I had a '91 Westy (2wd) auto tranny for 3 years and recently got an '87 Syncro Westy manual. The auto was great. Tough, and once I got used to it learned to use it a little like a manual on grades. The kick-down feature on mine was crisp and would really help when needing to "shift-down" using the accelerator pedal. Because I'm not a racer, my driving hasen't changed much since getting the manual, related to acceleration, but I have more driving control using engine compression than with the auto. It's also more "crisp" on acceleration than the auto. Doesn't seem to lose the power used to "drive" the auto. Others here have talked about putting up to about 230hp motors in their autos without any problems, so they appear to be "robust" as you've said. They'll probably chime in on that.

Bob

http://groups.msn.com/BobsPhotoShare

_________________________________________________________________ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 3 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail&xAPID=42&PS=47575&PI=7324&DI=7474&SU= http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/getmsg&HL=1216hotmailtaglines_smartspamprotection_3mf