Paddles turn the auto box into the equivalent of a manual without the need to operate a gear stick and clutch. In my experience, this auto manual function is unnecessary 99.9% of the time. The S Tronic box works as well as most people would want, especially as it has the sport mode if you don't want the gear box to change up at the earliest possible moment, for example when the inside lane of a motorway you are joining is occupied by many 40 tonne lorries going at 60mph and you need to get up to that speed asap to merge. Sport mode appears to hold a gear until red line revs under hard acceleration, however, which may (or may not) deliver marginally weaker performance than paddle shifting at revs where torque is maximum, at least in a diesel. Personally I think a reduction in the cost of the car would be more welcome than any real or imagined benefit of paddles, for whichTop Gear presenters must take a good slice of responsibility.