^^^ No.
I know what you mean, I've never been a big fan of the automatic manuals. Luckily with the turbo, I don't really need to down shift that often to gain enough acceleration. I bought the Malibu for a family car, so I'm usually taking it pretty easy with the kids in the car. When I want some fun, I jump in the audi.
That's strange about the trunk button - You're talking about on the key fob right? Mine has 5 buttons - Lock, Unlock, Trunk, remote start, and Emergency. Along with that, it also has a small button on the trunk itself that you can press that opens the trunk, along with electric closing. Must be a higher end model thing. Did yours have the Nav with the backup camera's and motion censors lights on the side mirrors?
Along the lines of the manual modes/ My brother has an audi R8 with the paddle shifters and I don't mind driving that car at all haha. Although I would prefer an actual manual on a car like that.
A button on the trunk you say?
Ah - I just googled it and found there is indeed a button on the trunk, mounted on the center brake light. lol. We never even saw it. The car was black and I didn't really check the manual. Apparently I did a derp. I checked all the usual places, GM usually puts it either on the inside of the door pocket, or in a little cubby hole underneath the steering wheel, or in the glove box, or there's at least a key hole clearly visible on the trunk. I thought you could only use the fob, that would be a dumb idea once the battery wears out. Oh well.
I got to drive an R8 V10, 6 speed manual complete with gated shifter. It was just sexual. If only I got to use all the gears
But, that is a seriously nice car. Personally however, I think I would want just a manual Audi S4, debadged with maybe a few upgrades. Perfect road car. I think if I could just buy whatever new car I wanted for daily use, I would take an S4 over my second choice (a GT 86 - you know it as the Scion FR-S) solely on the grounds of practicality. Classics are more fun to thrash, there's no faggoty driver aids or power steering, so I'd be inclined to keep a car like my 2002 for that. On the other hand, I could just as easily never buy a new car and continue driving classics until I can no longer drive them.