It's hard to figure maintenance cost without knowing the whole picture. If he's keeping it stock, what exact car it is, what are the driving conditions, all kinds of variables. If I had gotten an auto WRX the maintenance fees would be far less than the manual is, the manual are known eating clutches and kicking the bucket if you even fart in the wrong direction, where as the autos are known to handle 300+whp with zero troubles. With hondas it's hard to call as well. I have two friends with 7 gen V6 6 speeds, one already had the clutch replaced, one is running flawlessly. I have 3 friends with 7gen V6 autos and one of them had to have the tranny replaced at 19k miles. In the long run it's a tossup depending on your driving conditions. My ancient F350 TD has 180K miles on the dial and the tranny is still in great shape(even though the body is ready to fall apart), although I did change the TC, but that was for a higher stall and not due to troubles. My dad's commuter box is an old 280zxT that he keeps in pristine shape, He goes through turbos more than clutches.

In the end it's really hard to say which is better from a TCO(total cost of ownership) standpoint, so it does come down to preference of driving.