I bluntly always state I'm a hardcore manual guy. Auto is too boring, doesn't engage the driver.

After 4.5 years with a manual Civic 1.8, my revised take is this:

Reason I hate conventional auto is the inefficiency of the torque converter. Call me a perfectionist but I simply hate the idea of losses.

Manual in this regard is ideal, but not so the human shifting the gear. Let the human make the decision when to shift, but let automation handle the actual shifting.

Automated manual or dual clutch is the best of both worlds. The former, born from F1, is delegated to niche deployments, the latter, the new wave to take over the world. The Japs just have to get onto the bandwagon.

Green? CVT? Oh please. When/What is CVT not all noise and no movement? The idea of CVT is perfect, but after so many years, where is an implementation that does not suck? Last I heard, Nissan is the only one that makes decent CVT, but it's not something the industry took note.

Paddle shifters do not equate to dual clutch. Conventional torque converter does offer paddle shifting too.

this is a very confusing article.

it is very poorly expressed.

Dual clutch and paddle shifters aren't the same thing.

Dual clutch should be compared with manual and automatic transmissions.

Paddle shifters are just the human interface.