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I've been driving stick for the last 30 years with one diversion to a Mercedes C63 which only came with a slushbox. Now that motor was so near perfect, that it didn't bother me that I had an automatic (not even a dual but an honest to goodness slushbox). Then life threw me a curve and I had to sell it.
I went back to stick, drove a JCW mini, a 135 and a 335 since. All 6 speed. Recently, life threw me another curve. A medical condition that causes me tailbone pain from sitting in general but even worse when shifting it turns out. Seems the action of working the clutch increased my pain tremendously. There is no cure, just management, so I resigned myself to getting another auto.
I ran across a fantastic condition 2011 with DCT and jumped in. Honestly, other than my foot randomly looking for a clutch pedal, I don't miss rowing at all. I love the snick-snick sound the powertrain makes when shifting. I love being able to put it in D (5 FTW!) whenever I need to just chill out and not participate as much. Most of all, the experiment worked. The pain has lessened.
While my situation is unique - the need. The feeling of not needing a stick shift is not. I can finally agree that MT is an antiquated technology and we've been holding on because of our emotional attachment.
If you're on the fence, go drive one and you'll soon join the supposed "dark side."
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