[tony20009]

I am liking the idea of the clutchless manual. I've been a died-in-the-wool manual transmission fan ever since I got my very first car, so I never thought I'd say this, but, as predicted by folks older and possessed of more life experience than I, I think I am ready to make the change to an automatic. Thirty-five+ years of pushing a clutch, and I'm over it. I don't mind changing the gears, I mind pushing the clutch.

I probably have another 5-8 years of clutch pushing left in me, but that's about it. That may dovetail well with BMW's implementation schedule if the OP is right about long times to market. So if they go clutchless, I'm likely to sign up for one. Then again, in 5-8 years, I'll have finished (or nearly so) paying for my children's educations and cars and food, and wardrobes, and vacations, etc. that I'll once again be buying something I really want just because I want it. Right now, none of the cars fitting that description offer manual transmissions anyway, so we'll see what happens.