Don't know where your from, but IMHO a manual is hard to beat in snow country--I guess Winter mode is nice on the autobox but I would still prefer to decide which gear I wished to use leaving a stoplight or intersection. All the cars I owned were manuals until the last several years--now all are automatics--I must say that for the few times I wish to shift a 5 or 6 speed, there are numerous times I appreciate the autos when hanging around on congested interstates and city driving. I haven't felt the v70 clutch so I can't comment on it, but a real manual should have a nice firmly sprung clutch (european idea) not a wimpy weak dead fish clutch (many japanese cars) so my foot, leg, etc. gets tired of the constant pedal action in bad traffic with a properly sprung pressure plate.