My first few cars had manual transmission. I even rebuilt a gearbox or two, I think; manual ones are easy. Helped my uncle to work on many parts of his cars.
However I haven't owned a car with manual transmission in years. They are just not as practical in a city. On a freeway a manual gearbox will save you some gas; however in a city it will be just a [dangerous] distraction. I'm more focused on getting from A to B, rather than on performance. The car can take care of the torque conversion ratio just fine on its own. There are transmissions today that are the next step past the slushbox. The electric torque converter that is used in Prius is likely more efficient than a manual gearbox, and it has no switchable gears. Quite an ingenious piece of mechanics, actually.
My Hyundai elantra has a 6 automatic speed/hybrid manual transmission. No clutch but all six gears are available. Highly useful when torque is needed quickly in on ramp or passing situations or to escape multiple car/truck traffic box scenarios when you know one distracted glance or cell phone tweet will cause a multiple accident. The car in eco mode pads the transmission a bit when in automatic mode to save gas...but switches out in manual mode. Third gear in manual takes one to 75 from 25 in a bout 3 seconds and the red line on the tachometer hasn’t been close to being reached. Very useful in getting past liberal chicks who won’t let you into the lane(even if there was room for them to get over).
As for traffic box scenarios...I remember one where at 70 miles an hour and downshifted just to 5th gear and shot out of there at 90mph as a truck was coming over into the left.
I hadn’t meant to go that fast...one could hardly even feel it. The car seems more sure on the road the faster it goes; one can feel the suspension speed adjusting itself.
Then again...I read of a driver who got ticketed going 154 miles per hour in a 2012 elantra,,, who got caught because the engine shuts down electronically when that speed is breached.(apparently American law). Those clever Koreans...
Yeah definitely rough in traffic. Drove a delivery truck a few years with a HEAVY clutch pedal, girlfriend at the time noticed my left leg was much more “developed” than the right.. Manual cars were a dream.