Makes sense. I haven't been on the highway to try to look at my own timing the past few days. The 7AT does a downshift rev-matching thing anyways, it could be that stepping on it too early interferes with that process.

i think you are correct. it will do a rev matching thing. but not as pronounced
as the MT.

The auto has rev-matched since something like 2005 in the 350Z.

Also, there's no "pronouncing". It matches exactly the revs it should be at, no more or less :)

I sometimes wonder about the DRM - I have noticed on occasion when I downshift on deceleration, from 6 to 2, there will be some pretty severe drivetrain shock on the shift to 2 if I am clicking fast - which I thought wouldn't happen if it did a DRM.

In any case, I don't see why the 370Z needs a kick-down switch - the ECU knows when the throttle is wide open, and in D my car has no problem downshifting from 7 to 3 and revving up to 7000 RPM then upshifting at redline.

If you are in M you don't want it to do that, M is for when you want complete control of the gears.

Well 6 to 2 is a pretty big jump. What speed are you at when you do that, and how wide is the RPM gap that it has to match? Maybe the ECU just can't get the revs up in time for the 7AT to complete the shift in that case. In any case you can probably predict the need for 6->2 well ahead of time, just pre-downshift to 4 before 2 becomes necc.

I was hoping one of you guys have already tried using paddle shift and the real shifter thingie.. what do you call it, umm

well, what ever that you can use to go from P to R to N to D you know?

what I do is I downshift by using the paddle once, use the real one once and click the paddle once again. This way, you're cruising on the highway in 7th and you notice a pair of headlight getting closer, you can go from 7th to 4th really quick.

Anybody tried this? cause you dont really have to use only the paddle shift or only the real one right?

I just started using this a few days ago and I've got some good results.
Go ahead and give it a try!

Is it quicker than the multi-click?

No, the paddles can't get you to P, R, or N.

You can use the paddles in D-mode to temporarily take over the gear selection though. After a few seconds of "normal" driving in one gear it will revert to automatic selection D-rules though. Unless you're in the habit of keeping track in your head which gear the car is currently using while in D-mode, using the paddles directly from D can be initially confusing (not sure which gear you'll initially land in).

You'll notice also if you're cruising in say 7th gear in D-mode, switching to M alone will drop you to 5th (I guess on the good assumption that you're usually taking over the gearing to use 1-5, not 6-7). If you don't want this to happen, use the upshift paddle first (temporary gear selection, stays in 7th), and then flip the stick over to M (continues to be in 7th).

As far as this goes, the up/down-shift commands from the stick or the paddles are exactly identical. In either case, it's just a pushbutton electronic input to the TCM. Using both like you describe above could be faster, but if so that's just because you can execute the inputs faster, not because of anything about the car.

I've never tried overlapping them, but that would be even faster if it doesn't confuse the TCM (i.e. execute a double-click with one hand, and pull the lever down once at the same time as the first click). I wonder if it would ignore one of them if the click+pull are too close together in time though.

In any case, I find it's rare to be cruising in 7th and then need to be in 4 or lower immediately without warning. Most of the time, you know what you're going to do well ahead of time, in which case all this quick multi-click stuff is unnecessary. You can drop to say 5 in a normal slow manner a few seconds before you need 4 or 3. Again, this is what the D->M automatic downshift predicts as well. Cruise steady on the highway in D-mode, and when you see a situation coming up just flip the stick over to M, which automatically puts you in 5th, and then you can downshift further from there without needing these giant 3+ gear leaps.