This makes sense.
VA does have a command to help you here though, "Replace Auto with Type". It is available via the main menu or the Alt-Shift-Q context menu. Consider the very simple example:
auto stdStringDirect = std::string("simple new string");
and you can trigger this command by placing the keyboard caret into either "auto" or "stdStringDirect", and it converts the line into:
std::string stdStringDirect = std::string("simple new string");
which should speed up and simplify what you are doing.