Petrol v Diesel. BMW 3 Series ?

I have a 535d and it is one of the greatest car I've ever driven. Powerful enough to trash most petrol cars at traffic lights start. It would still return 32MPG around town and 40MPG on motorways. However the auto-box is a terrible pain in the ar__. It adjust itself constantly based on your driving pattern. BMW uses the same gear box on many of their cars. I also have a fairly new 2.0 Petrol Audi Quattro Sport. The Audi consumes 1.3 times more fuel than the BMW, is less powerful and less fun to drive than the BMW. Hope this helps.