Did We Use the Honda Fit's Paddle Shifters?

CARS.COM — When we bought our long-term 2015 Honda Fit, we opted for the EX trim and a continuously variable automatic transmission. As part of that, we gained paddle shifters that allow you to select “gears.” (There aren’t really conventional gears in a CVT.)

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So: Did we find ourselves clicking through the gears like a Formula One driver and squeezing every bit of power from the engine as we pursued white-knuckle thrills?

Uuuuummm. No. Not really. As far as the shifters go, we probably should have taken the extra money we spent to upgrade to the EX trim and bought Powerball tickets.

After polling the Cars.com editors, there was, in fact, rare unanimity around the fact that the paddle shifters were an afterthought at best.

News editor Matt Schmitz was resolute: “Have driven the Fit many times. Have never, ever, not once, used the paddle shifters.”

Ditto for copy editor Jen Burklow: “Have driven it many times, but I’ve never used the paddle shifters.”

Senior Consumer Affairs Editor Kelsey Mays was somewhat more diplomatic: “Probably once or twice, but only to see how many ‘gears’ they split the CVT into. Never seriously.”

Editor-in-Chief Patrick Olsen, however, saw no reason to mince words: “I’ve driven [the Fit] for many miles and never once touched the paddle shifters.”

Road Test Editor Joe Bruzek pointed out that part of the issue could be geographical. “I haven’t seen any advantage to using them in everyday driving around the city, and it’s definitely not any sportier with slow shift response and awkward, artificial stepped gears. I do see the use, however, if driving on mountain roads and using engine braking to ease the stress on the brakes, but in the flatland Midwest I get more sporting character out of the transmission’s Sport mode.”

Maybe we should move the Cars.com editorial offices to somewhere with more hills, like, say, Monaco? Just for car-testing purposes, of course.