But isn't that the point of the tiptronic option on the 'box?

If towing then occasionally I can see it may be beneficial to lock it into a gear but....

On road the TDV8 has so much grunt that, even with silly weights behind it, it just goes and the torque converter locks up good and proper. I regularly transport 6 bales of haylage on a tri-axle Ifor (a tad over 5te) up a long steep hill and the auto is perfect.

Off road, as Haylands states, auto everytime. For hill starts without spining they are superb, for rapidly hitting reverse on fails they are zillions times faster than a manual where you have to cross the gate and when you want to introduce serious get-up-and-go there is no way you change gear on a manual faster than a decent auto.

Oh, and if you really want to do silly stuff and race the odd boy-racer off the line left-foot hold it on brakes, brings the revs up to about 2500 before releasing the brakes and simultaneosly flooring the throttle. I guarentee that Corsa will go backwards very fast. Not that I would EVER advocate such irresponsible behaviour on the Queens Highway or risk destroying my transmission

Sorry, got a bit carried away there - back to being an adult (until I get my 8 yr old to bed)!!

I like a manual gearbox, but it just would not suit the character of a full fat IMO  Now: BMW 640d M Sport, Alpine White
Gone: Range Rover 4.4 V8 Vogue, Zambezi Silver, Charcoal Oxford Leather
Also: Mk1 Audi TT 1.8T Quattro, Brilliant Black
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