Hi Diapason,
Have you thought long and hard on getting an RS instead of the IS?
Mine is imported this year recently got it actually. Got the Automatic version sick of getting my left legged pumped up sitting in traffic all the time. It does have the Triptronic wheel buttons for chaning gear which is a bit of fun but you quickly feel you dont have 100% control (I'd like to be able to change that) There might be an ECU box you can get that makes you better control the up / down shifting. It's all good I suppose you just can't harm the engine by misstake ;)
I deffo would not go back to manual wish the car didnt gear down that quick though might be my foot being a bit to hard at times ;)
You can test drive mine if you want to. I live in Dublin. - once you do you wont want an IS200 or IS300! Promise!
Currently the car is in the Garda station for fingerprinting, had some kn*cker break the rear passenger window two days ago...
Btw.. you never to young to drive automatic...
If you want to race it down in Mondello etc go for a manual
MrA