At least they are difficult to steal.
The end ones aren’t. And not too sure how many cars are returned with dings.
I’ve driven both, and stick is still a novelty to me. Only you can decide if it’s practical for you. I have a suggestion to help you decide: Take your stick into heavy bumper to bumper traffic during lunch time or in the afternoon when everyone is trying to get home. Then climb a steep hill and kill the engine. Imagine a car 4 to 6 feet behind you and start your car without rolling backwards into the car behind you. If you still want one, get an auto for the wife, and a stick for your toy.
It’s been a long time and I forgot about the push button drive on my '57 Dodge. Thx for reminding me.
This is a subject we’ve beaten to death in many other threads. I find it fascinating that no one is encouraging bringing back other obsolete technology like carburetors or points and condensor ignitions, yet this one still has it’s proponents. Maybe if the manufacturers made the choice of a manual transmission prohibitively expensive, they could finally be buried.
Some cars have transmissions that let you choose manual or auto shifting, sometimes with paddle shifters on the steering wheel, and you don’t have to worry about ruining or wearing out a clutch. The shifts are still monitored by the computer and don’t let you damage the engine by lugging or over reving the engine. Manual transmissions can need a kilobuck clutch job and flywheel resurfacing every 50kmiles or so and the transmissions can develop worn out syncronizers and shift templates. You will always hear from the guy that has a million miles on the same clutch, but when I had a part time job as a mechanic all I did was clutch jobs on late model cars that had 5k to 15k miles on them.
Maybe if the manufacturers made the choice of a manual transmission prohibitively expensive, they could finally be buried.
Or maybe its just the opposite. It could be a ploy to make the manual “Exclusive”…induce scarcity into the market and sell them at higher cost as special equipment or exclusive package groups in some vehicles… LOL… Sort of how rear wheel drive became a high line feature these days…it costs more to make them and they have dwindled in numbers greatly… Viola…a premium feature!
I contend that the lower cost of maintaining and repairing a manual transmission makes them anything but obsolete.
The cost of changing my transmission oil equals the cost of two quarts of 10W-30 oil.* How much does it cost to service an automatic transmission on an economy car? If it’s more than $5.56 (+tax), a manual transmission is not obsolete.
*Mine only holds 1.8 quarts, but I fill it up until the extra pours out of the top of the transmission into the drain pan to make sure it’s full.
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Good point! Either way,I wouldn’t care if they disappeared.
The auto manufacturers have to take extra time to install a manual transmission, and that costs them money. They would rather put the same thing in every car to keep changes to a minimum. That’s why Honda has trim levels and no options. If you want certain features, you take the whole package.
There ya go thinking like a consumer again. The car companies want to satisfy their real customers, the new car dealers. By selling auto transmissions, they make it much more difficult to work on at home. About all you can do is change the trans fluid. Even that is getting more difficult with the sealed and CVT transmissions that pretty much have to go in for fluid service.
Thankfully, Honda still sells their Civic and Fit with manual transmissions. I might have to get the sporty edition to get one if I buy another Civic, but I’m okay with that. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. 
Every vehicle I’m considering (which also includes the Tacoma and the Frontier) has an available manual transmission.
Is driving a manual impractical?
Absolutely! Low resale value, high cost of clutch replacement and for all the other good reasons given.
Is driving a manual fun?
Absolutely! A spring day on a country road, feeling like Mario Andretti and having control of the car instead of vice versa.
It’s like going fishing … great fun, nice to know how to do it but on a day to day basis when you’re hungry, going to the market or getting a McFish sandwich is a whole lot more practical.
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Looking at a Nissan Frontier, still available with a manual trans, Sure it is a less than desirable truck, but I am cheap but need something can tow the boat a few times a year, I can live with that, and I think I want a manual trans again. Sure been through stop and go traffic in a 50 mile commute, just left it in first and the gas pedal was all I had to worry about.
Back in the 40s, the only way to build an automatic was by spinning those gears with a fluid coupling and control the gears by pressure differences acting on shift valves.
Now that we can cramp the computing power of a 40s super computer into a single chip, we can control the shift valves electronically. But the engineers also choose to add electronic shifting and clutch modulation to obsolete technology. Why would they do that?
Beancounter, you’ve quite eloquently described my experience owning/driving cars with manual transmissions and cars with automatic transmissions. And it’s not by accident that 5 of my 6 cars are automatics.
It’s not the cost of a couple of quarts of motor oil compared with the cost of half dozen or more quarts of transmission fluid that makes a manual transmission a wise choice. In fact, from a money standpoint they are not the wise choice. Manual transmissions are far from problem free, trust me, I worked several years at a car dealership.
Back in the day many thrifty folks bought manual transmission because the saved on gas consumption, but that no longer is true. Times have changed! So now the decision turns to the cost of the lubricants?
You may be lucky that one of them hasn’t cost you a fortune, just as I have been lucky driving hundreds of thousands of miles in dozens of cars with no major automatic transmission repairs at all, not to mention spending very little on fluid changes.
Manual transmission vehicles can have clutch discs wear out, oil seal leaks that wipe out the clutch disc/pressure plate, pressure plates break, pinion bearings go bad, cross-shafts break, throw-out (release) bearings wear out/fail, master/slave cylinder problems, linkages/bushings, assorted internal problems, etcetera (what many things have I left out?) …
Repairs can be expensive and finding somebody competent to work on the internals of a manual transmission is probably going to more of a challenge than finding a competent automatic transmission mechanic and cost is likely higher on the manual.
Please, it’s okay to say that one prefers a manual transmission, but I’m not buying the argument that they are inherently more economical. That ship has sailed, I’m afraid. 
CSA
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So, since when do clutch packs in an automatic last forever? How about the shift solenoids with tiny passages that require clean fluid? I once drove an automatic with a failed seal that dumped fluid all over the ground right after I exited the freeway. What exactly makes an automatic more robust than a manual?
If an automatic is so robust, why are they more common in big semi trucks? Isn’t it in the interest of the operators to use a reliable automatic and keep it on the road rather than a manual with so many failure points
When I bought my first brand new car with a stick I expected the clutch to last 80k miles. I sold it with 150k with its original clutch. I’m not saying that manual are more robust than an automatic. But they shouldn’t give you any problems unless you abuse them
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For me, it would depend on the vehicle.
My first manual was a VW and that wasn’t that much fun to drive in a city.
I did buy a 1976 Triumph TR-6 when I was young and that manual was a blast to drive. Even joined a road rally club.
For me, it’s the type of vehicle that determines if a manual or automatic is the choice.
But as others have said, get what you gut tells you, you want.
Hell, try it.
So what’s the motivation for “moving the market” away from the natural supply and demand?
Demand has fallen steeply in the US for manuals, and the same as with buggy whips and open reel tape recorders, the successful manufacturers roll with the punches.
I can’t help but notice that your assertion doesn’t include any actual numbers or calculations.
Even if I accepted your assertion that automatic transmissions are as reliable or more reliable than manual transmissions (which I do not), the costs of fluids alone favors my position, especially if you change all of the automatic transmission fluid at once, which requires you to flush the entire system.
In an argument where all things are equal (which would be a generous concession to your side), maintenance of a manual transmission is still less expensive.
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In the mid to late 1950s and through the mid 1970s, the three speed column shift manual transmission were not pleasant to drive on many makes. I think the manufacturers wanted to force people to buy automatic transmissions.
To get around the problem, floor shift conversion kits were available. This did make the manual transmission cars more engaging to drive. However, the installation of the conversion kit did lower the resale value of the car.