Today only about eight percent of the new cars purchased in the U.S. are bought with manual transmis...

Today only about eight percent of the new cars purchased in the U.S. are bought with manual transmissions. Compare that to Europe where around eight out of ten autos sold are stick shifts. The overwhelming preference for automatics in America means that even dedicated sports cars sold here had better offer an automatic.

And that’s just what Audi did when they launched the R8, their mid-engine supercar. It comes standard with a slick, six-speed manual transmission but they also offer an optional automatic