So gents, one of the things I haven't asked about is Auto versus MC Shift. When I first started planning for buying a car next year I convinced myself that I had to wait until I could afford the new Sport with MC Auto. This was because it had the sound of the MC Shift but without the supposed hassle, complexity and high maintenance cost of the MC Shift. I managed to get a back to back drive of a new auto Sport (admittedly it was a cabrio) against a slightly older S with MC Shift. To my surprise, although the sound of the auto was pretty much the same as the MCShift (providing you had pressed the sport button and selected manual), I really enjoyed driving the older MC Shift more. It seemed much more"sporty", engaging and was more like driving a manual. This was because to drive it smoothly you had to modulate the throttle, think about your changes and really drive it in manual mode to get the best from it. With the Sport auto, it felt a bit too normal and easy, so made it less of an event to drive, (but equally made it very smooth and hassle free). The MC Shift also seemed to have a slight edge on a few more pops from the exhaust,which was also nice. This has led me to being happy to go for the S instead of the Sport which means I can get the car in 2014 vs waiting for the Sport to drop into my budget in 2015/2016. Finally, I kind of prefer the less sporty front end of the S to the more aggressive Sport as I think it is more in keeping with its grand touring role. Interested in thoughts on all of the above from those of you who own (or have owned) the cars in question and what led you to your choices?