The sedan, with its automatic shift, was more fun than the manual, and was my preferred ride.

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The transmission was excellent in automatic mode, and manual shift is still accessible by pulling the center console-mounted gear selector to the left.

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If the Verano's product planners have ambitions of entry-luxury competitiveness, they will have to smooth off some of the Verano's rough edges: Here the shift shocks the slight jarring as the six-speed automatic upshifts are noticeable.

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Hitachi and Matsushita, another big consumer-electronics firm, are proposing to end automatic seniority-based pay increases after workers reach a certain age, and to shift to performance-based pay structures instead.

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The new automatic gearbox will also blip the throttle on downshifts (in manual mode), reducing shift shock that can unsettle the car in hard cornering.

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There's an automatic mode to BMW's SMG, and it happens to be a very pleasing system, with adjustable shift speed so you can dial in how smoothly gears change.

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