My first post here.

Basically if youre living within metro manila and has the money to avail a AT model of the vehicle you desire then why not. Depends rin sa normal route mo kung bumper to bumper ba siya or wala naman masyadong traffic. Choosing between a MT and AT will also depend on the vehicle and its technology. If a said vehicle only comes with a 4 speed AT against its 5 speed MT then i would get myself the manual since knowingly we all knows that present AT models nowadays carries more gearing than those 4AT models. Presently 5AT na at 6AT na nilalabas sa market. The downside of AT vehicle is nakakatamad sa long drive like out of town trips, i woukd prefer a MT vehicle sa long trips para im in control of the vehicle like what dmaxiado mentioned dapat alam mo lang yun powerband ng vehicle your riding para makuha mo yun optimum power. Great advantage of driving a AT sa metro manila is you feel fresh pa rin once you step out of the car. Hindi nakakahiya sa business meeting mo na dadating ka na harassed yun itsura mo coz of the bumper to bumper traffic you been through.

Another good point is kung may driver ka naman then get a MT. Minsan feeling ko kung kasama ko driver ko sa car masuwerte siya kasi im letting him drive a AT vehicle.(sadista ba?) kaya ginagawa ko kung alam ko walang parking sa place im going i ask my driver to drive me there using the MT vehicles namin.

Although wala pa ako sa budget but gusto ko ulit magkaroon ng toy car and it will be definitely a manual puede rin naman AT with manual mode basta i know technologically advance siya kahit may kamahalan. Oh by the way the navara 3.0, 370z and GTR share the same tranny that is why mahal siya. A lot of RND done to perfect that tranny kaya mahal siya and the only difference is it doesnt comes with a launch control of the 3.0 nav but sa bilis ng shifting where in diyan nakilala yun tranny ng GTR is all the same. The same with the present AT and MT of local navara share the same tranny with the 350z.

I found it wierd lang for a small engine with a compact body vehicle to have a AT model like yun 1.3 sentra parang hindi match.

One disadvantage is AT is matakaw sa brake pads. Our tucson crdi evgt only has 18k sa odo pero ubos na yun pads and the same sa everest 4x2 limited AT at 25k ubos rin yun pads. Hindi ko lang sure bakit gsnon? Perhaps masyadong soft yun compuond nila unlike sa navara at 38k ok pa yun pads pero below 1/2 na siya ngayon. Plan to have it change sa 40k PMS para lang sure at hindi masira yun rotors. Sa everest tinamaan yun rotors kaya nagpalit kami ng rotors sa front.

In summary:
Depends sa vehicle bibilihin
Depends sa normal route taking
Depends sa technology of per vehicles's AT
Depends sa budget

In choosing between a MT or an AT