[ezmaass]

To each his own on this - there's no right or wrong answer, just preference at the end of the day.

I enjoy a manual, but in the R8, I chose to order the S-Tronic DCT. It's an amazing gearbox - incredible how fast it shifts. There's no better way to feel like you're in a racecar than to come fast into a corner, hard on the brakes, and fire off 2 or 3 rapid downshifts as you're decelerating... the exhaust barking in rapid-succession, the tach flying up with each one as it rev-matches... it'll make the hair on your neck stand up. The gear change happens before you can lift your finger off the paddle, and the gearbox really squeezes the most out of this engine.

The manual is also very unique in this car giving you a gated experience, click-clack with each shift. Driving one is always going to feel special, and there's enjoyment in mastering the skills necessary to do it well. While the R-Tronic single-clutch automated manual is going to give you perhaps one of the more raw experiences - like most earlier such units, it's going to kick you in the pants on gear changes, and it, too, comes with a set of skills needed to master smooth changes.

What's most important is that you buy what's enjoyable to YOU. There's merit in all of the choices, as they each bring something different to the table.

 

[ezmaass]

Agreed, they are not the same.

Driving characteristics...

And BMW's SMG tranny is a great example.
Those reviews are glowing.... [emoji846]

Sent from my SM-G991W using Tapatalk

I think most of the complaints about R-Tronic come down to a few things:

1. People expected it to drive like a torque-converter automatic... just press your right foot and go. But, as pointed out, it's a manual gearbox that just happens to have a hydraulically actuated robotic clutch. So, driving it more like a manual (especially as it relates to use of the throttle on gear changes) fixes much of this.

2. People didn't like the slow-driving experience where it felt more clunky. Driving it in manual mode, along with treating it like a manual would fix most of this. But, lastly, there were later TCU tunes that also smoothed things out.