Well, you hear lots of rumors about the transmissions going bad. But, after over a year on this forum, I've only seen about 3 transmission died posts, and in one of those cases it was not the transmission.

Do they die? Sure. Frequently? No. Especially not if you change the fluid every 50k. And I don't think I've heard of one failing prior to 100k miles.

Manual will always be the most reliable, but they're also the rarest, and only come with an anemic (in my opinion, in the x) six-cylinder. Get a V8, change the fluid, drive it till it dies...