Serious thread deviation
That's pretty conventional wisdom about manual trans. vs. automatics, but on modern cars the difference in fuel economy has gotten narrow. Modern automatic transmissions have lock-up torque converters and overdrive features absent on older models. Recent Consumer Reports tests show a difference of about 2-3 mpg on cars that typically get 30 mpg. Yes, still a savings of about 10% - in theory. There's always the issue of driver technique, and many drivers of manual transmissions tend to over-rev the gear which defeats fuel savings. Here in the US, the majority of the population lives in the cities or suburbs, which are becoming more and more crowded as time goes by, so with a manual trans, more shifting and clutch action. I live in an area with lots of hills, so starting out on a hill with a manual can be a pain with lots of clutch slipping (unless you drive an old Studebaker with a "Hill-Holder"). Then there's the issue of re-sale. Not as many people want a manual shift.
Having said all that, some people just like to go through the gears but I'm not one of them. The last manual shift I owned was a '40 Ford (for 34 years) with a three speed on the column. People thought it was quaint but I hated driving it. I've driven all sorts of newer vehicles with 4 speed manual trans. as well. I've told my wife, "The automotive engineers went to a lot of time and trouble to design an automatic transmission to make our lives easier." I'm taking advantage of it.
