Rumor: turbo 4 only for europe...USA later on!

[mario486]

Originally Posted by kolomee

At the risk of getting , for myself (and maybe there are still others out there like me who are a dying breed), the manual transmission is in the set range of requirements. Pretty much near the top, actually.

Sure, there are a lot of nice cars out there which are auto-only, and no doubt fun to drive in its own way. But at the end of the day, I ask myself, will I eventually miss the joy of having the third pedal and rowing my own gears? The answer is still a resounding YES; so any vehicle that can't be had with an MT gets crossed off the list automatically.

It used to be very high on my list as well and I fully agree in the right car a manual is certainly more fun. However, things are changing. Many cars are now available in Auto only. Also gone are the days when autos were the "lazy" option, some are now so good that they give better fuel economy and performance. I think this is where we are going in the future as manufacturers are relying on these "clever" autos to meet consumption and emission targets. Simply put some of the modern ATs are better than a human at shifting.

Quite a challenge in Europe I might add as most cars are sold in MT form. For the smaller engines anyway. Hopefully some manufacturers will still offer triptronic, PDK etc to give drivers some option of playing with the stick/paddles.

For me, the X1 is better suited in auto but that's just my opinion. As I have said earlier it's a first for me, quite an eye opener.

[Denny Swift]

Originally Posted by kolomee

At the risk of getting , for myself (and maybe there are still others out there like me who are a dying breed), the manual transmission is in the set range of requirements. Pretty much near the top, actually.

Sure, there are a lot of nice cars out there which are auto-only, and no doubt fun to drive in its own way. But at the end of the day, I ask myself, will I eventually miss the joy of having the third pedal and rowing my own gears? The answer is still a resounding YES; so any vehicle that can't be had with an MT gets crossed off the list automatically.

Kolomee,
You said it! I may be a freak of nature, but I've never owned a car with an automatic in my relatively long life. I perhaps drive a loaner or my parent's car with an automatic once a year. Whenever I do, I just laugh to myself. I honestly don't understand how anyone could drive one and enjoy it. I certainly believe in "to each his own", so I don't want to start that argument. I've often thought about the frequent quote: "Manuals are fun, but not in traffic!" and honestly have never in my entire life been in any traffic situation where I wished I had an automatic. I used to drive to center city Philadelphia about once a month. The traffic would routinely become stop and go for at least 30 minutes. I much prefer a manual even in those situations. With a great manual like the BMWs have, I can just leave it in 1st and very easily control the gas to maintain a constant, very slow speed (barely above idle) and hardly have to ever touch the brake. In fact I make a game of seeing how long I can go in very thick traffic without having to touch the brake. I thoroughly enjoy it and am amazed at how 100% of everyone else does the brake, gas, brake, gas, brake, gas... dance forever. Even if I had to drive in thick traffic daily (and I'm glad I don't!), I'd still much prefer a manual. Granted traffic just plain sucks, but a manual can sometime almost make it enjoyable for me. On the other hand, an automatic will ruin the driving experience for me 100% of the time.

Heck, I even crashed my dirtbike one time and smashed my left foot pretty badly. I had to drive home about 70 miles and smiled through the pain of each clutch depression that I made with the ball of my left heel (the only part of my foot that was below my pain threshold.)