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Clearly this is a very passionate subject for many here, and the merits of one gearbox over the other could be argued ad infinitum.
At the end of the day Pete I think we are both arguing the same thing, both sides want the gearbox that they want.
There are a couple of things that have been said by some posters that are factually wrong, particularly how performance is measured. Performance is just that, it is measured by benchmarks in key areas and the highest score wins. A DCT will be a contributing factor in wining many of the performance benchmarks, the end.
However, when it comes to subjective measures, ie the fun factor, some may prefer the MT over the DCT, they have more enjoyment rowing the gears, but no more enjoyment than the next person who prefers the DCT over the MT.
For example, your comment below could equally be applied to a driver of a DCT car;
"but having owned a DSG car I've found that personally I nearly always prefer the driving experience on US roads in a good manual."
Part of your argument below is correct, re fuel economy, the other part is not. Two engines with identical displacement, one NA the other with a turbo (or other form of forced induction), the turbo will be superior in all categories, including torque, HP, and fuel economy. If you were trying to compare a larger displacement NA motor to a smaller displacement turbo motor, then maybe.
"A different argument, but ignoring fuel economy normally aspirated motors are objectively still better. They are lighter for the same power output and have better throttle response. They are going the way of the dodo purely because of fuel economy standards, which is also contributing the the MT's demise."
Your below comment is part of the problem, you define a purist, enthusiasts car by connecting it to a MT, which is simply garbage. Enthusiasts come in all shapes and sizes, I am positive you are an enthusiast, but equally, if the 1M was sold with DCT, other enthusiasts would have bought every last one of them.
"Finally if they had, with sunroofs, automatics, etc rolling around the 1M's reputation as a driver's car would have been diluted. That 1M could not have been the purist, enthusiast's car that we got."
I will say no more on the issue, my hope is that BMW offer this M2 in both MT and DCT and all enthusiasts can enjoy its greatness.
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