My advice would be to try and test drive a manual and an auto back to back in the same weather conditions and on the same roads and route to get a true comparison.
On the back road twisty stuff perhaps the manual is more engaging, whereas someone who lives in a city stuck in traffic an auto is kinder to dodgy leg joints, or do you do lots of motorway miles ?
The auto can also be used on the paddles, like a sort of semi-auto
