Manual or automatic?

After driving my son's Dart last weekend (440/18-spline/3.23 with hydraulic throwout bearing) I don't think I'm gonna build another manual for myself. My left hamstring (injured in 2016) was barking at me all night. With that said, I have started going to the gym to swim and ride the stationary bike so it might get better over time. Manual is also much more expensive...