Each to his own of course, and some people prefer a smaller car to a larger one, some like a higher seating position, some a manual change ,personally, I prefer modern day automatic gearboxes to any manual box, and a while back, actually on a Volvo Forum, someone who had only driven an automatic once or twice, criticised me for praising autoboxes, by saying –
‘ driving an Auto is for old men, and is like hill walking with slippers on’
My reply-
I’m 18 and just learning the job, and my mate and I get our working gear on, we climb into the works vehicle , It’s already gassed up, but we warm it up a little.
He’s driving ,pushes hard on the throttle to get it going, It is a lump of a thing –
⁃ we climb at 41,000 ft/min, using 100% afterburner, then at flight level 20, cruising at 500 kt’s, she’s all yours Taff he says – so, o.k. I think , instruments yup, throttle yup, gear stick-
⁃
where’s the effing ‘ gear stick?
Oh yeah, no gearstick ‘it’s AUTOMATIC !
AUTOMATIC – but that’s a ‘bit like old men hillwalking with slippers on ‘ – yeah right?
Yup, big car, small car, and you can’t beat a good automatic, with the new boxes you get paddle shift, and the option of manual change via the selector etc . So much choice – each to his own?