Manual transmission cars should be marketed as the “sport” option. People in the US don’t buy them because they’re the bottom end model; we buy them because they’re more fun to drive.
Paddle-shift CVT — meh. Give me five on the floor. Or even three on the tree.
When I press the gas pedal I want a direct connection to the power of the engine, not a fly-by-wire I’ll-get-to-it-when-I-get-around-to-it slushbox. When I go around a curve I want to downshift. It’s spirited, involved driving.
You have to pay more attention. It’s harder to eat or text or put on makeup or whatever other things people do in the car. You can focus on just driving.
The most fun manual I’ve driven was my 1962 Steyr-Puch Haflinger — even the tiny little stick shift was fun. I’ve driven a lot of old military and off-road vehicles. They were all stick, and they were all fun. In the 1976 Jeep CJ5, the 3-speed had reverse where we expect first to be, top left — so when I inevitably got stuck I could rock it back and forth. A 1960s Unimog is a hell of a lot of fun to drive, as long as you don’t go faster than 50mph.
I’ve always had a stick vehicle; usually it was my truck or off-roader. Manual transmission is better with heavier trailers, and better in some (not all) off-road situations.
My wife hates driving the stick, so I’ll probably end up with a mystery box next time.
You do get added benefit out of the reactions you get from people when you tell them “I blew a tranny.”