sorry if its been asked before but I did a quick scan and couldnt find my answer. since a cvt doesnt have gears im really confused at what the paddle shifters do. At first I thought it just changes between different transmission modes but after reading about peoples test drives it sounds as if you use the paddle shifters like you would in a car with traditional gears. like you redline then hit the right paddle to upshift till u redline again then press the paddle again etc etc.

 

I believe they have talked about this b4, I do not know much about except that it is a way of shifting or downshifting without having to take your hands off the wheel. I also remember reading it was a 4 speed shifter.

 

I haven't driven a 'paddle car', but think it works something like this:

In very brief words, the paddles are a way of simulating the changing of gears with a tranny that essentially has an 'infinite' number of gears (CVT).

The paddles allow the driver to switch very quickly (actually instantly) between six different RPM levels as selected by Nissan. Nissan gives us this option as 'manual' (normal RPM ranges) and as 'sport' (raises the RPM points of the six simulated gears). Of course most drivers will simply put the selector in 'Drive' and hang their fuzzy voodoo doll, plastic frog, or purse from the paddles.

Someone who actually has driven a 'paddle car' will explain this better.

 

They're for selecting imaginary gears

 

for paddling the shift.... geez...

 

why didnt they attach them to the steering wheel ?!?! weird.. and its wierd to be on a CVT! I AGREE! yay.. look at me, i'm shifting fake gears.

 

They're not mounted to the steering wheel because once you get in the twisties and start spinning the wheel so will the paddles, and it would therefore be hard to figure out which one is for upshifting and which is for downshifting. So the are mounted on the column so they are in the same position no matter what and still at a fingers reach.

 

If the paddle shifters really help select between six different RPM levels, then will I get better mpg if I always drive at the lowest RPM level as compared to someone who always drives at the highest RPM level? Can I alter (for better) mpg of the 09 Maxima in any way using the paddle shifters?

 

they change the gear ratios on the CVT, not actual gears, but it's basically the same thing

 

The 7th gen. Max has a four mode trans. When it is in the "D" slot it works like a regular CVT Trans. you can down shift in that mode with the paddle to slow the car down in traffic, after the car scences a steady speed it will go back to regular cvt. In the "Ds" mode you will feel it shift like a regular automatic trans. with no set shift points it depend on how fast you are accellerating, when in this mode the paddle shifters act like a manual trans. and stay in gear and not change regardless of RPM. I picked up a 2009 on 6-30-08, Premium, ever option except trunk organizer. The car is completely different than the last gen. Hope this helps. Johnsd2

 

bb700092 - Generally speaking, the best gas mileage comes with the lowest RPMs that will do the job. Of course we don't want to 'lug' the engine, as that reduces efficiency. We know there is somewhat less power on tap at lower RPMs, but sometimes (cruising on a level road, for instance), little power is needed.

Having not driven a car with paddles, I personally feel the gas mileage with the CVT in normal drive mode would probably be hard to beat using any of the other modes. I feel the best uses of the paddles are to either somewhat simulate driving a manual tranny, make the car seem sportier, slow the car down using engine compression instead of the brakes, maintain desired RPMs through turns/curves, and, with a little experience, being able to maintain better overall control of the car.

Once I have my '09 with paddles, I may add to, or change those opinions.

 

johnsd2, pretty much laid it out...

After my overnight visit with the 7th gen, this is what I got from it...

D = reg CVT.
DS = "simulated" shifting. Definitely does not feel like an MT but a bit softer shifting.
M = was all shift, I am used to an auto so I found myself revving the crap out of it in 1st while continuing to acellerate! Newbie move, I know. You can also shift on the up and down on the shifter if you don't want to use the paddles.

Coming from my boring 4AT it was pretty fun to have the options....

 

wasting gas is what they are for

 

If you use the paddle shifters in traffic to slow to keep a steady flow in the traffic you will save on brake wear. If people are worried about how much gas this car burns they should look for a gas sipper car, and not a loaded $38,000 car. Cruising on the expressway with the flow of traffic going 70 the car was showing 29mpg.

 

How are you liking that new Max? Do you recommend it? Pros & Cons?

 

you forgot bong.....

 

I have driven many "paddle cars", from Maserati, to BMW M3 with the SMG paddles, to Mercedes E55, E63, etc. etc. I just dont like automatic trannies. At my stealership, no one was allowed to drive the paddle shift Maxima unless you buy it first - so I havent driven the Maxima with paddles. Its just a way to shift the gears without taking ur hands off the wheel. They try to sell it likes its a manual. It just isn't. To each his/her own.

 

Good car purchase advise from a newbie... welcome to the org!

With rising gas prices, every car below a 30mpg rating will soon be slapped with a gas guzzler tax... be it a $38,000 car or even more. And that should be the way. All people should not suffer because some knucklehead has decided to drive a 6/10 mpg (city/hwy) $75,000 car.

Its nice to see you kept an eye on the mpg while driving a $38,000 car at 70mph. Is that your own experience or hearsay? I tend to disbelieve that number unless at very favorable driving conditions (such as tail wind). The mpg of a vehicle is typically the best around 55-60mph and tends to fall beyond that. Highway speed is typically 65-75mph at which the 09 Maxima is rated to provide 26mpg. Getting 29mpg at 70mph just seems too good to me.

 

why would you disbelieve that? 70 is a pretty average speed and you are definitely getting good mileage there. i get over 30 when im cruising at 70 like that. on long trips cruising at 80 (behind an SUV preferrably) i get 26+MPG and an easy 430 miles on a 15-16 gallon fillup. its all about how steady your foot is. i dont doubt 29 mpg in a new car thats slippery and has a cvt

 

I am contemplating going with the Sport Package because I like the wheels, premium leather seats, satellite radio, etc but actually the one thing I don't care for is the paddle shifters. I've never driven with them so maybe I'd like them. The plain CVT would be fine with me. I don't really care about "shifting". But as long as they don't really get in the way I guess it's fine to have. Does anyone think the paddles would feel like they were in the way if not being used?

 

What car do you drive? Does it have a CVT?

 

hurricane434 - The paddles are attached down on the steering column, and don't look to be in the way of using the steering wheel in a normal fashion. I would say (those who have a Maxima with paddles will have to confirm) you could drive the car just as you always do with the paddles not interfering at all.

 

I drove a Winter Frost today with the sport/tech package and the paddles didn't get in the way at all, matter of fact I only touched them once and that was when I got in the car to see how they felt.

My dilemma now is trading my Xterra because I know I'm upside down. The White Max was 37,380 and I owe 20K on the X. A few months ago my value was 17K for the blue book. Now it's 12K! That is a horrible drop! An almost 8k negative now! IF I did the deal my payment would higher of course because of that negative which I expected to be so. They did add on an additional 1k to the trade offer though. They were asking for 3-5K down, but with my credit I'm thinking that I may not want to. I would be moving up to a more expensive vehicle, and eating the neg along with a higher payment.

The car was AMAZING and I never would have considered a white car, but there was a black, dark slate and precision gray. The white looked so much better than the others. I loved the Frost interior. I love this car! White went from the bottom of my list to the top!

I can swing the higher payments, but I'm asking myself should I? I do want the car, but should I pay THAT much? we never got into the finance rate or loan terms, this was raw numbers.

If I wait the value of my X will just keep going down and down faster than my balance and I'll still be negative. They asked me to bring my truck in tomorrow so they can appraise it.(I was in my work truck during all of this time and they did a non visual assessment.)

I'm going to talk my credit union on Monday and see what they can do for me.

Can I get some suggestions? I'm really torn!!

 

my advice is wait.

wait for a cheaper used one, for when the X is paid, when you have the money, but wait.
i want one as well. but with 11 payments to go, i don't want to make them higher for 60 payments. i'll wait until i have the money for a used one, or later model.

i waxed my 04 today, so i'll be ok for a while. must be a sign that one dealer was sold out Tuesday and today another had no sales people around to check if there even was one left. i want to test drive one so bad, but it may cause turmoil inside me

 

I'm thinking of that also. I still have 2yrs left on the X and it's not like the X is bad. It's a great SUV, and when I got it there was nothing I really wanted at the time car wise. I was actually considering a CTS earlier in the year because I was over the Maxima and Nissan didn't have anything else that appealed to me. The CTS would have been close to 40K even with a discount through my employer.

AND THEN NISSAN WENT AND DID THIS!!!!

This car will surely cause turmoil! I'm going thru it as I type!!!

 

drakutis - I feel your love for this '09 Maxima. I not only feel it, I share it. And the white has moved up to tie the radiant silver for first place on my list.

I very seldom try to discourage a fellow Maxima lover from buying a Maxima. But I am most concerned with the idea of getting very far in debt with this economy sinking lower every day. Jobs are disappearing by the hundreds of thousands, and it may be a few years before the sinking levels off, and we begin the long, slow climb back.

In the meantime, probably a few million more jobs will disappear, and we will lose a few more major banks and airlines. I have been on record on several boards for almost a year as saying gas will not stop at $10 a gallon, and it would be very sad to own an '09 Maxima, but not be able to afford to drive it.

I made car payments on each car I bought from 1949 until spring of 1978, and these were all used cars I was buying. In 1978, I had children beginning college, and I told myself I would never finance another car, as the interest in the late 1970s had reached double digits. As a result, I held off buying many times, even when I was nursing cars with over 200,000 miles on the odo, because I did not have the cash available to pay the full price at purchase time.

That approach was one of the reasons (existing in a one room apartment on brown lettuce and green bologna for two years was another) that I finally achieved financial independence. I have paid cash up front for my last few Maximas, and it is so nice to not have to deal with loans. My wife will tell you that I will sneak behind grocery stores and restaurants and eat from their garbage bins before I ever borrow money or charge something I can't pay in full before any interest is due.

I'm not expecting a normal person to take on the life of a monk like I almost did. But I do hope you will be very careful about getting too far in debt in these troublesome times. At the very least, I would encourage you to wait until the '09 Maxima can be had somewhere near invoice. I realize your Xterra will continue to drop, but the reality is that it has already taken the biggest drop just within the past month or two, because of the price surge in gas.

I wish I could be more encouraging, but I want very much for you to not put yourself in a financial situation that could possibly destroy your very important credit rating. But the final decision must be made by you, and I hope you can make the best one for you.

 

Make you dream your driving a Formula 1!!

 

Drakutis,

Sorry man, but I'd hold off on any car purchase if I were you. $8K upside down is pretty far in the hole. There will be other awesome cars that come out down the road.

 

They pretty much shift up and down through yours gears and gives you a feeling that you are driving a manual without the clutch.

 

I think Paddle shifters are pretty much useless, i mean fun for the first few months but pretty much useless.

 

Oh yeah, I'm going to wait. If it was maybe 2k or 3k I could handle it, but more than that I WILL not do. I went by the dealer today with some friends and two hadn't seen the Maxima yet and the other wants the Precision Gray. I want to show them my future "White Stallion"! Of course the guy I was talking to yesterday wanted me to have my X appraised but I declined.

If someone buys that one fine. They're like Doritos-They'll make more!!

 

Yeah man, I would wait. I have 6 more months left on my finance. I will probably wait another 6 months before I would buy by then the prices of the car will be not have any dealer bonus and if the economy continues in the way it is going you will be able to buy this car very close to invoice.

8K upside down is a very large amount when talking about a car. If you end up going into the max now you are looking at a 5 year finance payment near $1000 which would be crazy on a max. Just wait 1 or 2 years. the value of your X will not continue to drop as much since it has taken a big hit and it is a great vehicle. Then just get yourself a 1 or 2 year old Max for around 25-28K

 

I have an 09 Max. Prem. pkg. the paddles do not get in the way. I had an 06 and it got 27 to 28 mpg long distant driving it at 70 mph. I get 29 mpg at 70 mph in my 09.It is all about keeping a steady pace read the traffic ahead and watch the traffic coming up behind you. It could be people you already passed, and they didn't want to be the leader of the pack and will pass you and then slow down, you waste gas having to pass them again. keep the pace constant. I put about 23,000 miles a year on my car. I got my new Max. on 6-30-08, it is now 7-15-08 and I have 1250 miles on it already, when you drive as much as I do you learn how to get the most miles per gallon. learn to use the cruise control, you can change your speed up or down by clicking the control up or down, each click is 1 mph up or down, example 5 clicks up will add 5 mph to your speed, that is why you read the traffic around you.

 

johnsd2 - Good advice that doesn't get posted very often. Much appreciated.

In over fifty-nine years of driving, I have grasped that the speed/spacing/etc of the vehicles in front and behind me are not only important, they should actually affect my driving, in that I should be making very subtle adjustments that help with spacing and margins, and do whatever I can to help traffic in general flow smoothly. If I am driving on a road where there is no way to pass, and there is traffic behind me and open road in front of me, I find a place where I can pull over long enough to let the trafic clear. Often, I am able to do this without actually stopping.

We can do little things, such as a slight increase or decrease in speed for just long enough to get out of the blind spot of other drivers, especially if the other driver is piloting a semi. Unless traffic is very heavy, I try very hard to avoid driving side-by-side with another vehicle, as that, in effect, creates a roadblock. I either fall back and move right, or go on around and move right if the right lane is clear. If I am passing another vehicle on a multi-lane road in wet weather, I avoid moving back to the right lane until my 'wake' is far enough in front of the vehicle I am passing that I don't cover his windshield with dirty road water.

The list is virtually endless. Before we make a maneuver of any sort on any road, we need to understand how it will affect all other traffic around us, and consider the possibility the action we are contemplating may be one we shouldn't take.

johnsd2 - Thanks for the VERY interesting comparison between the '06 and '09 Maxima gas mileages. I think many here (other than the manual tranny fans) will be very glad to see that.

We will expect further postings as you make new revelations with your '09. Congrats on a great choice in cars.

 

Can you please let us know the RPM when you drive at 70 mph?

 

About 1850 @ 70 mph. Will get an exact number for you.
Johnsd2

 

At 60 mph it is 1700 rpm. I will get an answer for 70 mph.
Johnsd2 7-22-08 I took a test drive of a sport model on 7-19-08 and it showed 1800 at 60 mph, it was a different road and temp. than before so the rpm is going to very. The new gen. has greatly improved steering radius, it turns alot sharper and is easier to park, it doesn't feel like you are parking an aircraft carrier. the car is shorter, a couple of inches from the back seat area, they curved in the front seats to make up for the lost room. They made the bottom seat cusions longer so they are more supportive. In the trunk area they raised the rear shelf to make up for the lost inches, so the panel that covered up the rear speakers is higher up inside for more room. The Nav. went from a DVD version to a hard drive system. The dealer up grades it if you want new info. The reroute responds faster. The ac has been improved and cools down the car faster. When recording cd's to the music box you can listen to other imputs and it will keep you informed on the progress of the burn, it also shows "cd burn' on the nav. screen. I will try to answer question about the new car.

 

wow that is a low rpm range for those speeds. go CVT!
so are the paddles available with both packages? i thought they only came with the sport?

 

Just another example of where the CVT has an advantage over any tranny that is locked into specified gears. When cruising on a relatively flat freeway and virtually no torque is needed, the CVT can go to very very low RPMs (lower than overdrive in a manual; extremely fuel-efficient). But when the pedal is pushed or stomped, this '09 CVT responds instantly to move to the RPMs needed for the torque requested. No lag, no thump, no hesitation. I feel the new smooth, lag-free RPM change is the primary advantage of this new CVT over the CVT of 2008.

I also see us getting routine freeway efficiency around 30 MPG at 65 MPH with the '09. That is great for a 3,600 pound 290 HP near-luxury sporty sedan. No, the 'mannies' will not have the same fun with the CVT as with their old-style manual. But at $4 a gallon and rising for gas, and with traffic approaching gridlock in many places, I'll take the less fun but more-efficient and more practical CVT.

 

NismoMax80 - The paddle shifters come with BOTH the Sport and Premium packages.