F10/F11 steering wheel paddles- worth it?

[Gad-Westy]

This is perhaps not a very simple question.

Because I'm a tart, I'm going to replace the SE steering wheel in the my F11 with a heated one. I have bought the cowling to do but not yet a wheel.

I have the option of replacing like for like but with heating which might suit me best as, although the SE wheel is a bit plain, the thinner rim is nice.

However, I do also have the option of picking up a wheel with paddle shift from various models. These all seem to be msport wheels which will mean a thicker rim which I won't necessarily love but maybe having paddle shift will be worth it.

Some questions. Is paddle shift actually worth having? I fear it might be one of those fun for 5 minute options and never be used again.

Is a UK 2011 F11 535i likely to even be pre-wired for paddle shift? Reading around online it seems 50/50 and maybe country dependent and I'm really not bothered enough to start pulling the car apart and hacking into looms.

[jv021]

I have had paddle shifters my 640i (same engine, similar chassis) and TBH, they didnt get used much at all. It is one of those ones were if you didnt have it you'd miss it, if you do have it, you very seldom use it!

I had paddle shifters on my 530d, and and the mrs x3 30d same story... the ZF8 does a really good job. For both cars I wanted the paddle shifters more for the better looking gear selector and the paddles make the steering wheel area look a little nicer, but thats a small thing in my opinion.

Even on the Maserati Levante S that replaced the 640i the paddle shifters have been used 2-3 times in the few months I've had it.

I'd say not worth the hassle.

[Nickbrapp]

In the 6 cars I’ve had with paddle shifters I’ve used them all once when you get the car and then never again. Autos now kick down so quickly that paddles are redundant

[12TS]

I've had BMWs with paddles for the last 10 years. I use them often - the autoboxes are good but I often prefer to take over and manage myself.

[Gad-Westy]

Cheers both. Sounds like a plain heated SE wheel is my best option.

[d_a_n1979]

I had them on the M Sport wheel fitted to my 1st E39 530i Sport in 2012 - used them once, never touched them after that

Had the buttons on my E65 steering wheel; never used them. Same with my F01

Have paddles on my F31 now; used them a few times and haven't touched them since...



There's a trend somewhere in there

[SteBrown91]

They are handy for a quick reaction downchange or the occasion where it doesnt drop into 8th quick enough, as you dont have to move your hands anywhere, but tbh when I had my 3 series I used to knock the lever into sport most of the time as this kicked down to a lower gear ready for an overtake and then I just changed up with the lever as im accelerating.

[Pica-Pica]

12TS said:

I've had BMWs with paddles for the last 10 years. I use them often - the autoboxes are good but I often prefer to take over and manage myself.

I use mine on occasions, excellent for crawling in stop/start traffic conditions, it then allows engine braking.

[RUSSELLM]

Alright for a track day, when you want to drop a gear to keep drive through a corner. That aside, never used them on the road.

[Geffg]

I’m the same as most on here with mine. Had the car 3yrs and probably been used a handful of times when I’m bored etc. Not really ever needed. I find if the cars in sport mode it does the job generally well that I don’t need to use the paddles.
But as also has been said, it looks good!

[Court_S]

I like the paddles and use them a lot; they’re good for little overtakes especially when the gearbox is in comfort. They’re a bit more fun on a good road.

The only thing I’d say is that I hate the stock paddles of the F series cars; they look poo and are a weird, short fat design. The M paddles are much nicer to look at and actually use.

I don’t think the M Sport wheel is as fat as it is on the E series cars.

[Gad-Westy]

Thanks for the input all. I guess it sounds like most don't use them. I have had a few cars previously with paddles. One was a Smart FourTwo and I used paddles all the time on that as the gearbox was terrible in full auto. Two cars were both DSG boxes rather than torque converters and the paddles were useful on those when in the mood. The only car I've had with paddles (actually buttons) and a TC gearbox was an E39 Alpina B10. I never used them but largely because they were laggy, such was the technology of the time.

It sounds like I don't need to go out of my way to get paddles but if the right wheel has them, they'll do no harm and it seems that the car is likely pre-wired for them from other reading I've done.

[12TS]

We had a Smart as well - the gearbox was dreadful in automode!

[oldaudi]

I have them on my 640i Rarely use them , possibly because I don’t race around in the car. Sometimes they are useful if I creeping down a hill in the country lanes and the cars fails to change up a gear!

I did use them when I got the car more for novelty than anything because it was my first car with them

[ucb]

Almost never use them on my F11 30d.

Edited by ucb on Friday 18th August 06:58

[Aluminati]

A novelty.

[b14]

I literally drive my F31 in manual with paddles or using the shifter to change gear, everywhere I go. Personal preference of course but I love them.

Did change them for better paddles from standard though.

[Aluminati]

[redacted]

[pmorg4]

I think they're great and wouldn't want to be without them. Mine came with the crappy push-pull paddles that were really annoying and unintuitive to use, but were much better after a quick re-pin of the connectors to make them behave like normal paddles. The actual paddles were still a bit low quality so I swapped them for M3 paddles which are much higher quality and feel snappier in use.

I rarely use sport mode on the gearbox, most of the time it's drive mode and a blip or two of the downshift paddle if I need a bit more poke on anticipation of an overtake or lane shift etc. Once done I let the gearbox take back over in auto mode after a few seconds of gentle driving. Or when driving proper country roads I'll use full manual to prevent any unexpected shifts, get better engine breaking into corners etc. The reason I don't like sport mode is that it hangs onto low gears when I don't need it, such as on long straights.

I generally avoid kickdown as it means dropping as many gears as needed to get the revs up to about 5500 and of course your foot is on the floor so it's full power which I rarely need. I'd much rather use the paddles to drop a gear or two as needed ahead of the manoeuvre, then I can apply as much throttle as needed to accelerate briskly but smoothly rather than foot to the floor.

Even on the older gearboxes the response from the paddles is pretty seamless, it's far better than the old 5 speed box where the response was so slow it was really frustrating to use.

[parabolica]

jv021 said:

I have had paddle shifters my 640i (same engine, similar chassis) and TBH, they didnt get used much at all. It is one of those ones were if you didnt have it you'd miss it, if you do have it, you very seldom use it!

I had paddle shifters on my 530d, and and the mrs x3 30d same story... the ZF8 does a really good job. For both cars I wanted the paddle shifters more for the better looking gear selector and the paddles make the steering wheel area look a little nicer, but thats a small thing in my opinion.

Even on the Maserati Levante S that replaced the 640i the paddle shifters have been used 2-3 times in the few months I've had it.

I'd say not worth the hassle.

Same; I tried using them a few times but you could never really tell if the car had gone up or down the gears.

I now have an early Z4 with the SMG box and the paddles on that get used 99.9% of the time and once you're used to it, it's a great way to drive. But on a 5 or 6, especially the modern cars, paddles have zero purpose IMO; even in sport mode I couldn't tell the difference.