It's been beat to death (or so I thought). It really comes down to personal preference.
I've been driving manuals on a regular basis since I was 17. My education on driving one started before that. For several years, I drove nothing but manuals. When I did have to drive an auto after those few years, I found myself constantly trying to clutch it. I also managed to slap an auto on the floor into neutral and lower gears.
When I first started to learn to drive a manual, my dad kept telling me that after awhile you wouldn't think of it, it would be second nature. I kept fighting with it and thinking there is no way in he!!. But, he was right. I can be chewing on a sandwich, puzzling out a problem and slurping a drink and the shifter just kind of moves around on it's own. There is still room for improvement, but I'm very comfortable driving a manual on a regular basis and I love being able to choose the gear I want and feel the drivetrain vibrations through the shifter - it'll tell you a lot about the truck and what it's doing along with when to shift.
My Ranger was my first vehicle. 5-speed. Right now it needs a core support and some other misc stuff, but it was my DD/hauler/work truck/play toy for over 10 years.
My 88 BII was my next vehicle, I bought it intending to use it for offroading but somewhere along the line things changed a bit. I figured it might be nice to use for in the evening or whatever to go out on the town or whatnot. After driving a 5-speed all day, an auto was a nice change of pace. But after having it on the road for 3 months it swallowed a couple valves and that was that.
My choptop became my street-legal playtoy and off-roader. With a 5-speed. Someday it may get a doubler, but for now that's future plans.
I had an 89 Eddie Bauer BII for a couple years off at college. I used it for running on campus or around town a lot and would usually take my Ranger when I was headed home for the weekend. Although I love my Ranger, the BII was a little nicer on campus being a couple feet shorter. Plus it was 4x4 and college was in an area I affectionately refer to as hell's icebox. Snowfall was measured by the foot, they plowed once a day whether it needed it or not, and they never used salt. It was an auto (the second auto I ever owned). Kinda wish I wouldn't have sold it.
My F-150 is a 5-speed. My current DD/work truck/hauler/plow rig.
Also have an F-350 with.... a 5-speed.
Traffic and city driving can suck with a manual, no two ways about it. But I live more out towards the country and if I could only have one or the other, I'd pick a manual every time. It's what I was raised to drive.
Someday I may build a pure rock crawler/off roader. I was leaning heavily towards an auto, but after seeing Gwaii's contraption, well, it was an inspiration to the possibility of using a clutch somewhere....
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