I'm curious what others who own a 2010/2011 Outback use paddle shifters for.
I use them for going downhill, and in heavy traffic.
In automatic mode, I will downshift when going down a hill and I think I'm going to pick up too much speed. This avoids the brakes, and once I hit the gas at the bottom of the hill the car quickly goes back to auto-mode. I will also do this if I'm coasting to a stop.
In heavy traffic, I'll also switch to manual mode and use the paddle shifters. I just found the CVT was searching around too much and very quickly goes to a high gear ratio and I have to hit the brakes right away anyway. Seems simpler to just stick in "first" or "second" gear.
When driving "enthusiastically," I try downshifting before a turn so I can power out of it. I don't find this works as well as I expected, and I've pretty much given up this practice. The auto-mode seems to do just fine.