Go drive a long bit of twisty highway with lots of uphill bits in the automatic, then the manual. Just trying to keep a slushbox in the right gear going up a long grade is maddening–a manual you PUT into the correct gear and it fucking well STAYS THERE until you tell the car to go into a different gear. They do suck in traffic though, no argument there.
Alas, my days of owning manuals are probably over–with a blown left knee and tendonitis in both shoulders driving a manual is an exercise in pain leading to complete inability. Sigh. Maybe some day I can afford a garage queen to take out only on nice days when I can put the top down and go get squirrelly sideways for a while.