FWIW, I loved my slushbox. Or, more accurately, I loved effortless paddle shifting. I find the manual to be kinda going backward from an evolutionary context. A necessary evil, since I can't afford a sequential. :cornut:
It's only "correct" if your left leg/hip is still healthy enough to push in the clutch pedal without pain . Otherwise, it is NO SIN to have an automatic...just as long as it is an R53! :ihih:
Ummm, perhaps I should stay out of this conversation! After 30+ years of racing with varieties of manual shifting, I appreciated my paddle shifters. C&C link with more RR pics.
I did my time with stick shifts, from my '59 Classic Mini [where I learned to drive a stick shift], thru my dad's '63 Vette and my '66 Bug, when I went off to college. My wife and I moved from place to place and I learned to drive a column stick, too. We vacationed on Grand Cayman one Spring and I drove a rhd stick shift rental Mini. I went to Europe 33 times and spent a lot of seat time in Seats [Spanish Fiats], Renaults, and Citroens...ALL stick shifts. I swore I would get another Mini one day and now I have 3...an R50 CVT, and 2 R53a models. Times change and people age. I loved driving a stick and I would still be driving one if I had not blown out my left hip while on a walking tour of Monaco. As they say in Spanish, "asi es la vida" [that's life]. So be it if I'm in Purgatory, but, lemmie tell ya...with a bad hip and trying to shift an R53 with it, THAT IS Hell.
I'm not grumpy...older, yes, though. My time in an R53 with a 6-speed stick shift is done but I am happy with the automatics my Ses have. One is my wife's daily driver and is unmodded. The other...mine...IS modded and has seen the Dragon a lot of times over the years as well as many 2-day HPDEs with BMW CCA. I can't complain at all, and I will not.
The only way I'll drive an automatic is if my knees or hips can't deal with driving stick anymore. And then I very well might go drive off a cliff.
LOL! I HATE automatics! But some people need or like them so its understandable... Out of 13 cars over the years, I have had 3 of them though... All of those were not made with a stick though.
My two MGs have sticks, my MINI has an automatic, I wanted the paddle shifters! Heck, the MINI's automatic shifts faster than I ever could shift a stick.
Go right ahead. I value life too much for that, though. The paddle shifters and the floor shifter do a good imitation of a clutch pedalless automatic transmission. That said, though, I would NEVER be satisfied with driving either of my Ses in just "D" or "SD". Besides, I just love the whine of the supercharger and the burbling of the Milltek as I "downshift".
Dang, soon y'all might talk Dick into doing a manual-to-automatic conversion on the Rat. I know where he can get all the parts he'll need.
Don't do that. Then it'll be another four years of his car on jack stands. We've all lost four precious years of our lives to the ensuing drama; I'm not willing to give up any more.
The latter might work for some people, but not me. I'm NOT inclined to join AARP and do not wish to be associated with them. :frown2: Say and believe what you may about the automatic. No, maybe it's not for many younger guys, but it sure beats continually clutching when in heavy traffic...nudging forward, only to have to stop and never get out of second gear again...ride the clutch so much you burn it out. Nope, the automatic has a purpose and it is NOT limited to older drivers. When I tracked my S at Mid Ohio and Putnam Park during 2-day HPDEs with BMW CCA, I never once heard an instructor tell me my automatic was an AARP transmission for slow pokes.
There's a trick to traffic... open up a gap, let it idle along in first. Then lay on the horn when the first ******* jumps into your gap.