I've had a look in a Mk4, and think pushing the hand control with my right hand and reaching through the steering wheel with my left hand to select D or R would be possible while stationary, I'm not so sure doing that while on the move to change between D and S would be advisable.
I've had 3 automatic cars with manual override with 'flappy paddles' but gave up on using those as I couldn't reach the up paddle when I had the h/c pulled back for the throttle.
As per my bio I had a Mk3 hatch ( not had it for 3 years though) and found it ideal for my usage which was mainly a 40 mile run on a dual carriageway and 5 miles in city rush hour traffic where the adaptive cruise and traffic assist made my life a lot easier.