Drove an Automatic with rear exhausts last week, and loved it. Looks good, relatively easy to enter and exit, good driving position, nice 'meaty' steering, mainly very good ride except on huge bumps, extremely fast, sounds fantastic, nice interior.
For me, the manual gearbox would be preferable and I have heard it makes the car feel much more like a modern Plus 8 rather than a different model, but the automatic gearbox works very well, and the car is still very controllable.
The rear exhausts sound great and look great on the Plus 8, and I would not go for the side exhausts on this particular car, even though I love them on my Aero 8. Mind you, if you have gone for the side exhausts you'll love the rumble, so I wouldn't worry, either way.
Enjoy the anticipation! It's a great car for a quick blast and for long distances too.
