Paddle shifters have always been a gimmick. The reason the Ranger is such a great little truck, is because it's no frills. If you want something with paddle shifters, you'd be after a zippy sport car. Trying to out-shift the computer on an automatic will likely cause excessive wear over time on the tranny.

I've been there though, where I love my car, and I want to mod something. There's a good argument for never modding a daily / utility car, especially if you have no back up. If you've got a couple beaters, and you want to do mods for some reason, then yeah throw an LS1 in Fiat, XD. But if you take it apart and it starts to rain or you break bolt, and work is tomorrow. Yikes Stripes