Let's say you're about to pull out of a gas station. The road in front of you is two lanes both ways with lots of traffic. You need to turn left (crossing the center line...have no idea what side of the road ya'll drive on) and make a sharp right soon after. Much nicer to have an automatic--no one can steer as well with one hand as they can with two, and the car can shift faster than you can.

Manual can be fun, but it's not particularly entertaining either. I also prefer the bench style seating which you lose if you have the stick in the middle.