Possibly, though I see above that VW’s can be a bit jerky.
On the other hand, the jerkiness could just be due to a poor driver! 
The stick is like yer usual Automatic: P, R, N, D.
When overriding Auto by pushing the stick sideways, the numbers illuminate on the dashboard.
It’s a Merc, more than ten years old.
I suspect you haven’t driven an auto for a long time because these days there is usually a manual override.
in my Dmax you just move the lever to the right and the gearbox is in manual mode, push the lever forward to change down and pull it back to change up. Easy to use engine braking on hills if you need to. The actual gear is displayed on the dash instead of “D”
Even better the gearbox still protects itself by stiopping you using an gear that will damage the transmission.
My previous car had CVT transmission and at first I found it somewhat disconcerting to accelerate and see the engine revs drop as the gearbox did the work. In normal mode there was actually no engine braking at all (for economy) to get engine braking you put the gearbox in “sports” mode.
No problems driving an auto on wet grass, sand or snow with limited slip diff or traction control.
Always a manual for me. I like to be totally in control and also like the higher MPG from a manual gear box :thumbup:
Auto.
I’ve got two feet,left and right.
Auto car? Two pedals!
Manuel, three pedals? And that stick thing in between the seats ?
Having driven thousands of cars in the course of my life,Auto every time!
That would be a lot of cars in your life…
I have never had an automatic, and never been bothered about having one.
Maybe if I had tried one, I would have liked it - but I never have.
I’d be reluctant to change something I am used to now, and I don’t find changing gear any bother at all.
Wasn’t he that Spanish waiter on Fawlty Towers?
The line that cracked me up was:
Basil: “Manuel, bring me a hammer.”
Manuel: “Si, si, a hamma sandwich.”
My brother said almost exactly the same thing but when he visited he drove my auto and an auto rental car. Within weeks of returning to the UK he had sold his car and bought an auto.
When I visited to UK a few years back I rented a car and was amazed to discover that almost all the cars were manuals. Here it is almost impossible to rent a manual car. Surely no one believes the BS about being “in control” with a manual gearbox especially on crowded UK roads.
You’re probably right, Bruce.
It’s just I feel too long in the tooth to change now.
I am too much of a fusty old fart. 
I wasn’t being critical but I think driving an auto was a bit of an epiphany for my brother. When I got my first auto I regretted not getting one years before, that seems to be a common theme, they are only a couple of grand($) more than a manual which is peanuts really on a new car.
Well maybe I’ll be brave enough to try one, one of these days. 
Manual of course. Automatic is boring to me.
Old habits die hard Bruce, besides we do have rural too, depending where one lives of course.
I took my first driving test in 1951 in a '41 Mercury Coupe. No automatic or turn signal lights for that matter.
Also had a '63 Corvette with a 4 speed and I wouldn’t have wanted an “auto” in that car.
Also had an '84 diesel VW Rabbit with a stick. With the lack of power in that diesel, when you got in hilly country, shifting was like playing a banjo. You’d go through all 4 gears going up a long hill.
Since those years it’s always been an auto and they’ve improved greatly since the early “slide-o-matics”.
Oh, Mups. I wouldn’t describe you as fusty.
I took my test in a 3 ton Bedford truck. Manual crash type gear change. (Double de-clutch). I also took my London taxi drivers (police tester) in the same type of gear change.
But I was then driving automatic cabs for 45 years and still do with my present car.
You’re right JBR; fluffy maybe, fusty never. 
I passed my test in a manual car but after a good number of pain experienced in my feet (not both at the same time - luckily), I had to change to an automatic. I would it find it difficult to change back. Of course, when we have to go totally electric, we will not have a choice. Only automatics available.
Although I quite like driving automatic’s I prefer the greater control a manual gearshift offers.
Preferences will matter less and less in years to come though because you don’t need gears on an electric motor.