6 speed automatic, double clutch transmission, in a 2012 Golf Diesel. The word silky comes to mind - it's very smooth. If you want you can select your gears manually, similar to tip-tronic. This is my first automatic and likely not my last. Stop-and-go city traffic, cruising on a highway or letting 'er rip down the ol' Autobahn - it's great.
The reason for me to switch to automatic was a dumb habit I have developed over the last 20 years. When accelerating in a car I try to work against the movement by contracting the muscles on the front of my torso. Having to use a clutch pedal and manual switching made that worse over time. It's a lot easier for me to sit back and relax while the automatic does all the work. This likely sounds weird for most of you. I wish I could get rid of this hunchback posture :-/
What I don't like about the automatic is the fact that it can't think or look ahead. It can only compare current load (going uphill?) and engine reserves according to the gear, RPM and how much you press down on the pedal. It also won't go below 1000RPM. I do have to wonder if this is to protect the engine - very unlikely as low RPMs even under low load are normally just fine - or an acoustic "comfort" thing.
The thing is that, going around 30km/h places a lot, I do like to stay in 3rd and just hover along, using engine brake when necessary, and seldom the real brakes. But when you get down to 1000RPM in 3rd it will shift down to 2nd, braking too much and being unnecessarily unnerving.
The other thing is driving fast. I seldom go really fast anymore - read: fast as in the curbing the winding roads of the Bayerischer Wald. I am not a spring chicken anymore so my reflexes are shot, the car is too heavy and comfort oriented to be sportive. But when I do go fast, I do miss manual - automatic lacks the precision a manual clutch gives you. You get into situations where the weight of the car changes more rapidly than anticipated. The heavier the car, the worse.
1st world problems eh
I can only compare this to my Dad's ancient automatic cars, and it's a huge difference. Those were Chevy Caprice station wagons, one a prize-winning 250hp total conversion to a 2+2 seater pick-up, the other looked like just a family car, but had a Keith Black big block 400hp, and a rather boring Ford Granada
