The manual “is a chore” think in traffic thing is all wrong. Once you formulate it as a game on how to synchronize when to advance and just keep the roll the right amount with little or no braking or clutch use and not loose a space to the lane jumpers it becomes a pastime no auto can duplicate.
If you cant play games get an auto…
Ive been perfecting my traffic game since ’77 never ever wanted to play it with an auto.
Im retired now so I seldom meet up with traffic willingly and have a perfect 15 yr old beater for my city drives and aggressive lane changers no longer bother me as much when they dare try to cut in.
My dear old dad used to borrow my cars back in the day for weekend drives with my mom and managed the clutch like a pro but still was sold on automatics as he could multitask between smokes, the wife’s attention and swatting the 4 misbehaving kids in the back seat.