Manual or automatic? Why is life complicated?

I've been thinking.. Manual or automatic? Well, this thinking is for the next car that I'll buy.. but not for a good while though. Its a battle constantly waging in my head when I dont have anything useful to do.

I read some columns that compared manual transmissions with automatic transmissions. The virtual consensus was that manuals are much better (I'll elaborate soon.. patience my good man/woman) than automatics. But experts say that with technology heading the way it is, the gear stick may become as obsolete as wind-down windows are presently.

After having driven a manual (the dear ol' Santro, as an example) and a number of automatics (mainly here in the US), I seem to long for the gear stick. The manual gives you control of the car.. The automatic - just sit and steer.. No fun at all. Manuals have been known for better performance, better mileage (though, the figures of present automatics can easily hold their own in a fair debate), lesser maintenance worries, lower chances of the transmission going bust, better control and feel of the car. Mainly, manuals are FUN to drive, more driver-interactive. Automatics on the other hand are more convenient to use (read - in stop and go traffic), no juggling the clutch, brake, gear, wheel, mirror, indicator, blind-spot while trying to merge onto a freeway.

The main concern regarding manuals is the re-sale value. Since most cars in the US are automatics, and a majority of people prefer automatics, the re-sale that you'd get for a manual may not be as much as an automatic. However, think of all the fun that you'd have driving the manual around all the time that you've had it, which you would've been devoid of if you'd settled on an automatic instead. Hmmm.. interesting trade-off.. Well, most of Europe has manuals.. So, you could potentially go sell your manual there, after, ofcourse, spending vacation money (or for that matter, new car money) on shipping the car across, shipping yourself across, the excise, import, and immigration formalities, and then the only remaining thing - convincing them with a hundred odd reasons to buy from you.

Then, there are these manu-automatic cars.. I'vent driven those as yet to give my 2 cents on them.. But I'd probably feel cheated in them.. They'd give you the illusion of being in control of the car.. but it'll shift up or shift down on its own if required.. Booo. Also, most manu-automatics are +/-. Here again, you dont get the actual pleasure of shifting the gear-stick into a 4th or 5th (or 6th if you're really rich and/or in a Mercedes or Porsche).. Boo again. And not to mention, no clutch. Booo booo.

If you drive to work and drive back home everyday on the same piece of road, you could have some fun revving a manual around.. or the calm convenience of letting the automatic gear box do its thing (mainly, among other things, taking away the sheer joy of driving.) I'm biased towards manuals. So, any ardent automatic fans out there, please let me know why an automatic.