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I prefer the man trans in my Cummins turbodiesel over the auto available in that year. But the new 6-speed auto is, according to those who use these trucks for business (oilfield hotshot), pretty much the equal in fuel mileage now. The "tow/haul" mode plus an exhaust brake pretty well covers a lot of types of loaded or towing miles quite well. Fuel mileage on the new Ford engine is impressive (despite the price tag) and is because of a well-tuned automatic.
On big trucks it's flat hard to match a stick anymore against an autoshift version, either for acceleration or mpg (leaving aside price or reliability).
As to a manual "forcing" the driver to pay better attention, that's a red herring, beside the point. One can be brain dead in any commute.
As to clutches in the city, I recall decades ago reading about the operators of Checker cabs in NYC making the clutches last about forever. A great deal longer than 40k
I doubt anyone is doing a good job when tires, brakes and clutch last less than 70k.
There are job descriptions where I might not care, but for a personal vehicle it's a different story.
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