Neither asinine nor pointless, my post is absolutely correct. Even a perfectly functioning automatic is not good enough.
It doesn't look down the road and proactively select the right gear for the corner,or the traffic conditions, or the hill in front of you.
Then it chages gear partway through the manoeuvre/obstacle
Autos are reactive, not proactive, so theyre always too slow. Further, in a manual you select the gear directly. In an automatic, you request a gear and wait - in this case you have to wait so long you post on bitog about it.
Plant your foot and what happens? In a manual you accelerate. In an auto you wait for it to think, then you wait for it to kick down, then you accelerate.
To summarise, manuals do what you want, when you want, allowing forward planning and a smoother drive.
Autos are slow and stupid.
It's about being in control of the car, which, after all, is an appliance you bought to serve you.
Unless i am very much mistaken, you didn't go out to buy a car that you had to wait around for - in that case you might as well just get the bus and save thousands and thousands of your dollars.