My wife and I have owned many sports cars and always enjoyed the manual transmissions, but things have changed. Our new MINI (our third) has an automatic. My wife wanted an auto and I was reluctant, but after doing a test drive, I was convinced. The new sport auto is great.
After a conservative break in, I am finally letting it out a little. The first 4 gears seem very similar to my '12S's gears (a manual), while the 5th and 6th gears are much higher.
Alright, now for the fun. When I wind this car up, it flies and the sounds are great. Just keep it above 35-4000 and the car wants to go. The shifts in manual are very quick.
And then, if I want to cruise down the freeway at 75-80, the noise level is low and my radio( Harmon-Kardon ) is easily heard.
I know that the R53 guys will miss the rawness of their cars, but they should just drive one of these new F56S's for a few days.

 

Glad to hear you are happy with the sport auto. I too had to compromise with this transmission as it is primarily my wife's car and she has a new long stop and go commute to deal with. Still in the break-in period so still haven't had a chance to play with things such as the launch control.

 

Picked up my F56S with the sport auto w/paddle shifters, and I love it. There I times I miss my old car (2013 BRZ, modded to about 250whp) but I don't miss the manual when I get home after a long stop 'n go commute out of San Francisco.

When it's in Sport Mode, the F56S is just as responsive throttle-wise as my BRZ was, and much faster when it comes to shifting than I ever was, even when I'd flat foot shift.

The BRZ was a better raw 'sports car' but the F56S is capable of almost as much fun, while being an infinitely better daily driver.