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[Kevin Wood]

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

[Vamps]

Auto for me it suits large cars, a possible exception might be for a small nippy car for country road fun...but not for regular running around town or commuting.......I must be getting old......

[Andy B]

....
Auto while "pressing on" on a twisty B road: Just don't bother. ....

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.

[Entwood]

If you want to "play on twisty "B" roads with the auto it is exceedingly easy, and great fun ..

Select "S" button to "ON".  Place gear selector in position 2.

Drive .......  you now have a 2 geared car....  1st to 50 ish, 2nd to 80 ish....   and if you want more than 80 your "B" road is not twisty enough.

Easily quick enough to take on most boy-racers ...   

***Disclaimer***

Don't look at the fuel consumption data whilst doing this ... it is likely to cause consternation !!!!

[ndmv6]

defo auto,less stress...

[geoffr70]

Man (and wo-man ) make machines to make life easier!

Automatics rule!

[2woody]

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

[Andy B]

......
secondly, I abhor waste, so lugging the autobox around and paying extra for all that fuel is just not on.  .....

and this, from a man who owns (amongst many things) a Bentley Arnage .....  :-? :-? :-? :-?

[Broomies Mate]

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.

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. 

[geoffr70]

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

I can easily think of better things than a gear change, apart from the obvious. Have you considered removing your starter motor and fittiing a starting handle if you don't want machines to do the work?

[Kevin Wood]

....
Auto while "pressing on" on a twisty B road: Just don't bother. ....

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.

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.

If you want to "play on twisty "B" roads with the auto it is exceedingly easy, and great fun ..

Select "S" button to "ON".  Place gear selector in position 2.

Drive .......  you now have a 2 geared car....  1st to 50 ish, 2nd to 80 ish....   and if you want more than 80 your "B" road is not twisty enough.

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

Kevin

[Andy B]

....
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. .......

But in your Omega you'd have had ABS and had that not been enough then you'd have just ended up with a flat heron .............. 

[Vamps]

....
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. .......

But in your Omega you'd have had ABS and had that not been enough then you'd have just ended up with a flat heron .............. 

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

[Broomies Mate]

....
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. .......

But in your Omega you'd have had ABS and had that not been enough then you'd have just ended up with a flat heron .............. 

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

Bull-Crap.

I'd have gunned the throttle and made sure the greedy bird was deaded! 

[Vamps]

....
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. .......

But in your Omega you'd have had ABS and had that not been enough then you'd have just ended up with a flat heron .............. 

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

Bull-Crap.

I'd have gunned the throttle and made sure the greedy bird was deaded! 

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