[LeRoux Strydom]

I was pretty impressed with my brother's A3 3.2 with DSG. My only criticisms are that at low speeds, pull-aways can be jerky, and the lack of "feel" of the transmission engaging that you get in your leg with a manual clutch. The up/down-shifts were very quick indeed.

I totally agree that manual transmissions (at least on higher-end cars) are history. DSG or tiptronic/steptronic (call it what you like) will rule the market. Low-budget $hitboxes will still have manual gearboxes for cost reasons, as they will be the last to adopt newer technology. Data point: check out how many 5-series or 7-series BMW's (even X5's and X3's for that matter) are sold nowadays with manual gearboxes versus steptronic. Very few indeed, some models are not even offered with manual boxes.