[moldcad]

FWIW, I'm absolutely for the 'pro AT' arguments in this thread. In my 45 years of driving, the 528xi F10 I bought 3 years ago (and swapped after 2 years for my current 2015 M235i), was the very first AT car. It was hard to say this about my F10 (due to it being underpowered with the smallish N20, large and heavy body and xDrive on-top of that) - but with the M235i I can say the ZF 8AT helps in getting the '2 in 1' personalities of that car...

During my frequent long distance journeys, or in a bumper-to-bumper situations, the AT is a blessing (especially for my arms and legs, weakened seriously after unsuccessful neck spine surgeries 10 tears ago). So yes - this 'mode', or personality, of the automatic M235i you could call a 'lazy mode'... BUT on appropriate type of a road and in a high mood for enthusiastic driving, it's so easy for me to put the car into 'engagement mode' (as opposite to 'lazy' or 'boring'). It's enough to switch it to Sport+, flip the stick left into the M/S position - and I have all the advantages of an MT cars, plus some. The simple fact (somebody's already mentioned it in this thread) that in such configuration, the computer will never downshift for you when - for example - in a drift, and close to the red line, is what making this car's automatic transmission hand ALL THE CONTROL over to you, with both your hands on the wheel and shifting paddles under your fingers...