[Z man]

Originally Posted by xbUser

zman,
you didn't miss a lot on auto. The min. rpm I shift to 5th is 35mph. In fact, between 35mph and 40mph, 4th and 5th doesn't make a lot of differences. In that territory, your foot saves you more gas than gear. Above 40mph, 5th gear saves more gas than 4th. On hills, I still can use 5th gear, but gives me no power at all. In some situation, I can't even hold the rpm anymore. Again, your foot saves you more gas. Most small car drives better with manual, but I pretty like auto on xB since the gear ratio is too close, making the car too noisy and busy.

That is pretty close. I take it you have driven an auto?
Much easier I must say.