Over the past decade manually shiftable automatics (and more recently, automated manuals) have become increasingly common. And yet there’s no standard way to operate the things. With BMW and Mazda pushing the lever forward downshifts, and pulling it backward upshifts. With other makes (and I believe even older BMWs), it’s the opposite.

With paddles on the steering wheel, somtimes you push to downshift and pull to upshift. Or the left one downshifts and the right one upshifts. Or some other combination.

There is no standard. I’ve often thought there should be one.

Or maybe not. In the comments on today’s BMW 128i review over at The Truth About Cars, ash78 suggests:

There is no reason Tiptronics shouldn’t give the driver the option on how they want the paddles/lever to react.

If Nintendo can offer this sort of option on sub-$100 consoles, surely huge auto manufacturers can do the same.

Brilliant. But is any manufacturer paying attention?