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During the 6-7 months I was researching and test driving various cars, I drove only manual transmissions. I ended up purchasing the automatic, primarily because my eldest daughter will be a licensed driver this month and we'll be sharing our Xterra and the FRS based on car requirements at the time (ie. towing, or carrying softball gear). She wasn't interested in driving a stick and I spend a lot of time driving to/from the airport in Atlanta, so the auto seemed to be the better option. I also do quite a bit of highway driving and the gearing differences between auto/manual equates to about 500rpm at 80MPH. The gearing difference is also the reason you see a HWY fuel economy difference of 4MPG.
I don't plan on tracking the car, or autocross, but I do like playing on the mountain roads. Put the auto in sport mode and paddle shifting through the twisty-turnys is a lot of fun. Not sure what your car would be used for, so the best advice I can give is to drive both, consider the pros/cons based on utilization, then make your decision. I personally don't think you can go wrong with either.
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