implement on a car as 'electronic' as the CT.

 

[Sleepypete]

Agree there - after owning my CT for a little while and experiencing the flexibility given by the CVT, I'm wondering whether the reviewers who say "shame there's no paddle shifters" actually tested the dynamics of this particular autobox implementation.

If anything, the CT's box looks more to get you in low ratios instead of high. On motorway driving, I'd be wondering why it's holding 3000+rpm when it could be dropping down to 2100rpm cruise gearing. Other than that, it's always ready to drop down the ratios to allow you to Go Fast when you want to. All a paddle shift would do is to let you prepare early for Go Fast like if you'd change to 4th from 6th in anticipation of going for an overtake. The CT's gearbox reacts faster than you doing the manual gear change or paddle shift.

It's a huge amount better than the autobox in my dad's Volvo C30 2.4litre. It's got more power to weight than the CT but feels slow and sleeping because it shifts up to as high a gear as it can get away with. Want to go 40 to 60 ? Ok, try and do that in top gear. That C30 has a manual shift option but we've never actually used it ... (I was sorely tempted to tinker last time I had to drive it)

So - Paddle Shifters - unnecessary. The brain in the CT's gearbox more than adequately makes these utterly redundant.

Having a wheel switch for Eco-Normal-Sport : maybe. However, the dial is big enough and obvious enough to the touch to find it without taking the eyes off the wheel, I've never really been as familiar with wheel mounted switches where there's no bumps to make them distinctive.

 

[rehabmax]

Whoever posted a comment about the CT200h needing paddle shifters is a dope. It's not a 6 speed transmission. The CVT doesn't work like the conventional transmission gear box.