I think you pretty much have it down, at least the basics.

It's a personal choice.

If you do a lot of driving in traffic and you feel a little (shall we say) lazy, then an auto is for you. If you want a little more control and sportier feel, etc., then the manual.

Auto. trannies can be expensive to work on when they go bad but that generally isn't for many, many, many miles unless you got a bad one or you just are way too hard on it or whatever. With a manual, you will have to replace the clutch and do a few other maintenance bits but you do get better gas milage and better resale, etc. And how often you replace the clutch really has more to do with how you drive it/abuse it.

I guess the questions are: 1) What driving conditions will you mainly be in? 2) What is your driving style/preference? 3) Can you even drive a manual? ;-)