Manual=Fuel economy, car racing, old trend.
Automatic=Easy driving, new trend.
Some points to consider.
-Automatic cars are easier and more comfortable to drive. Your left hand is free (no frequent gear changes) and left foot is free (no clutch) so less work!
-You see more and more automatic cars in Pakistan. Even Suzuki is offering automatic. You had manual cars before, so why not follow the trend and try automatic this time?
-If you have a brother, sister or wife who does not know how to drive, it will be easier to learn on an automatic car. Its simply stop and go, left and right! Thats all.
-Automatic cars use up more fuel. I got my 1600 cc Civic VTi converted on CNG. But I only get some 70-75 km on a 55 lit Cylinder. And thats without AC.
-You need a bigger engine. So a 1500 cc EXi will do for manual transmission, but for Automatic 1600 cc VTi is recommended.
-The pick-up is less than that of manual cars.
-Not all chauffeurs (drivers) feel comfortable on automatic cars. So someone I know sold his Automatic City because he was unable to find a driver,
I got an Automatic car because I am used to driving automatic cars and while on the road I can consentrate on the road rather than on the gears. I enjoy driving it much more than my brand new manual Corolla.
Naturally if you are used to manual cars, you will not have that problem. All in all automatic cars are easy to drive, esp in big city traffic where you have to change gares all the time.
Learning to drive on automatic (from manual) is not a problem at all. My Dad got used to it in a couple of days!
When I was researching I was told that Automatic cars give trouble on CNG etc, but my car has been doing fine (so far). I dont have Lambda. I can get it installed in the future but I dont think I will need to.