For the last few years of my time in the Fire and Rescue Service where I responded to incidents in a car fitted with blue lights and lots of loud noises to make people aware of my presence, my car of choice was a BMW 320d with a lovely auto box (eight speed I seem to remember although I never counted them). Weaving through towns and also motorway traffic was made immeasurably easier with the auto box taking the strain and allowing me to concentrate on the road, road hazards, and of course whatever I was driving towards. That said, I just love the MX5 'box in my Plus 4 which is a joy to use. I would have to disagree with the Guardian journalist however in that I've never considered changing gear to be a source of any particular pride, or a perfect gear shift to mean anything to anybody else except myself.
I agree with you, I believe an automatic allows your full attention to concentrate on the road and allows both hands on the steering wheel at all times. The wife prefers automatics and never really enjoyed driving a manual and from choice would always go automatic. With the increasing amount of sensors in cars, eg camera's to detect your head and body position whilst driving and warnings if your appear to be dosing off, the modern car is much safer environment with multiple air bags etc. than in the past. I believe with the array of information that can be displayed, eg % of coasting. acceleration, braking etc., that my style of driving has slightly modified and improved, become a little smoother and more relaxed. I often used the flappy paddles to move up a gear when cruising on a motorway, believing the higher gear was more economical, but the auto in eco mode often disagrees and I achieve better mpg leaving it to select the right gear for the prevailing circumstances. The downside of the modern intelligent auto boxes, is they learn your style of motoring after a while and if you are heavy footed, it facilitates that environment all the time, even when it a little unnecessary..
I don't believe I've lost anything in driving an modern automatic car, far from it they are less tiring ( especially in commuter traffic) and you arrive more refreshed.
