After 4 years of automatic I would be worried about how quickly the brain would adapt to the need to manually move the gear stick and remember to depress the clutch pedal at the right time.
The one attraction of the manual gearbox is the cost saving.
Don't worry about swapping from manual to auto and back - your body and brain are better than you realise. I have had periods of years when i lived abroad and only ever drove auto cars (manual cars were rare as hens teeth), on returning to UK for holidays (hire cars) or moving back for a longer spells both myself and my wife switched back to manuals without a second thought, and my wife has had auto cars in UK which i 'had' to drive when we go out together (she won't drive but doesn't miss a chance to criticise my driving LOL - just like Mrs Hyacinth Bucket on keeping up appearances).
A bigger problem for me is to switch from 6 speed manual box on my Civic over to 5 speed box on my wifes Jazz GE, because 6th gear on Civic is in exactly same place as reverse on the Jazz - ouch !! Honda really missed a trick by not putting 6 speed box in Jazz, it needs extra gear more than Civic because of smaller engine.
Auto boxes are 'convenient' (normally the more 'convenient' things are the more they cost) but nowhere near as engaging as a manual box, and the complexity of auto systems with their special lubricants and continual need for 'flushing' worries me a bit. Having driven autos a lot I can understand anyone who drives in traffic a lot would want one, but I am allergic to cities and traffic anyway.
auto boxes can be better on snow than manuals, if you don't press the loud pedal very hard they will select a higher gear to pull away, reducing torque at driving wheels, but I always pull away in second on slippery roads anyway.
