I've driven standards for most of my adult life... however a protruding disc injury from an accident at home and 10 weeks of PT will change your mind about how you drive. I wanted a fun car but when my back issues flare up I can't drive a standard as pushing in the clutch is far from pleasant. That said, I've been pleased with the responsiveness of the automatic. I miss the stick but not enough to endure the back issues that come with it .

 

be careful with that one as well. every car has its gremlins, it seems. with blue-tec diesels (yours) you have to be careful of fuel quality issues and blown engines. if/when it happens they will try to blame your you for buying bad gas. and the entire $15k repair is not covered unless they choose to cover it.

and bad diesel is not uncommon in the u.s. market.

 

Very good advice; I do this also. Still having a good experience with our manual ALL4.

 

Just what we need here in the US. It's bad enough that it costs more for certification of new diesel vehicles in the US (clean diesel), and all the extra additives, and higher federal taxes on the fuel, now you gotta go spreading rumors about bad diesel and blown engines.

It's no wonder why we can't get more diesel autos in the US.

 

I bought a low mileage 2008 MINI Cooper S convertible in February-specifically for fun in the driving I do 85% of the time-short 2-5 mile trips, traffic, stop and go and some open road. I have a sport auto transmission. First auto in over 25 years. My other two cars (a 1967 XKE and a BMW M Roadster) are stick.

The MINI auto is terrific, especially in sport mode. If I let it shift it does a super job, very aggressive with downshifts at just the right time. I find I don't need the paddles much, but when I do I get instantaneous response. Glad I got it-I would have it in a new one.

I am driving it much more than I thought-about 800 miles per month

When I do drive my stick BMW it is still a lot of fun, except for the in town driving.

 

I used to have a Diesel Suburban and I remember clearly two occasions when I had to have the tank drained, all the filters changed, and the injectors serviced as a result of bad fuel. You could get just far enough away that you had to be towed in to get things fixed. There may have been more, but those really stood out. That was with a 40+ gal tank and big V8...

 

not a rumor. i lived it.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/11102163...us-authorities

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...ump-flaws.html

 

Just bought a new GTI for my wife. Even with the DSG automated manual, which is just about the pinnacle of auto trannies, I think about how much more fun it would be with a manual almost every time I drive it. Faster? Probably not, but more fun and engaging.

 

I urge you to go to the dealer and rive an automatic and manual side by side. I think you'll find the automatic is lacking quite a bit in performance by comparison.

 

I did, and it doesn't.

Dave

 

i have an automatic and i'm very happy with it. would i have preferred a manual ? ... yes. but with other road/driving or self-imposed distractions, a manual was smarter choice.

 

I did two test drives, one with the auto and the other with the stick. What I found lacking in the auto was what's always lacking in autos: it's not always in the right gear and kick-down tends to be a bit extreme. I didn't love the paddle shifters but they do make it easier to find the right gear.

When I drove the stick, I wasn't in love with it, either. It's been a while since I drove a stick regularly but the clutch didn't have great feel and the gearbox was good but not extraordinary either.

I ended up ordering a manual. I decided I'd rather pocket the $$$ and get better fuel economy. If I spent more time in stop/go traffic, I probably would've gone with the auto. Each has its pros & cons and I can see situations where either might be preferable.

Each to his own...

 

When I lived in Lexington, KY I had a vehicle with a standard, my commute was mostly highway with maybe 20% in the city and the manual was great. Now that I'm back in Dallas, TX, with 80% city, oh and the bad back, the automatic is wonderful. Even if I didn't have the back issue where pushing in the clutch can sometimes cause some pain... i'd still have gone automatic as rowing the gears 100+ times during the commute would have gotten old.

 

I live in NY and travel to NYC often and I have no regrets with my standard shift transmission!

 

I'm very happy with my manual and I specifically wanted to be more engaged when driving. I work from home though and do not have to deal with stop and go traffic. Each individual's driving conditions and preference should define the right choice.

 

I have an automatic and love it! My last 2 cars were stick, been there done that. Automatic is so much more relaxing. I do miss turning off the engine and coasting into a spot, though. Oh, it was much easier to push start them also plus with all the clutch issues I am hearing about, glad I went auto.

 

BMW replaced our '12 CMSA4 (manual) due to electrical system issues. We now have a '13, and we elected the automatic given all the reports of clutch issues by owners and the automotive press too. We had no trouble with the clutch, but we did not have the car for long, and apparently some changes have been made to the clutch for '13 after many, many complaints.

Even though the new car is a '13, and hopefully the clutch issue has been resolved for this model year, we thought it would be too risky to order another, and best to steer clear of the issue. We were never big fans of the clutch and shifter on the '12 anyway. It was not horrible by any means, but no where near as fun as our '03 MCS. One of the loaner cars they had given us had the auto, and we liked it.

We still generally prefer manual shift cars (love the sport shifter in our Porsche Carrera, and miss the even better shifter in our former Lotus Elise), but we not embarrassed to say we are liking the slushbox

Granted it's not a dual clutch, but in manual sport mode the shifts are very fast, noticeably faster than our SLK55. Yes, flat out acceleration is slightly slower versus the manual CM, but we drive like that only a small percentage of the time, and even after driving the other, far more powerful cars, can't say we feel the CM is underpowered no matter which trans it has.

As silly as it sounds I also like how easy it is to command early upshifts to save fuel and engine wear during "everyday" driving.

 

I went with a manual for my '13 replacement. 250kms so far and even my wife said the clutch is better than the '11 when she drove it last night.

 

I'm happy to hear the typical R60 feels slow even with a stick lol

This '13 R60 auto has nothing compared to my old R56 6-spd. Now I know it is essentially the same engine in a larger vehicle, and with AWD....but I hoped for more.

 

Given all of the reported issues with the clutch, I'm happy with my automatic.