Ooh! Points scored!
Nailed by another lurking vigilante!
Actually, I get to do sim training every six months, just like a real jet pilot. And I try to fly whatever I am handed to the same standards. When I want to have 'fun' with machinery then I use a motorcycle and not a passenger aircraft. Doh!
My point is that the autopilot (in the 328, at least) seems to be loaded with some fairly simple machine logic. Every so often, usually when one is preoccupied with some other task, it decides to use a 30° intercept despite being switched from 'HDG' to 'NAV' mode when just 3° or so off-track. That sort of thing. Usually it gives a nice, smooth capture, which is cool. Then, once in a while it reverts to 'student pilot' mode and takes a big cut, banking first one way and then the other as it attempts to get right on top of the FMS track. God only knows why!
When you get a wobbly localiser signal (not that uncommon in Africa) of course it chases every deviation, where a human would immediately know what the problem is and hold a steady heading while the needle makes like a windscreen wiper.
I don't know about the rest of you but I was certainly told by those held to be more knowledgable to hold the autopilot in fairly high regard, as if it had some higher abilities stuffed inside its dusty interior. Here I am flying with the best equipment ('airline quality' even) I have ever had the privilege to enjoy, and I find it sometimes doing stuff, when left to its own devices, that is distinctly sub-par. Kindly do not extrapolate from that, that I usually follow the 'set and forget' philosophy.
It is arguably a good idea to know what that device will do on its own, without your micro-management of it. You may not always have the time to watch it that closely, such as when dealing with an in-flight problem. So, sometimes when it doesn't matter much, I just turn it loose on its own. Too, 50% of the time there is someone else doing the flying, when I am usually just doing the comms, reading the checklist and watching what transpires.