Personally, I love MT's.
That feeling on connection with the machine, and knowing that it's not going to try to out-think me and do something stupid. If the car does anything stupid, then it's self-inflicted.
And I don't for a second buy the idea that manuals are worse than auto's in slippery conditions. A previous compy I worked for had three trucks - all F350 SD with diesels - written off (two were complete rollovers and near fatalities...) in ditches due to stupid drivers and auto's. Driver not really paying attention to conditions, going up a long hill, engine starts to load up, transmission downshifts, turbo kicks in, and off she goes...
Besides with fewer and fewer people driving a 'proper' standard vehicle, all the less people that ask me to drive my Mustang - my wife and kids included...