In little European cars with small engines, you can't go very fast in first gear without pushing the engine, so when you are in towns you are constantly shifting from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to 4th, and having to stop at traffic lights and start all over again. It's worst with puny old small cars like my old Renault Clio (having to stop every few hundred yards for traffic lights is more annoying) but you get used to this, however an automatic would eliminate all that shifting up and down in towns (British towns are crammed with traffic, traffic lights and junctions). But I'm glad I know how to drive a manual, to me automatics aren't very important and in powerful cars you could go faster in the lower gears anyway. I don't feel I NEED an automatic because I know how to use a manual. But most hatchbacks are so weak you can't go more than 10 or 15 mph in first gear before you need to shift up (unless you want to wear your engine out).