The one nice thing about a manual (in older vehicles, at least) is that you can park them facing downhill and start the vehicle rolling in neutral.
Some automatics, even in fairly basic cars like a Corolla, will downshift for engine braking when brakes are applied going downhill. Had an ‘07 and it was a good car. Not exciting in the least, but well made, quiet, never a single problem. The trans was well-mated to the engine. Not a speed demon by any stretch and flooring it for freeway merge unsettled the car, but in it’s “zone” it ran quietly, kept up with traffic, shifted smoothly. Probably the ideal commuter appliance if you’re looking primarily for economy and reliability.
That was one of my tricks when leaving the house late at night as a teenager.