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I absolutely love rowing my own gears, especially the fantastic Acura TSX gearbox. That said, I'd avoid a manual like the plague in Seattle (actually I'd just avoid Seattle). Traffic is even worse than Portland, which is already a catastrophe between the hours of 6am-7pm, or just about any time on the weekend.
My process for buying a car always involves a spreadsheet listing the contenders, and all the stats that interest me such as rated fuel economy, 0-60 time, coefficient of drag, price, etc. Then I'll assign a value between 1-10 for how well a vehicle performs in each category. Finally, I'll assign a weighting to each category, so that things most important to me accumulate more points. Whichever vehicle scores the highest is what you want. You can then rest easy knowing you've applied the most rational process to your search.
BTW, I've used spreadsheets to decide if I'll keep a job or take another offer. You could even apply the method to deciding whether to date someone or not. "Follow your heart" is garbage advise. Tell your stupid heart to shut up.
Finally, I'll mention the Fusion hybrid as I always do. After having rented and driven many economy to mid-size domestic cars, the Fusion hybrid is my go to now. It will return 45 MPG while retaining normal acceleration, smooth ride, quiet cabin, and fine handling. It doesn't do anything the best, but it does everything very well. With all the gridlocked traffic, you might appreciate something that turns off the engine when stopped.
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