Auto for trundling along on your commute following all the other traffic while only barely awake: Great.
Auto for city driving: Great.
Auto for motorway cruising: Makes no odds.
Auto for towing: Makes no odds.
Auto while "pressing on" on a twisty B road: Just don't bother.

I find there's really no satisfaction to be had taking corners in a car that insists on freewheeling into the corner and then takes what seems like an age to get the power back on once you decide it's time to accelerate out of the bend.

Quite apart from autos being great because "number of pedals = number of feet", I find myself wanting two right feet so I can brake for the corner while keeping it on the boil with my other right foot so it'll actually go when the time comes.

In a manual it feels so much neater and so much easier to balance the car. Just select the appropriate gear as you're braking into the bend, balance it on the gas on the way round, then hard onto the gas when the time is right and you're off. It's just the way it should be.

Shifting an autobox manually and sport mode don't help the above, IMHO. It's got ridiculously widely spaced ratios and it's only vaguely attached to the engine. Let the 8 bit micro drive it.

Having said this, I'm not that enamoured with the Omega manual box either. Much too much throw on the lever, much too much rubber between gear lever and selector forks and ratios a little widely spaced IMHO.

Reliability and maintenance is a good point, of course. Can't really argue about that. Manual wins hands down.

Oh, and as for being out of control: once you know an automatic car it never changes unexpectedly IME.

Kevin

Kevin Wood wrote on 12. May 2011 at 20:36:


and why would you buy a motorway cruiser specifically for twisty B roads? That'd be like buying your Lotus 7/etc and being upset that they were noisy & unforgiving on the motorway.

defo auto,less stress...

definitely manual for me. three reasons really....

firstly, I never drive in town, don't ever see traffic. In ten years in my current job and over a hundred thousand commuting miles, I've not been in a traffic jam yet.

secondly, I abhor waste, so lugging the autobox around and paying extra for all that fuel is just not on. Thinking about it, in that ten year spell, I've saved almost £5,000 by not having an auto.

and then there's the real reason - a correctly-executed gearchange is one of the best things in life, something to practice over and over again and to take pleasure in over and over again. why should I want a machine to do that for me ? It would be like buying the latest cd and then listening to the same msic played as a ringtone

2woody wrote on 12. May 2011 at 22:37:


My math is quite good, but I dont see how you can come to that conclusion when taking into account various things including the varying price of fuel over the last decade. 

It would require some serious sums. 

Andy B wrote on 12. May 2011 at 21:22:


My Westfield was a life-saver on the motorway when a Heron decided to land about 50m in front of me in the fast lane of the M4 to eat some rep's discarded sandwich. Had I attempted that quick a lane change in any other car I'd have ended up on my roof.

Quote:


My point, I think. Where's the fun in that?

Kevin

Andy B wrote on 12. May 2011 at 23:27:


An Omega driver would have been concentrating to the point of being able to stop in the space available.....

Broomies Mate wrote on 12. May 2011 at 23:45:



You wish, you need an MX5 to be able to do that, unless you are H21....