I've driven lots of big diesels with automatic transmissions. With the right transmission they're not bad at all.
The only think I hate about some newer automatics are the push button controls. Living in Colorado it's absolutely necessary to gear down to go down the mountain. And those trucks with those pesky push button controls I'm always hitting the wrong button, neutral, reverse, up instead of down, the radio on/off button, etc. You name the button, and I've pushed it trying to downshift.
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