I appreciate all remarks. I think I knew now why people prefer an Auto in Pakistan: traffic! Seems like people sit in rush hour traffic a lot now compared when i last visited 8 years ago.
As for advancement - automatic transmission is not a new thing and it has not rendered the manual obsolete (as we see in case of BMW M-series or Honda S2000 which are only available with a manual). Here's a little history of when was first auto-transmission invented:
The first automatic was invented in 1904 by the Sturtevant brothers of Boston. It provided two forward speeds that were engaged and disengaged by the action of centrifugal weights without need for a foot-operated clutch. As engine speed increased, the weights swung out to engage bands -- first the low-gear band and then the high-gear band. The unit failed because the weights often flew apart.
The next significant attempt at an automatic transmission was by Reo in 1934. Called the Reo Self-Shifter, it was actually two transmissions connected in series. For ordinary driving, one unit upshifted itself automatically in relation to car speed through the engagement of a centrifugal multiple-disc clutch -- much the same idea used by the Sturtevants. The second transmission was shifted manually and was used only when a lower gear was needed.
In 1937, Buick and Oldsmobile came out with a transmission called the Automatic Safety Transmission. it had a conventionally clutch for shifting the transmission into forward or reverse. Once in forward, the transmission shifted automatically by using two hydraulically operated planetary units -- one for LOW gear and one for DRIVE. The unit was the forerunner of the GM Hydra-Matic, which was born in 1938.
The Hydra-Matic consisted of three planetary gearsets that were operated hydraulically. A fluid coupling was used to connect the engine and transmission. Credit for perfecting the fluid coupling goes to Chrysler, which developed the concept in 1937. However, Chrysler did not make use of it until 1941, when the Chrysler Fluid Drive transmission was introduced. This was not an automatic unit, but a standard transmission with a fluid coupling, not a clutch.
By 1948, the automatic transmission had evolved into the hydraulic torque converter that we know today coupled to a planetary geartrain. The first to use the converter was Buick. The '48 Buick Dynaflow, as it was called, was the model for present-day automatic transmissions. Others soon followed with similar units -- Chevrolet Powerglide, Fordomatic and Merc-O-Matic in 1950; and the Chrysler M-6 Torque Converter Automatic in 1951.
