Quote:
Originally Posted by Sportstick
You are right about speed and may as well add in fuel economy, excitement can vary by preference, but, by definition, not true about engagement. With a MT, more parts of your brain are making more decisions about moving more parts of your body....that's more engagement with the car. There is nothing that can happen with AT which comes close to the mental and physical engagement needed to do a smooth double-clutch downshift. And, that's why some make the choice for MT.
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Engagement is a tricky term to try and define. Yes with a manual car you are using more of your brain and body to drive the car, but doesn't that mean that with this multitasking you're technically less safe because you're worried about having take your hand on the wheel to shift, or drop in your left foot on the clutch to downshift and brake in heated situations when you could just have a computer do it instantaneously for you or you mash the paddle button on the steering wheel, while keeping all your focus on the road ahead.
Maybe statistics are in your favor because most people who drive AT are simpletons but if you're performance oriented and you've had a stick car before and then you get a BMW AT then I think you can find ways to enjoy the new experience, and engage just as much if not more.
There is no hard and fast rule to measure which car is more engaging so this thread will inevitably dissolve into opinions left and right but I can think of plenty of reasons why the 8AT is better, and like I said before...most professional race cars employ automatic transmissions and I'm sure you can agree that any team would want their driver as engaged as possible.