jameslb101 wrote:[
Worth bearing in mind that 99.somthing % of miles driven in RRs will be on the road. Having driven a RR on a pretty challenging off road course (the LR experience centre in Honiton) I didn't find having auto caused any problems, especially given the multitude of systems it packed, such as hill descent control.
Two classes of car where you don't often see with auto, but I think would far better suit it, are city cars and small hatchbacks (Ford Ka/Fiesta, VW Up/Polo, etc). Often these are rarely taken out of a local urban environment, and driven by people with little interest in driving who might not relish the joys of a perfectly executed heel and toe downchange on the B4560 (and there's no reason why they should). For their duty cycle and demographic, I believe an auto box would be beneficial for the majority of applications. However, they are also very price sensitive segments and opting for auto would represent a large bump in price proportionate to the cost of the car, which probably explains their lack of popularity here.
I've read reviews of RRs and they always point out how brilliant the car is off-road so I'm not bothered too much by the presence of an auto box (and in fact, for people who are new to off-roading, an auto would be more benefical to them than a manual as they don't have to think about the gearing and clutch control whilst at a 45 degree angle! )
That is a good point. Most of the people I see chugging around in tiny city cars are very often the ones that could do with a bit more assistance in their driving!