Thanks for all the good feed-back. It's all been very useful.
Furthermore, as I've read some horror stories about the manual jumping out of first into neutral, and the fact that a lot of the driving I do is in traffic, married to the fact that MB do make very silky autos I'll opt for the automatic.
Maybe you did. Maybe you walk.
Maybe you rock around the clock
Tick-tock. Tick-tock.
Maybe I ride. Maybe you walk.
Maybe I drive to get off, baby 8)