I was more of a fan of manuals for reasons of efficiency before double-clutch automaticss were widely available, and when CVTs were not very reliable. Of course none of that matters much for many electric vehicles either. My first and only MT car is a 2000 Honda Insight, though I'd like a 2016 MT Honda CR-Z to go with it eventually, to complete my collection of quirky MT Honda hybrids. Manual transmissions were historically much lighter weight and more efficient than torque-converter or CVT automatic transmissions, and usually more robust.

I don't have my MT Insight because I'm a gear-shifting control freak, but rather because it was the most efficient non-full-electric vehicle on the road until the Prius Prime. Being in graduate school still, I also don't have funds for anything fancy like a modern-ish Prius :)