Downsides / Upsides of Having An Automatic

Things like engine braking are useful to save your brakes on long hills. We don't have many in Ireland though. Regenerative braking makes that obsolete.

Good point about the taxis. They generally avoid cars that give trouble. Most have moved away from diesels.

Automatic makes sense for most people,myself included although I drive a manual.

Easier to drive,less hassle,handier all round.In my own case I have a back injury and constantly being on the gears in traffic irritates it.

Why do I still drive a manual? Because i love my car and I love driving,an automatic is boring and I hate the unresponsive nature of them (I drive an Automatic Audi Q2 regularly) and its less unresponsive than most but its still there.

I may be in the minority but I'll hang onto my 200bhp msnual as long as I can,they'll soon be a thing of the past.

Theres more to driving than drag racing a-b in a straight line. But certainly EVs have an advantage off the line. Instant torque.

EVs probably suit most people better.

Lack of engagement and more expensive bills if you are unlucky. Otherwise no.

For me, driving got boring a long time ago, since 99% of my driving is school run, shops, work, etc. - basically roundabouts and traffic every time long.

When I was doing this in a manual diesel, not only was it boring, it was a chore. At least now, in an EV with one-pedal driving, it's only boring.

Manual is only really attractive for certain cars on certain roads, and even then, only to certain people. For most of us, it has all the attraction of washing dishes in the sink or hand-washing clothes. Thank God technology has taken us beyond all that!

If you get a tiptronic transmission then you have the option of tapping the gear lever up or down to change gears or have paddle changers.

I have manual on a 3 series and automatic on a Z series with tiptronic.

Don't mind either of them

One downside to using a clutch on a regular basis is that it can affect your left leg / knee / back and perhaps contribute to sciatica.

Manual mode on some automatics helps with this...

Would agree, I've commented on this a few times. I've both a manual diesel and an EV. Much prefer the manual to drive except for in heavy urban traffic, the auto is easier. As you say it's not black and white, it's a personal preference. A lot of threads would die a premature death if this was accepted earlier

Auto is easier in stop start traffic. Or even heavy traffic on a motoway.No argument from me. Still prefer manual when not in traffic.

I'm teaching my oldest kids to drive a manual. I think it's going to be handy when they go travelling or buy an old camper or indeed can't afford an automatic car when they're old enough to drive.

Life skills; swimming, cycling, cooking, first aid, driving & hygiene.