I'm with above...The car is for you. I found the same when buying a luxury SUV (sorry BMW..SAV). No other manufactures had a manual option. Easy choice then hey.

On the economy discussion, a manual will return better mileage than an auto if driven in a similar fashion. An auto has inherent inefficiencies with the torque converter, of about 1-2 l/100km. That goes for any vehicle.

The choice is personal. If the question is…

”is the BMW manual ‘box a good one?” , then

Absolutely yes is my answer! (and it's more fun)

Mat
3.0d manual