Subaru recently announced the 2015 Subaru Outback and stated there would no longer be any manual transmissions, only CVT transmissions with paddle shift manual override.
While I love manual transmissions and would prefer to have them I recognize that at some point I will likely end up with something else, whether or not I want to, due to the general trend away from manual transmissions.
To date, my favorite automatic I've driven is an Audi A4 (B7) which had a wonderful manual override on the 6-speed automatic transmission, i.e. it had a fair amount of bite on downshifts and did not nanny gear changes too much.
Today I test drove a 2014 Subaru Outback Limited (CVT).
In manual mode it is fairly good at not nannying shifts and lets you choose which gear you want to be in, for the most part.
For example you can shift up to 4th gear, but not higher, when doing up to 30 mph.
You have full discression on down shifts but there is very little initial bite, even when you dump two gears. My guess is this lack of bite is due to it being a CVT transmission and not having true ratios like a traditional automatic transmission (with torque converter or double clutch).
I would say acceleration is smoother and better in automatic mode than in manual, the ability to keep the engine in its most efficient range is best.
Also, as compared with the 2014 Subaru Outback with a manual transmission I drove this feels significantly less connected to the road and there is less feedback. In some ways this is true across all automatic transmissions, but even more so in a CVT transmission.
Note: for those who don't know a CVT is a continuously variable transmission which means it has no truly fixed ratios and changes to keep the engine in the optimum RPM range.
