its a balanced arguement between the sin of desiring an autobox in a sports cars (althou most modern supacars have flappy paddle gearboxs nowadays) and the left wing approach to heavy clutches and it must be a manual to be a proper sports cars to thrash the knickers of your passenger..
Myself who after many years of desiring a lotus who thinks the excel thought was its more refined than the manual and has a real beautiful line to it rather than like the uglier bumpered early espirit (having seen a nice example parked in front of the Hethel based head office rather more than a few years back 1 bonfire night)bought a nice SA my train of thought that as an auto it was less likely to have been thrashed and as a rarer example would 1 day be worth alot more dosh.