@k2k6
It's a little more complicated than an issue with just the clutch, and depends on a lot of things.

In general, autos are king on stuff with narrow powerbands (such as any diesel engine), as the transmission can be calibrated to keep it on the boil all the time, and it'll iron out the narrow powerband issues to a certain degree.

There are ways of getting a decent manual gearchange from a powerful engine, but you have to look further than the redneck engineering of the US muscle cars. The Porsche 997 Carrera 2S I 'borrowed' last weekend was sublime, and had the best gearchange of any manual box I've ever encountered. It's absolute perfection. the weighting is spot-on and no matter how hard or quickly you shift, you feel like it's mocking you for being too gentle with it, and you can be as ham-fisted as you like and the lever will always find the gate you subconsciously wanted.

My personal preference on manual/auto depends entirely on the car to be honest, and how well the autobox has been set up. In my opinion, Merc 'sports' autos, such as the one in the CLS, are dreadful, and I much prefer the manual equivalent in most cases. This is because the gearbox still appears to have been set up with the German taxi market in mind - it's great for wafting along, but you just can't 'connect' with it when you want to press on. Something like a Jag XKR though, and you see how it's meant to be done...
( rubberduck should only be used after consulting with your GP, Mon 22 Sep 2008, 9:07, Reply)