I thought i would let you guys know how the new auto feels as i dont see alot of info around and i took collection of mine today.
The new 6 speed box for me feels like its a been a missing part of the puzzle since my MY11 4 speed auto, The new box helps drive at lower RPM's and really improves MPG. My old i30 used to do around 41 mpg town driving and 49/50 motorway driving and that was after a good run in.
The new box is managing to help achieve an MPG of 44 around town, Now my engine only has 30 miles on it, so its obviously still very tight which is why i am so impressed at the 44mpg, My previous i30 when going through the run in period managed to pull around 30mpg. This slowly climbed after around 1000 miles. The old style box used to slide around on a track the new on simply pulls backwards in a straight line and can be pushed to one side in D to use the sequential gears (controlling it yourself)
I found it to feel very solid, the shifter feels very nice and the new gear knob and set up feel very up market. The shifts are short and smooth and i really think the gear box feels more responsive it seems to have a better idea of when to shift up and down.
Honestly i cant possibly begin to tell you how much better the new box is. It really is astronomically better than the old box, and the old box wasn't bad by any means.
I would gladly recommend an auto, Maybe after many more miles i will have a better idea of it but for now,