Sounds insane […]

This is in Italy, it IS insane, and admittedly I don’t know how much my grievances against S&S are mitigated by automatic transmissions (never used in tests).
Tests do not require you to disable S&S, instructors simply tell you not to let out the clutch while in neutral to avoid it, but the strictest examiners see engine shutdowns as “failure to correctly operate the vehicle”, like stalling - if it happens once, we all make mistakes, if it happens twice, come on man, if it happens three times k gg bb, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a feature of the car.

Most of the people who turn S&S off do so because they find it annoying, I myself try to use it effectively but I prefer driving responsibly rather than playing chess with a half-metric-ton deadly weapon.

There are arguments that having your engine off on the road is unsafe, I guess those examiners are just being zealous? If they even exist, I’m trusting my instructor’s tales on this factoid, but drivers’ ed here is very strict so I’m inclined to believe him.

I do know that S&S systems require better starters, but that just means they cost more, right? And even if the increased cost is marginal, the increased fuel consumption on short stops is still a problem.