Hmmm, thorny subject in our household SWMBO used to race bikes, well enough to win a UK championship so knows a thing or two about getting the most out of an engine and gearbox, she is very definitely in the manual camp, even in our discovery with 1in 3 hills which when towing a Horsebox loaded with a couple of big horses can make things tricky.. Frankly I contend it would be a dam site easier with an auto, very much so when reversing with a half an arm span each side on our narrow lanes... I have done some serious off reading in an 1984 G Wagon auto and I latter had a slightly tweaked defender manual, personally I would choose the auto for off roading it allowed me to pick the path n difficult terrain and contend with fast changing ground conditions by locking into low ratio 2nd and it could drop to 1st if required, I could focus on brakes and throttle critical when climbing over large rocks.... It's interesting to see what we both do in my A5 Quattro's when in the mood, me, I switch auto to sport to sharpen the changes and if really pressing on paddles to down shift into corners and get right on the torque curve for fast overtaking, my good lady however slots into manual and flicks up and down the box whilst missing the clutch

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All personal taste isn't it and none the worse for that.....these days maximum attack driving is something I very rarely do, busy roads, and high performance engines, back in late seventies I rowed my MGB along on the box constantly trying to ekk out small incremental gains, same with my mk 2 golf gti, these days not really required I could anileate a early gti in drive on an auto box in the 2D never mind the 6's.... But I might have the odd bit of fun in deepes darkest Wales with the SC when she is run in and then I will be using the paddles.....