Quote Originally Posted by koukis14
That is a fantastic way to lose any credibility on an automotive forum. I don't give two shits if they use that crap in F1 or not. Any true enthusiast would take three pedals over two any day. There is a reason it is called the man pedal. The only reason to get a performance car with a dual clutch transmission is if it is going to be a track car where never ever making a mistake shifting counts. Or if your a complete cock bag....
Allow me to voice my opinion here.

I drive a conventional manual car. I do like it, but that's probably mostly due to the way I drive it. I enjoy blasting through mountain roads and taking random drives whenever the mood takes me, and a manual gearbox is great for that. I have been stuck in hours of backed up traffic and driven around slow cities, and I realize there is a time and a place for an automatic or automated manual. It really depends on the kind of driving you do.

I believe I can speak for most of us on the forum when I say that we like to drive fast. Now when it comes to driving fast, you can go old school with the conventional manual gearbox with a clutch pedal and gear shifter or you can make a compromise for daily comfort by opting for something with a torque converter or automated clutch. True, they may not be quite up to the level of driving fun, reliability and fuel economy that conventional manuals provide, but in heavy traffic and daily city driving, I'd much rather have something automatic.

I have never driven a car with a good paddle select system like Audi's or BMW's. It seems like a really intriguing concept to me, and until I get the opportunity to drive it, I can't dismiss those systems as being worse than either a conventional manual or a conventional automatic.

Remember also that everyone is entitled to his own opinion. I don't see how a preference for an automatic loses an individual's credibility in a community. He may well know more about cars than all of us do.

Regarding the new E92 M3, I am a HUGE fan. I am also a HUGE fan of the E36 and E46 models as well. To choose favorites, again, I'd have to drive each one. The M3s in the past have always been about handling, and from what I've read about the new one, things are no different. I'd much rather have a car that handles well than an outright fast car in the straights. But as long as it handles well, it doesn't hurt to have a big engine...