“Our cars are about effortless driving, and having a stick shift doesn’t aid that,” said Brett Boydell, Bentley’s head of interior design. He said Bentley customers haven’t even inquired about a stick shift option for decades.”
Clearly none of them Bentley hoi polloi is a pilot.
Or they fly behind a Centurion or Austro; just turn the key and shove the throttle forward.
Or they fly jets. 
Anyway, it’s not like there is a car with manual mixture control, real pilots seem to be too much of a niche for car manufacturers to bother. 
Maybe a little more automation in planes would make planes more attractive to Bentley drivers. At the moment its so difficult to fly when drunk, so it’s not the best fit for them.
I drove a delivery truck for about a year ‘bout a quarter of a century ago. Never had any desire for a stick shift after that, regardless of my ride. They’re better at exactly nothing but “like” if one’s so inclined.
However, an auto gearbox is at least 10% off the MPG. Plus it’s always in the wrong gear when you need performance
I can well see Bentley customers want auto gearboxes. I know a guy who was a Merc salesman and then a BMW salesman and he said Merc drivers want auto and BMW drivers want manual. The brand self selects on the character profile… as so much else in life.
Peter wrote:
However, an auto gearbox is at least 10% off the MPG.
The latest models of automatics actually outperform manuals in terms of MPG. But we are talking e.g. seven-speed automatic transmissions.
Merc drivers want auto and BMW drivers want manual. The brand self selects on the character profile… as so much else in life.
There are some interesting exceptions. I know a retired auto racer who currently has a Porsche 911 and a couple more cars in that class, but his daily driver is a Mercedes-Benz 4matic with every piece of automation possible. He says each type of car has its own applications.
10% of MPG if it uses a hydraulic converter with no torque converter lock. DSG has no MPG penalty. Things have moved on since the 60es :-)
You may want to take what that salesman said with a grain of salt. I am not a motorhead at all, but I’d be surprised if the majority of high end BMW drivers cars go for manual. It gets worse.. My i3 (not even high-end) doesn’t even require me to move my foot to the brake pedal for braking, and they do seem to sell these cars.
So I wanted a BMW and I am a lazy driver. Maybe some sort of a split personality and I should consult a good psychiater.
Lazy in the air too, see post 2..
Peter wrote:
However, an auto gearbox is at least 10% off the MPG. Plus it’s always in the wrong gear when you need performance
Yeah…..in the 1970s! I was amazed when I first came to the UK 20 odd years ago and saw so many high end cars with manual transmissions (and Diesel engines)….and hear people spout the same misconception as Peter….it is changing slowly….mainly because those cars now rarely come with a manual option…. But will no doubt it will become academic as EVs takeover…
