The biggest hurdle for automatics (IMHO) is not shifting speed
per se, but rather the transmission's reaction speed when you
try to force it to shift manually.  

This was the biggest fault with the Subaru ECVT -- it took SOOOOOO
LONNNNNNNNGGGGG for the tranny to find the right ratio.

The sales propaganda says the Saturn automatic is effectively an
electronically-shifted manual.  Might this mean that Saturn has
conquered the problem?  (I dunno, only driven Saturn 5-speeds)

INPUT, PLEASE!