I prefer manual for the amount of control and the fact manual cars do, in fact, last longer. I do daily an automatic because I got it for a good price, but otherwise, totally into manuals.
I like automatics to the extent that they're more practical for daily driving as it's one less thing to have to think about. However, for the reasons already noted in the OP post and more if I ever get around to getting myself a project car I'd probably go for a manual.
Actually that is untrue because the EPA has a different procedure for automatic cars in fuel economy, namely it doesn't take into account parasitic drains that the automatics run to the engine, also its well known that MPG figures don't fit real world driving. My Mazda 3 gets 35MPG, automatic because I generally drive conservatively.
I prefer manual for the amount of control and the fact manual cars do, in fact, last longer. I do daily an automatic because I got it for a good price, but otherwise, totally into manuals.
However, for the reasons already noted in the OP post and more if I ever get around to getting myself a project car I'd probably go for a manual.
Although the automatic cars are actually getting better at fuel efficiency that it might even be better than the manual it self.
~T