I spent the last few summers in America driving automatic and it just felt unnatural coming back to a standard transmission. I've now swapped both cars over to automatics (BMW 320d and Citreon C4 Grand P) and I'm never going back.
You won't beat a manual. Dip the clutch, lovingly put the car into first gear, release the clutch, move 10 yards and repeat ad infinitum. How I miss my manuals........not!
We soon will buy a manual after years of autos. Not because we want to, but because my eldest is coming of age to learn to drive.
I seriously can’t see the attraction of a manual. My automatics are way quicker to shift 0-60 in 3.7s then I could data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
2.5 years ago I was able to chose a company car with an autobox; a Mercedes C220. I'd had some issues with sciatica and it mostly affected my left leg (ie clutch control) when I had a bout of it. I just find it so relaxing to drive, especially in heavy traffic, that I couldn't go back to manual for my daily driver again. It's actually more economical than my previous 320d manual as well, despite better performance.
There are 4 different modes, though I mostly leave it in the default 'Comfort' mode as 'Eco' just makes it change up too early and makes it feel sluggish. Sport and Sporthang onto the gears longer, which makes it feel more lively, but TBH hitting kickdown (or a manual downchange via the paddles) in Comfort mode feels similar if I need it for a short period like overtaking. I generally feel the changes are at the same point in Comfort mode that I would tend to change myself, so it seems tuned to my driving style.
We recently changed my OH's car and deliberately chose an auto SLK (partly due to resale as well as manual Mercedes tend to less desirable for some reason). While hers has the same 7G gearbox as my C class, the SLK has a manual mode so I can play using the flappy paddles or nudge the gear lever to control changes. On my C class, it only stays in manual mode for about 30 seconds and drops back into auto again, so I rarely bother, but the SLK stays in full manual unless you change back to Sport or Eco mode (apart from over-ridding to make it idiot proof like changing down from 7th when you stop, etc).
My 4 speed manual RS2000 is going to feel so odd to drive when I eventually get that back on the road...
Is that project still going? I had assumed that had been shelved data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Seems like an eternity, but all project cars take longer than planned, or never get finished for one reason or another.
It's still in the garage, waiting for me to get back to it: Six years ago I cut my face with an angle grinder doing some work on the inner wing and I haven't done much since, but now the house/home cinema is just about done I'm hoping to get back onto it.
I have to confess that the main reason is how much it would be worth to sell, so I can convert the garage into a studio.
I remember that, wow, doesn't feel like six years ago...
SLK you say?........ I love the look of those and the newer named SLC, I sat in one recently and it felt a bit odd sitting on the floor feet and legs straight ahead haha, I found the seat quite hard though So are they comfy on a longer distance (say 50 mile journey)
Is it a good car though in practical use???
I am tempted by these next time I change cars
I guess like any car seat, you need to make sure it suits you, but I find it comfy though I'm used to the seats in my C Class. Both cars are 'AMG line', so the seats are similar, but the SLK is lower as you say. The longest trip I've done in it was a 100 mile round trip to pick my son up from Uni, no problems with my back at all. He is over 6' and found it a bit short on leg room (not a problem for his Mum and Dad data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7).
In terms of practicality, the boot is decent enough size, but it's capacity is halved if you plan to lower the roof as you have to pull a cover/panel across inside the boot. It's certainly much bigger than our previous Mini was. The folding metal roof is much more like a standard car when it's up than my old Z3 was with it's canvas rood (or the winter hard top, which was a pain to fit). You feel nicely insulated in the winter or on the motorway. Driving with it down makes the car feel much faster for some reason.
It also depends on whether you can manage with only two seats, or if you have another car. We combined my Z3 and her Mini because we just weren't doing the miles to justify keeping both (500 a year in the Z3 for the last couple of years). Even so I don't expect we'll do more than about 4000-5000 a year in the SLK as my OH works from home and I do about 30K in my work car.
Closer to the OP; with the roof down manual mode seems more appropriate. When it's up and just driving around locally, the auto box makes it easy to drive in traffic.