The skill is in knowing when they should do it and actually doing it. Unfortunately many people that know they can do it never do, and some don't even know they can do it. I feel that I have been a lousy driver if I have to replace rotors and if the front pads don't last at least
50k miles and the rear pads at least 80k miles. Usually I achieve those modest goals. I keep my cars 180,000 miles typically and never have any engine problems and only had transmission problems on a '93 850 and my transmission lasted 145,000 miles, much longer than most on that model.You need to drive a modern automatic. They have had lock-up transmissions for many years, at least all through the 90s. They have a down side, sometimes they jerk slightly when they shift, but they are very efficient and definitely feel connected.
In some countries, when I rent a car I get a stick shift. I have a lot of fun driving them if the clutch isn't shot. I respect a person's liking sticks, but I find I can get all the things I look for in a stick in my shiftronic and my wife who doesn't drive a stick can drive it also. I used to hate driving the old automatics which didn't really have a low gear one could select, or they did and your head hit the windshield when it kicked in. Now I really hate getting behind someone with a stick. They slow down every time they shift. It is like 2 steps forward and 1 step backward, 2 steps forward and 1 step backward, etc. No stick has as smooth acceleration as a good automatic.