[DrJekyll]

I get that they "manually" shift the gears and that they are apparently only work in sport mode. Why/When would I ever want or need to use the paddle shifters? I'm just a day to day commute and drive about town with occasional road trips kind of person.

 

[LarryDangerfield]

I get that they "manually" shift the gears and that they are apparently only work in sport mode. Why/When would I ever want or need to use the paddle shifters? I'm just a day to day commute and drive about town with occasional road trips kind of person.

Only time you'd want to use the paddles is either spirited driving where you want to keep the rpms up and in the powerband, or driving in mountains/large hills and want to use engine braking so you choose a low gear and it stays there.

 

[Nipper Dog]

I use mine when while descending a long hill instead of applying the brakes for so long that they warp the rotors.

 

[mcrimm]

Agree, downhill is the only time I use them. We live close to Glacier National Park and coming down the Going to the a Sun road is a long, steep decline. We see folks ride their brakes for the decent and smell the hot brakes. Let your engine do the braking for you.

 

[Dro1984]

Anytime you want a different gear than the trans is giving you! With a Nine-speed auto, how else do you chose gears? Our old 4 and 5 speed autos were easy. You pulled the shift lever down. We now have an electronic push button shifter. I always wonder why people are wondering why Honda puts paddle shifters in multispeed vehicles (including the Odyssey)? I think paddle shifters are thought of strictly as a sporting nature... but they are more than that. There are times when I'm going up a step grade and the trans is lugging in high gear (it stays in 7th gear... I want 6th)... It's nice to use the paddle shifter to down shift to a lower gear to bring the rpms up.

 

[DiabloHnda]

These cars will automatically hold a low gear on a sustained downhill. Pilots have had that feature since Year 1.

I had paddles in a rip-sporting 228i for three years. Never touched em once. Can't imagine I'll ever use the ones in the PP.

 

[Dro1984]

Again, some of you like to argue, however, someone did asked what or why we have paddle shifters... (This will include the Odyssey minivan also.) While I'm happy for you that you have no use for yours...others might. I use mine from what I mentioned above. That's what they are for... to be able to select certain forward gears out of your 9 speed or 10 speed automatic depending on which vehicle you have (Odyssey (10 speed), Pilot (applies to 9 speed versions only), or Passport.) There is no other way to manually select a different forward gear without them.
If you don't know why or when you would have to, it's best to just leave vehicle in drive and not worry about it.

 

[Camelcroozin]

The only time I’ve used paddle shifters was for engine braking while approaching icy intersections. Works great for that.

 

[19BCPDave]

There is literally a plethora of scenarios why i would use the paddle shifters over the vehicle deciding what i need in a given situation. Too much to spell out. Only thing i could suggest, is LEARN to use it, then you'll grow to LOVE it!

 

[CAJack42]

Both with this PP and my '06 Pilot I've always had to manually downshift on those long 6 or 7% downgrades.
Even if you try to let CC take over and automatically downshift, it can never keep up.

 

[dlwills]

I intend to use sport mode much like I used the low gears on my 07 Pilot when travelling down snowy icy hills to avoid using brakes to prevent a slide.

 

[Wrascal]

Early last month we purchased a 2020 Ody (which led me to also purchasing a PP); living in the flat lands of lower Bama I poo-pooed those useless paddles. Then we took this Ody on a 6900 mile XC tour.

Back in 1985 I had a brand new Buick Electra Park Ave; while decending Mt Washinton, NH - following an old stick driven pickup - I burned up its brakes (NOT Warranted). On this recent XC trip we came acroos many long 6/7/8 percent decents - I found that Odys paddles very worthwhile.

The Ody's Demonstrated safety features persuaded me to trade in my stripped down CRV for a fully featured PP. It's only money.

 

[dlwills]

Early last month we purchased a 2020 Ody (which led me to also purchasing a PP); living in the flat lands of lower Bama I poo-pooed those useless paddles. Then we took this Ody on a 6900 mile XC tour.

Back in 1985 I had a brand new Buick Electra Park Ave; while decending Mt Washinton, NH - following an old stick driven pickup - I burned up its brakes (NOT Warranted). On this recent XC trip we came acroos many long 6/7/8 percent decents - I found that Odys paddles very worthwhile.

The Ody's Demonstrated safety features persuaded me to trade in my stripped down CRV for a fully featured PP. It's only money.

I live in NH. Driving up and down Mt. Washington above the tree line is not for the faint of heart. Anyhow, traveling down the mountain, at one of the many pull offs, there are water stations for your car radiator. I stopped a girl who was about to throw that water on her brakes to cool them off! Yikes!

 

[TransportMan]

I've used them while towing boats to keep the rpms up as well as a little engine braking to help slow down.

 

[Webwader43]

I get that they "manually" shift the gears and that they are apparently only work in sport mode. Why/When would I ever want or need to use the paddle shifters? I'm just a day to day commute and drive about town with occasional road trips kind of person.

The paddle shifters can be used in either mode. While in most vehicles, S is sport mode, S in the Passport is Sequential mode. The gears will shift sequentially from 1st thru 8th gear but not into 9th, Motortrend tested the 0-60 time of an Elite, the heviest of the Passports at 6.6 seconds.

 

[14v6]

Took my youngest daughter back to college today. Loaded up her stuff, the bride and the dog. Definitely felt heavy and speed increases on the cruise control are not immediate. It's a hilly drive which I've done one time before in the fall but now I have 1800 miles so getting much more familiar with the Passport. I've complained before how downshifting with the paddles doesn't bleed off much speed as the PP accelerates before downshifting. Not a good recipe when trying to slow down on a hill. I did notice something today though. Say you are going 55 or so and start hitting the paddles to downshift. I noticed that when downshifting to D3 it did not speed up and started to bleed off speed. Granted the engine was revving at like 5k and probably going in the 50's but it did help. Going home unloaded it felt much better. Pretty much had every weather situation too and even without snows on the PP was as good or better than the Ridgeline that I had. This is my first vehicle with CarPlay, love, love, love it. Can't help but think I might have actually picked the right vehicle. If this baby holds up I'll get another one when it gets the 10 speed. It's like a much better CRV with the power and refinement of a V6 and no dreaded CVT. Question is do I want to replace my aging Accord with another sedan or get a another pickup but a stripped 2wd one this time around. I'm leaning toward a Camry or Avalon but the rational thing would be to do it all with the Passport. It's so darn capable.

 

[Coastboater]

I use them when a Porsche Carrera Turbo pulls up next to me at a stoplight.
Some folks need to be taught a lesson.

 

[QCEng1]

My last vehicle was a 2016 Pilot AWD and I can tell you for a fact that when going down a steep hill there is almost no engine braking. If you have it in a lower gear it will shift up if you get going too fast. It’s designed to do that. It protects the transmission. You will get some engine breaking until your speed increases to a certain point and then it will automatically shift up.

 

[Webwader43]

Use a combination of downshifting and braking. Watch your tachometer to avoid getting into the upshift range.

 

[JED777]

I get that they "manually" shift the gears and that they are apparently only work in sport mode. Why/When would I ever want or need to use the paddle shifters? I'm just a day to day commute and drive about town with occasional road trips kind of person.

I drive a 2021. Honda really screwed up with the shifter paddles, by allowing them to engage when pressed in standard Drive "D" mode! (most other manufacturers do not) They should only be able to engage when pressed in "S" mode. I steer the wheel hand-over-hand and seem to occasionally hit the downshift paddle accidentally when starting from a stop and making a right turn. Wham! the transmission shifts down from 2nd to 1st gear and the RPMs race high, making the engine scream. Coming off the accelerator peddle is no immediate help. Now try finding the up-shift paddle when you're turning the wheel back to straight! Good luck. Pressing the Drive mode select button only then sets the mode to "S" ... which is no help. The RPMs are still screaming. When you finally straighten the wheel back and press the up-shift paddle, it takes too long to react, since the RPMs are too high.

Honda was probably thinking they wanted a driver to be able to access the option rapidly when needed - but their inexperienced, just out of engineering school, brains didn't think to have paddle shifting inoperable at the lower range of gears, and under a certain speed. I raced for Honda a few decades ago, back when engineers actually sat in the cars with test drivers, and engineers making these decisions were seasoned veterans in the business. Give me a console shift stick selector any day, over these ridiculous button selectors that are like reading Braille to find, when you are paying attention to what's outside your windshield and in the mirrors. Better yet, is a standard shift with a foot clutch. Total driver control, has become a fleeting liberty ... and just a taste of having zero control in the near future.