I have the 10 series auto. My commute to work everyday is 45 miles to and from so I drive just about 90 miles 5 days a week. It is 99% highway driving in central California so i'd say it is about 95% flat so I have a smooth drive all the way. I love that after a long day of work, I can have a smooth drive home rain or shine with the automatic. The noise is not too bad, you will get used to it and I like the paddle shift option too. What I like about it is that in an emergency, I wont have to worry about my wife or any other family member not being able to drive it because they don't know how to drive manual. Because I drive 99% highway driving I set my cruise control to 65-70 and just coast so I get 36-38 mpgs. I do like driving manual sometimes but all my life I have driven pretty much auto cars so it doesn't bother me at all because I love my car in general so I don't regret not choosing the manual transmission. And I don't regret it because I am 99% sure I am not going to drift it, race it, or take it to the track, and only mods I would only probably do on mine is window tint, air filter, and maybe exhaust. But that's just me, and oh it's pretty comfortable and has enough power for my work commute too and I weighed 280 lbs
when I bought the car.