I taught my wife to use a manual many years ago. She didn't warm up to them until she had to rock the truck out of an ice rut in the parking lot - lots easier when you use the clutch. Since then, she's a convert, almost as bad as ex-smokers are against smoking...

I love manuals for many reasons, some of them going through the mountains here in Colorado. On many steep downhills, I can keep my truck in 4th gear, and get down the hill without touching the brakes. Gotta love it.

When driving long distances with our only auto, whenever it's on cruise control and we go up a hill, the stupid thing downshifts 1 or 2 gears to keep speed up, and sounds like it's going to blow up the engine...