Paddle Shifters on Cars: A Mixed Bag

When it comes to paddle shifters on cars, opinions are divided among drivers. Some swear by their usefulness, while others see them as gimmicks. Daniel, a car enthusiast, recently discussed his take on paddle shifters with our audience.

Daniel's Take on Paddle Shifters

"I've got paddle shifters in my dad's 2010 Subaru Outback," Daniel began. "I have to say, I only use them when the CVT is being particularly annoying." He chuckled. "It's like it's not doing its job properly, so I just take matters into my own hands with the paddles."

Daniel explained that he rarely uses the paddle shifters in manual mode, opting instead for the automatic mode whenever possible. However, when driving in snowy conditions, he finds the paddles to be a useful tool. "You can theoretically start it in second gear and control the downshift," he said. "It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing."

The Evolution of Paddle Shifters

Daniel noted that paddle shifters were initially introduced by Ferrari as a way to enhance the driving experience. However, over time, they have become more common on various types of vehicles, including sporty cars and even family sedans like the Honda Odyssey.

"I've seen paddles behind the steering wheel on everything from Corvettes to Honda Odysseys," Daniel observed. "It's like it's become a standard feature." He questioned whether paddle shifters are truly necessary for most drivers, however. "I mean, if you're not using them, they're just taking up space and adding complexity to the transmission."

The Marketing Angle

Daniel also touched on the marketing aspect of paddle shifters. He noted that when it comes to high-performance vehicles like Corvettes or Porsches, paddles are often a welcome feature. "It's all about creating an immersive experience," he said. "When you're behind the wheel of a truly sporty car, every little detail matters."

However, Daniel felt that paddle shifters on lower-end models or family sedans are more gimmicky than practical. "I don't need the extra features when I'm just driving to work or hauling groceries around," he said with a laugh.

The Bottom Line

As our conversation with Daniel came to a close, it was clear that paddle shifters are a polarizing topic among car enthusiasts. While some see them as a useful tool for specific driving situations, others view them as unnecessary add-ons.

Daniel's take on paddles is representative of the mixed bag that comes with this feature. While he acknowledges their potential benefits in certain circumstances, he also recognizes their limitations and practicality issues.

The next time you find yourself behind the wheel of a car with paddle shifters, it's worth considering Daniel's words of caution. Will you be using them, or will they just take up space? Only time (and your driving habits) will tell.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwe talked about Tesla production woes the announcement of a 2020 Ford Focus our new BMW x2 here at the track and a bunch of viewer questions this week on talking cars hi welcome to talking cars I'm Jennifer stock burger I'm John linka and I'm Ryan Coogler Kowski so we have a lot to get to today including a number of videos from you guys which we really appreciate so we'll jump right in the first is news of the week probably the biggest thing again Tesla related no surprise is that Tesla has actually put a pause on production of the Model 3 and we got ours right we got ours but they've struggled with production on the model 3 as it as it's been coming out this really stops it you want to tell a little bit about it yeah what they've ended up having are just problems with with componentry there's reports that they've actually had to send some out to other other manufacturers not manufacturers of cars but to uh to third parties to have them fix some of that he actually did a very big interview with Gayle King from CBS and talked about their extended production hell and how he's sleeping at work and the production hell's there his quote tired and I think he would like to have some Tony Stark helping him to get it going but one of the big things he said is that you know there's too much automation going on know that humans are kind of underrated I think right and I think that was the part that I took away and they're really good at certain things and it kind of parallels what we've been saying about the driving the automation in driving or autonomous vehicles right yes computers can learn but there are certain things that humans are really good at and it's really good to see him giving credit right to that aspect too in his production and potentially ROS cars this is he said almost a similar thing about the Model X in 2016 well shareholder meeting he said something like you know I have to you know fault myself for some hubris for putting too much technology all at once into a product yeah so if the Model X had too much technology at first and then they built this why did they put it on right listen right are we gonna see what the next one right isn't the same excuse building a car is hard yes no manufacturer will say it's easy into that point this is we're cutting edge technology this is we're pushing the envelope here and this is something we should take our time with because it's dangerous I mean bad things can happen here so exactly slow down that's the point age things slow down yeah and perhaps it'll go better yes I know we'll see how that pans out we also had announcement from fort men they are going to watch a 20/20 Ford Focus it's been a long time and this ties in we had a couple questions about the new focus so that was good it kind of ties in a couple ways the Ford Focus it's always been a car we liked but has had its struggles yeah it has had struggles particularly with the transmission the they come out with a with a sequential dual clutch automatic transmission and basically it keeps one gear working and the other ones ready so that the strips are quicker depending on how the car is being driven so that it didn't really turn out well what happened was it just turned out to be problematic from the get-go and in the Ford Focus as well as a small Ford Fiesta we saw huge reliability problems and I actually went and asked our one of our new data analysts if he could run some numbers for me and what he came back with this said that looking at the automatic focus versus focuses that have manual transmission the automatic has huge problem rates for transmission right everything else outside of transmission both cars are really reliable all other factors are really low problem rates yeah just that transmission so the car really is built pretty well but they've never been able to get that transmission right since the launch and it was more than a software fix because it was mechanical right and they couldn't fix it was my impression I have friends that that liked that it was 2012 they bought the redesign last redesign they liked the car so much but - yeah and they both they were just like you've got to be kidding it was such a nightmare ones in the shop all the other one like it's not just you I mean I don't know what you say it's they actually got an attorney involved in god I can't I don't know if it was for directly or the dealership but they actually got them to take one back oh and a lemon law Oh kind of a lemon law but they took one back and got in a car and unfortunately it tarnished them a little bit against Ford yeah which brings me to a point they loved driving that oh yeah and I think we would say we loved I mean I am so excited for this because I've always been a focus and the focus replaced the escort in like the late 90s and it was a rally car my favorite rally driver was Colin McRae and he wildly successful with this car and believe it or not at one point I owned one of these cars a friend of mine and I bought it was a like a 2003 Focus ZX 3 hatchback manual oh man we were going to do some autocrossing Motorsports stuff and maybe turn it into a rally car it never came to a full fruition but we just it was a fun little car back in those days I had really good duratec ford motor in it super reliable manual so it was pretty foolproof so much fun I'm really looking forward to this new one because I think it's gonna be fun to drive still and hopefully the new automatic gonna be a normal torque converter more conventional automatic so it should be I think I think after this blast experience did have it figured out yeah we'll make sure they have it figured out tire yeah SVT yeah super fun little car how the great general yeah those were great right cars then the even the more recent there's still harness and the STS and such a fun even the transmission overshadowed it unfortunately it did I did it really hurt the reputation it hurt the reputation brand so speaking of the focus we actually got a video message comment through our new iMessage at talking cars at icloud.com send your comments send your videos and this one you related exactly to this topic of the focus so take a listen hello concern reports Chris here from Washington and this is my 2016 Ford Focus SE hatch now I love this vehicle mainly because I got the manual and that's because you know manuals are more fun and especially on this vehicle way more reliable how much more reliable is the manual net car versus the automatic so I went to your website and I was looking the reliability data and I couldn't seem to find the reliability between the manual and automatic transmissions so I'm wondering how you gather the score that you show is a combination of both manual transmissions on automatic transmissions or is it just automatic transmission because that's what people normally go for so very similar thoughts to when you are saying in the manual to answer the question specifically you alluded to it yes we get data on both the manual and the automatic right now that data is combined and reliability ratings but we are working toward being able to separate things like that we have to have enough data but in the future you should be able to sir no manuals from automatics and other data as well so just kind of closing out the focus like you said different engine different transmission little more room so 2020 model yeah we're expecting to see it next summer next summer and they're gonna release us more us specific information later this year okay showed it show some wagons and hatches yes we're probably couldn't magic it's gonna be a three cylinder and a four cylinder we're not sure what we're gonna get exactly exactly they're not haven't dialed in under set but we certainly will be testing it when it comes to our Ryan other new vehicles are ones we have here we actually have a new model the BMW x2 hearing oh yes just got so another ride Ryan likes so a little bit about the x2 John so it's part of BMWs way of Koopa fiying almost the existing model it's the even number curse right ah 6 X 4 X 2 you can't see out the back it looks really good and X 4 looks like it's baby 1 you know it's just huge thing and then these little little little wheels and tires um it's it's got a lot of the chops that the x1 has in the x1 did fairly well in our testing this generation a lot better than the first generation first generation is a little odd front wheel drive based because right it shares a platform with the Mini Cooper which is minis owned by BMW as many of the enthusiasts know you know 228 horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine kind of standard fare for the category you know a lot of BMW Mnet's inside of there you know it's you're seeing the round on the steering wheel you're seeing the same gauges horrible visibility to the rear I just horrible visibility and it's not like the x1 was stellar this is just I think it's about this big when they flip down and they still kind of block yeah corners are I found a little stiff on secondary roads a little overly stiffer even for a BMW it felt like I have like 22 inch wheels drive it around its turn they tried to make it make the x1 sporty-er and its appearance in yeah but it also in the ride it's stiff and I don't hate it as much as the x1 is your point they did a better job with x2 drivetrain yeah right yeah yeah it's um it's fun it's fun to drive but it's it's it's tiny and like I really don't I don't know why you would buy that over the x3 the x3 has more room it's just as fun to drive I think what I did like was the seats better than the x1 and it has that does have a conventional automatic shifter in it which was kind of mind-boggling to me because they've gotten away from that and where the electric shifter with that returns to the center for every yeah the rocker thing like 45 that's what I see is it will be appealing to people who want to be in a BMW yeah but you know here's the one thing like your thought about the x3 you know is a good version you know you're getting 2x3 money with it with this vehicle and it everyone who goes down market doesn't always do it successfully right you know you you dilute the brand you know it's got the roundel on it the the you know the propeller looking logo yeah but is it really worthy of it right now and what are you diluting like I said to bring in more people you know on BMW showing they can slap that thing on anything and there's mountain bikes they're selling it you know bicycles luggage they're all all the manufacturers seem to be making these little SUVs you know the sedan is kind of fading away right and people want SUVs all-wheel drive whatever I guess they'll sell it but and that would be my point whether DMW or anybody else the appeal and BS the small SUV I completely get access visibility enough cargo space like by making this x2 they took all that away that's they take away though it's lower so you have to kind of a little bit instead of sliding it the visibility you mentioned is horrendous I would never want to put a kid back there can't see anything and when they shortened it they didn't steal from the the legroom which is good right so all of the reasons a small SUV BMW you know Lexus whoever it is it would appeal to me this kind of takes that away it's all it it mimics the sub compact luxury one's kind of mimic the same way of the affordable subcompact right mmm skip the Honda HRV move up to a CRV yeah if you float the difference I totally understand the ability to buy yeah you know but move up to the next one you get a lot more value a lot more space that much more money the same type of thing I think how d does the q3 better than the other ones in the GLA the mercedes-benz GLA is a mess with that scene right and even that when you're coming q5 is a red-letter vehicle so much better good looking maybe not so yeah it's eye-catching that people are gonna like it yeah you'll see a bunch of them on yeah off of lease in a couple years yeah um we do have some other viewer questions and video again this is a question that came through our iMessage so we appreciate it my question is about reliability ratings for luxury premium their brands like BMW but believe it or not Mercedes the buyers are affluent and may not put their time where there is no return so in your survey the majority of reviews will be negative likely be negative do you have a formula where you consider the amount of vehicles sold by model versus your survey results so hopefully we're understanding the question correctly what I take is that the prediction from this viewer is that for luxury brands they're only going to write in if their experience is negative so again we had our new statistician Steve do a little digging and the truth is in our survey not saying results survey results everywhere it's actually quite the opposite for luxury brands howdy BMW Lexus Mercedes Benz and Porsche for the tens of thousands of reviews that we get on those models most of them upwards of like 90 percent actually favorable they love their cars and they have little to no problems ya know so it's actually quite the opposite so maybe that's it's a good thing they're telling us the good along with right that's a great question because I always wondered that myself yeah you wonder do people go out of their way to write good things in a review before I do you know I think there's a lot of a lot of talk online you know you only see someone who writes five stars for this or one star right you know and it's like extremes we might there had a great time or you know they treated me poorly but really people like participating in our annual questionnaire our annual Auto survey because they know they know that their experience will be trans translated out will give buying advice they also like seeing how it compares with their experience compares other people so we get the full gamut that's how we have we're able to do average performs like every other car as well as having the extremes so it's it's it's a unique feature I think of the consumer for its annual Auto Service absolutely and it's why that data for those brands drives that brand report card the top five or luxury brands exactly so it they stand out so interesting question and I'm like you say something you might have been inquiring about so next we have a video question concerns empty nesters and a new car hi Consumer Reports this is Michael from Toronto Canada my wife and I are recently empty nesters and we are looking to retire our 2006 honda odyssey it's got over 200,000 miles on it we're looking for something that would be capable of towing a 3,500 pound camping trailer c5 people because the kids may come home our budget is about 35 to 38 thousand dollars us we're looking for something again that's looking to be reliable like the Honda and be able to put two hundred thousand plus miles on it latest and greatest safety features are a must and lastly our Odyssey is 201 inches so something that could ideally fit in our garage would be a nice to have but not a need to have so any recommendations you have as to what we should be looking at and considering would be greatly appreciated thank you so some some pretty specific asks in that video new car 35 to $38,000 tows a 35 pound camper trailer needs five latest safety features and ultimately 201 inches or less to fit in their garage any thoughts there they yeah they just spelt out a Toyota Highlander whether they know it or not so if you're gonna tow a 3500 pound camper right you don't want to be on the edge of you don't want to car that tows 3,500 pounds you want a car that can tell more than that right small pretty miserable experience you think yeah well you're in your stress it's maxing out our and it's a small SUVs most small SUVs I think are capped out about 3500 pounds I think Maxon few of them yeah you're also towing with this little vehicle thank wheelbase why it isn't ages so you need to step up yeah into the another you know the next step up which would be a Toyota Highlander I think would be great that tows 5,000 pounds it's seven seater it's a little more but you're gonna have a way nicer time towing with that than you are with anything small in standard safety equipment and all their adult children perhaps being home so maybe that would be a more company add is a seat flips down is still a there's still Z's around back there right yeah and standard safety features yep Toyota safety sensor might be right ninety-one it just so fits in the garage Oh contra just barely oh I say yes Sorento okay's a good option yep all-wheel drive yeah you can get a five passenger version yep so you don't need to have the weight of the flip seat yeah because one of the things you're talking about with you know you know I hit the the toe limit you also want to be careful the cargo capacity because with a lot of these you put four people in the car and trailer and some bags you're right up at the cargo capacity vehicles so whatever weight you can you can get rid of fits in the garage thing is 187 or bridged between small SUVs and right and midsize SUVs yeah you do have to uh you have to upgrade to get forward collision warning of our Mack emergency braking but comes a blind spot warning and all new cars come with a rear camera so possibility probably maybe in more price yeah the only other thought I had was perhaps something like a Honda Ridgeline you've you've been happy with your Honda maybe a Ridgeline again you get the 5000 pounds towing you get seating for five I don't know if you need an open bed for anything that has a little tiny has it's nice to drive us yeah it might be because you have to go to the highest trim with Honda get the safety features function I think it's pushing more like $41,000 but I wanted to throw it out there as a possum so yeah yeah there's got we'll just avoid the small as you do yeah or the compact move up to mid-size most of them don't tow 3,500 but to your point yeah if you get there you might not have a big know you don't yeah it's you know I'm more than that more we have an another another video so we've got inundated with videos this week we'd love it love it love it so take a listen hey guys how's it going my name is Daniel what do you think about paddle shifters on cars a lot of new cars these days I see half paddle shifters on than anything from a Corvette even a Honda Odyssey has them now when you buy a car for Consumer Reports and it comes with paddle shifters do you drive them in the manual mode do you think it adds anything to the driving experience personally I Drive my dad's 2010 Subaru Outback that has paddle shifters on it and I think it's the only way to drive it because otherwise here from the CVT and that's just this is not fun okay so paddle shifters I'm gonna defer cuz I'm gonna be honest with you I rarely use them so for you drivers more drivers or fast drivers paddle shifters they're everywhere and they don't need to be everywhere I mean you just said we rarely used ones the last time you use the paddle shifts and a Honda Odyssey I mean let's be real let's be real honest I look at it this way if it's a real sporty car like a Corvette or Porsche 911 and it has a dual clutch gearbox just an automatic that shifts and you know automatically yeah yeah annually now that should have paddles you know this this all came from Ferraris though we've had paddle shifter II thought that was cool now we have a Honda Odysseys with paddle shifts is there I mean maybe they maybe they're doing that because they when you're hauling a lot of stuff you maybe you want to change gears they don't have the low range like they used to have yeah I don't know I darting up in snow you could theoretically start it in second gear doing doing I know I bump it with my knee more often and knock it out of gear or downshift it it'll you know it's just you know you know it's what's funny is that some cars even if you put him in the sport mode right you you still don't always get the paddle like you can shift it a couple times and use it okay you know I'm in sporty mode and then it goes back to D Drive normal so you're in sport buddy it's not even leaving that in manual mode right right or you hit rev limiter and it shifts anyway right yeah right yeah well particularly you know track family and stuff it doesn't hold it in gear like someone who's driving a true manual would right I want to keep it in gear in this turn so I can up shift coming out of it right though in there hey they're gimmicks maybe for snow in his case he's talking about a CVT transmission and it's he's mimicking gears which is I can understand that that's maybe where he's trying to hide the CVT right I can see them you know using the paddles to do that but an irregular like a Honda Odyssey like why I'm not shifting out of that I'm not its regular transmission is too low anyway so when you you click it it takes a second it's just you've got a sporty car or you're trying to hide some horrible aspect yeah for most cars it sounds like it's more gimmick then then really is it's it's my thing so marketing genius paddle shifter it looks cool when you see this paddles behind these big wings behind the steering wheel with the plus and minus on them it looks cool it does yeah and as Ferrari like it's Ferrari like alright so thanks for watching we love your comments questions videos text them - talking cars at icloud.com if you want more information on the cars we talked about today check out the show notes below and as always thanks for watchingwe talked about Tesla production woes the announcement of a 2020 Ford Focus our new BMW x2 here at the track and a bunch of viewer questions this week on talking cars hi welcome to talking cars I'm Jennifer stock burger I'm John linka and I'm Ryan Coogler Kowski so we have a lot to get to today including a number of videos from you guys which we really appreciate so we'll jump right in the first is news of the week probably the biggest thing again Tesla related no surprise is that Tesla has actually put a pause on production of the Model 3 and we got ours right we got ours but they've struggled with production on the model 3 as it as it's been coming out this really stops it you want to tell a little bit about it yeah what they've ended up having are just problems with with componentry there's reports that they've actually had to send some out to other other manufacturers not manufacturers of cars but to uh to third parties to have them fix some of that he actually did a very big interview with Gayle King from CBS and talked about their extended production hell and how he's sleeping at work and the production hell's there his quote tired and I think he would like to have some Tony Stark helping him to get it going but one of the big things he said is that you know there's too much automation going on know that humans are kind of underrated I think right and I think that was the part that I took away and they're really good at certain things and it kind of parallels what we've been saying about the driving the automation in driving or autonomous vehicles right yes computers can learn but there are certain things that humans are really good at and it's really good to see him giving credit right to that aspect too in his production and potentially ROS cars this is he said almost a similar thing about the Model X in 2016 well shareholder meeting he said something like you know I have to you know fault myself for some hubris for putting too much technology all at once into a product yeah so if the Model X had too much technology at first and then they built this why did they put it on right listen right are we gonna see what the next one right isn't the same excuse building a car is hard yes no manufacturer will say it's easy into that point this is we're cutting edge technology this is we're pushing the envelope here and this is something we should take our time with because it's dangerous I mean bad things can happen here so exactly slow down that's the point age things slow down yeah and perhaps it'll go better yes I know we'll see how that pans out we also had announcement from fort men they are going to watch a 20/20 Ford Focus it's been a long time and this ties in we had a couple questions about the new focus so that was good it kind of ties in a couple ways the Ford Focus it's always been a car we liked but has had its struggles yeah it has had struggles particularly with the transmission the they come out with a with a sequential dual clutch automatic transmission and basically it keeps one gear working and the other ones ready so that the strips are quicker depending on how the car is being driven so that it didn't really turn out well what happened was it just turned out to be problematic from the get-go and in the Ford Focus as well as a small Ford Fiesta we saw huge reliability problems and I actually went and asked our one of our new data analysts if he could run some numbers for me and what he came back with this said that looking at the automatic focus versus focuses that have manual transmission the automatic has huge problem rates for transmission right everything else outside of transmission both cars are really reliable all other factors are really low problem rates yeah just that transmission so the car really is built pretty well but they've never been able to get that transmission right since the launch and it was more than a software fix because it was mechanical right and they couldn't fix it was my impression I have friends that that liked that it was 2012 they bought the redesign last redesign they liked the car so much but - yeah and they both they were just like you've got to be kidding it was such a nightmare ones in the shop all the other one like it's not just you I mean I don't know what you say it's they actually got an attorney involved in god I can't I don't know if it was for directly or the dealership but they actually got them to take one back oh and a lemon law Oh kind of a lemon law but they took one back and got in a car and unfortunately it tarnished them a little bit against Ford yeah which brings me to a point they loved driving that oh yeah and I think we would say we loved I mean I am so excited for this because I've always been a focus and the focus replaced the escort in like the late 90s and it was a rally car my favorite rally driver was Colin McRae and he wildly successful with this car and believe it or not at one point I owned one of these cars a friend of mine and I bought it was a like a 2003 Focus ZX 3 hatchback manual oh man we were going to do some autocrossing Motorsports stuff and maybe turn it into a rally car it never came to a full fruition but we just it was a fun little car back in those days I had really good duratec ford motor in it super reliable manual so it was pretty foolproof so much fun I'm really looking forward to this new one because I think it's gonna be fun to drive still and hopefully the new automatic gonna be a normal torque converter more conventional automatic so it should be I think I think after this blast experience did have it figured out yeah we'll make sure they have it figured out tire yeah SVT yeah super fun little car how the great general yeah those were great right cars then the even the more recent there's still harness and the STS and such a fun even the transmission overshadowed it unfortunately it did I did it really hurt the reputation it hurt the reputation brand so speaking of the focus we actually got a video message comment through our new iMessage at talking cars at icloud.com send your comments send your videos and this one you related exactly to this topic of the focus so take a listen hello concern reports Chris here from Washington and this is my 2016 Ford Focus SE hatch now I love this vehicle mainly because I got the manual and that's because you know manuals are more fun and especially on this vehicle way more reliable how much more reliable is the manual net car versus the automatic so I went to your website and I was looking the reliability data and I couldn't seem to find the reliability between the manual and automatic transmissions so I'm wondering how you gather the score that you show is a combination of both manual transmissions on automatic transmissions or is it just automatic transmission because that's what people normally go for so very similar thoughts to when you are saying in the manual to answer the question specifically you alluded to it yes we get data on both the manual and the automatic right now that data is combined and reliability ratings but we are working toward being able to separate things like that we have to have enough data but in the future you should be able to sir no manuals from automatics and other data as well so just kind of closing out the focus like you said different engine different transmission little more room so 2020 model yeah we're expecting to see it next summer next summer and they're gonna release us more us specific information later this year okay showed it show some wagons and hatches yes we're probably couldn't magic it's gonna be a three cylinder and a four cylinder we're not sure what we're gonna get exactly exactly they're not haven't dialed in under set but we certainly will be testing it when it comes to our Ryan other new vehicles are ones we have here we actually have a new model the BMW x2 hearing oh yes just got so another ride Ryan likes so a little bit about the x2 John so it's part of BMWs way of Koopa fiying almost the existing model it's the even number curse right ah 6 X 4 X 2 you can't see out the back it looks really good and X 4 looks like it's baby 1 you know it's just huge thing and then these little little little wheels and tires um it's it's got a lot of the chops that the x1 has in the x1 did fairly well in our testing this generation a lot better than the first generation first generation is a little odd front wheel drive based because right it shares a platform with the Mini Cooper which is minis owned by BMW as many of the enthusiasts know you know 228 horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine kind of standard fare for the category you know a lot of BMW Mnet's inside of there you know it's you're seeing the round on the steering wheel you're seeing the same gauges horrible visibility to the rear I just horrible visibility and it's not like the x1 was stellar this is just I think it's about this big when they flip down and they still kind of block yeah corners are I found a little stiff on secondary roads a little overly stiffer even for a BMW it felt like I have like 22 inch wheels drive it around its turn they tried to make it make the x1 sporty-er and its appearance in yeah but it also in the ride it's stiff and I don't hate it as much as the x1 is your point they did a better job with x2 drivetrain yeah right yeah yeah it's um it's fun it's fun to drive but it's it's it's tiny and like I really don't I don't know why you would buy that over the x3 the x3 has more room it's just as fun to drive I think what I did like was the seats better than the x1 and it has that does have a conventional automatic shifter in it which was kind of mind-boggling to me because they've gotten away from that and where the electric shifter with that returns to the center for every yeah the rocker thing like 45 that's what I see is it will be appealing to people who want to be in a BMW yeah but you know here's the one thing like your thought about the x3 you know is a good version you know you're getting 2x3 money with it with this vehicle and it everyone who goes down market doesn't always do it successfully right you know you you dilute the brand you know it's got the roundel on it the the you know the propeller looking logo yeah but is it really worthy of it right now and what are you diluting like I said to bring in more people you know on BMW showing they can slap that thing on anything and there's mountain bikes they're selling it you know bicycles luggage they're all all the manufacturers seem to be making these little SUVs you know the sedan is kind of fading away right and people want SUVs all-wheel drive whatever I guess they'll sell it but and that would be my point whether DMW or anybody else the appeal and BS the small SUV I completely get access visibility enough cargo space like by making this x2 they took all that away that's they take away though it's lower so you have to kind of a little bit instead of sliding it the visibility you mentioned is horrendous I would never want to put a kid back there can't see anything and when they shortened it they didn't steal from the the legroom which is good right so all of the reasons a small SUV BMW you know Lexus whoever it is it would appeal to me this kind of takes that away it's all it it mimics the sub compact luxury one's kind of mimic the same way of the affordable subcompact right mmm skip the Honda HRV move up to a CRV yeah if you float the difference I totally understand the ability to buy yeah you know but move up to the next one you get a lot more value a lot more space that much more money the same type of thing I think how d does the q3 better than the other ones in the GLA the mercedes-benz GLA is a mess with that scene right and even that when you're coming q5 is a red-letter vehicle so much better good looking maybe not so yeah it's eye-catching that people are gonna like it yeah you'll see a bunch of them on yeah off of lease in a couple years yeah um we do have some other viewer questions and video again this is a question that came through our iMessage so we appreciate it my question is about reliability ratings for luxury premium their brands like BMW but believe it or not Mercedes the buyers are affluent and may not put their time where there is no return so in your survey the majority of reviews will be negative likely be negative do you have a formula where you consider the amount of vehicles sold by model versus your survey results so hopefully we're understanding the question correctly what I take is that the prediction from this viewer is that for luxury brands they're only going to write in if their experience is negative so again we had our new statistician Steve do a little digging and the truth is in our survey not saying results survey results everywhere it's actually quite the opposite for luxury brands howdy BMW Lexus Mercedes Benz and Porsche for the tens of thousands of reviews that we get on those models most of them upwards of like 90 percent actually favorable they love their cars and they have little to no problems ya know so it's actually quite the opposite so maybe that's it's a good thing they're telling us the good along with right that's a great question because I always wondered that myself yeah you wonder do people go out of their way to write good things in a review before I do you know I think there's a lot of a lot of talk online you know you only see someone who writes five stars for this or one star right you know and it's like extremes we might there had a great time or you know they treated me poorly but really people like participating in our annual questionnaire our annual Auto survey because they know they know that their experience will be trans translated out will give buying advice they also like seeing how it compares with their experience compares other people so we get the full gamut that's how we have we're able to do average performs like every other car as well as having the extremes so it's it's it's a unique feature I think of the consumer for its annual Auto Service absolutely and it's why that data for those brands drives that brand report card the top five or luxury brands exactly so it they stand out so interesting question and I'm like you say something you might have been inquiring about so next we have a video question concerns empty nesters and a new car hi Consumer Reports this is Michael from Toronto Canada my wife and I are recently empty nesters and we are looking to retire our 2006 honda odyssey it's got over 200,000 miles on it we're looking for something that would be capable of towing a 3,500 pound camping trailer c5 people because the kids may come home our budget is about 35 to 38 thousand dollars us we're looking for something again that's looking to be reliable like the Honda and be able to put two hundred thousand plus miles on it latest and greatest safety features are a must and lastly our Odyssey is 201 inches so something that could ideally fit in our garage would be a nice to have but not a need to have so any recommendations you have as to what we should be looking at and considering would be greatly appreciated thank you so some some pretty specific asks in that video new car 35 to $38,000 tows a 35 pound camper trailer needs five latest safety features and ultimately 201 inches or less to fit in their garage any thoughts there they yeah they just spelt out a Toyota Highlander whether they know it or not so if you're gonna tow a 3500 pound camper right you don't want to be on the edge of you don't want to car that tows 3,500 pounds you want a car that can tell more than that right small pretty miserable experience you think yeah well you're in your stress it's maxing out our and it's a small SUVs most small SUVs I think are capped out about 3500 pounds I think Maxon few of them yeah you're also towing with this little vehicle thank wheelbase why it isn't ages so you need to step up yeah into the another you know the next step up which would be a Toyota Highlander I think would be great that tows 5,000 pounds it's seven seater it's a little more but you're gonna have a way nicer time towing with that than you are with anything small in standard safety equipment and all their adult children perhaps being home so maybe that would be a more company add is a seat flips down is still a there's still Z's around back there right yeah and standard safety features yep Toyota safety sensor might be right ninety-one it just so fits in the garage Oh contra just barely oh I say yes Sorento okay's a good option yep all-wheel drive yeah you can get a five passenger version yep so you don't need to have the weight of the flip seat yeah because one of the things you're talking about with you know you know I hit the the toe limit you also want to be careful the cargo capacity because with a lot of these you put four people in the car and trailer and some bags you're right up at the cargo capacity vehicles so whatever weight you can you can get rid of fits in the garage thing is 187 or bridged between small SUVs and right and midsize SUVs yeah you do have to uh you have to upgrade to get forward collision warning of our Mack emergency braking but comes a blind spot warning and all new cars come with a rear camera so possibility probably maybe in more price yeah the only other thought I had was perhaps something like a Honda Ridgeline you've you've been happy with your Honda maybe a Ridgeline again you get the 5000 pounds towing you get seating for five I don't know if you need an open bed for anything that has a little tiny has it's nice to drive us yeah it might be because you have to go to the highest trim with Honda get the safety features function I think it's pushing more like $41,000 but I wanted to throw it out there as a possum so yeah yeah there's got we'll just avoid the small as you do yeah or the compact move up to mid-size most of them don't tow 3,500 but to your point yeah if you get there you might not have a big know you don't yeah it's you know I'm more than that more we have an another another video so we've got inundated with videos this week we'd love it love it love it so take a listen hey guys how's it going my name is Daniel what do you think about paddle shifters on cars a lot of new cars these days I see half paddle shifters on than anything from a Corvette even a Honda Odyssey has them now when you buy a car for Consumer Reports and it comes with paddle shifters do you drive them in the manual mode do you think it adds anything to the driving experience personally I Drive my dad's 2010 Subaru Outback that has paddle shifters on it and I think it's the only way to drive it because otherwise here from the CVT and that's just this is not fun okay so paddle shifters I'm gonna defer cuz I'm gonna be honest with you I rarely use them so for you drivers more drivers or fast drivers paddle shifters they're everywhere and they don't need to be everywhere I mean you just said we rarely used ones the last time you use the paddle shifts and a Honda Odyssey I mean let's be real let's be real honest I look at it this way if it's a real sporty car like a Corvette or Porsche 911 and it has a dual clutch gearbox just an automatic that shifts and you know automatically yeah yeah annually now that should have paddles you know this this all came from Ferraris though we've had paddle shifter II thought that was cool now we have a Honda Odysseys with paddle shifts is there I mean maybe they maybe they're doing that because they when you're hauling a lot of stuff you maybe you want to change gears they don't have the low range like they used to have yeah I don't know I darting up in snow you could theoretically start it in second gear doing doing I know I bump it with my knee more often and knock it out of gear or downshift it it'll you know it's just you know you know it's what's funny is that some cars even if you put him in the sport mode right you you still don't always get the paddle like you can shift it a couple times and use it okay you know I'm in sporty mode and then it goes back to D Drive normal so you're in sport buddy it's not even leaving that in manual mode right right or you hit rev limiter and it shifts anyway right yeah right yeah well particularly you know track family and stuff it doesn't hold it in gear like someone who's driving a true manual would right I want to keep it in gear in this turn so I can up shift coming out of it right though in there hey they're gimmicks maybe for snow in his case he's talking about a CVT transmission and it's he's mimicking gears which is I can understand that that's maybe where he's trying to hide the CVT right I can see them you know using the paddles to do that but an irregular like a Honda Odyssey like why I'm not shifting out of that I'm not its regular transmission is too low anyway so when you you click it it takes a second it's just you've got a sporty car or you're trying to hide some horrible aspect yeah for most cars it sounds like it's more gimmick then then really is it's it's my thing so marketing genius paddle shifter it looks cool when you see this paddles behind these big wings behind the steering wheel with the plus and minus on them it looks cool it does yeah and as Ferrari like it's Ferrari like alright so thanks for watching we love your comments questions videos text them - talking cars at icloud.com if you want more information on the cars we talked about today check out the show notes below and as always thanks for watching\n"