I have cruise control on mine, its only a little Hyundai accent and it has it, works fabulously on the Highway

Cup holders are awesome.

Most cars here come equipped with them so I often wonder why the locals use their steering wheels instead

Yep. My Golf GTI had it. Loved it...

Yes. I have a manual with cruise. It came from Japan.

I meant the fact your boyfriend couldn't drive a manual. Nothing more.

auto GMC sierra......and a twin stick Mack at work.

manual - love it also when we go back to UK and Cape Town we just pick up where we left off. We did have 2 automatic cars when we moved here, both second hand bought from friends and transmission went in both of them, bad luck really, but at a cost of nearly $2000 to fix, we never want to have that worry again. I have a Jetta and my hubby has a Jeep which is auto given to by a grateful neighbour (we would not have bought it) and sometimes I drive that but my left foot moves around a bit

Not too long ago my OH rented what appeared to be a small automatic ship and I was left with it in a Canadian airport while he went the other way. I hate automatics, you just sort of point and aim! My manual Fiat 500 has 6 gears and I can turn her on a sixpence, and I am selling her to come to Canada! I know we will end up with a bloody automatic.

Stick shifts are cheaper. That is a compelling argument for me.

That and being able to rock out of the snow (or rain, in Vancouver).

Don't forget that for similar reasons it's harder to sell a manual later as not many folks want one.

We have one of each; the commuter is a manual and the runaround is an automatic.

We chose a manual in our main car specifically because that is what we prefer to drive. We were "price sensitive" on the runaround (budget was $1000) so looked for the soundest vehicle for the money without being too picky on non-essential factors. Interestingly our automatic reputedly has a larger towing capacity than the manual equivalent (reputedly because there is no owner's manual to be found online or from dealers/Nissan Canada on a 25 year old vehicle).

2 manuals and one CVT its the only form of auto I can tolerate

Two autos in this house. Used to think this was boring, but now kinda like the brainlessness that accompanies it!

When holidaying in the UK, auto is the only way to go - so much traffic and stop/start that manual is just cruel.

Shouldn't this thread title be "Standard or Automatic"? I've never heard anyone call them "manual" here, "stick shift" occasionally.

Anyway the answer is automatic, if only because of the resale value. If you go with standard, less of a market for them used. Everyone can drive an auto, not everyone can drive a standard transmission.