I'm surprised it'll take so long to pair up the 6MT manual and the 1.5T engine. It's a new engine but not a new transmission right? I would think that it takes more time and engineering work to pair up an auto compared to a manual since there's less programming involved?
My theory is that auto 'journalists' sometimes like to say something completely out of left field to be a contrarian and get attention. If he just agreed with all the other reviews a month after they all came out, who would bother reading his review :)
Calling the styling bland definitely...