I also love manual transmissions. It will be the hardest thing for me to give up when I eventually make the switch to electric.
I suppose it is similar to the satisfaction the owner of a mechanical watch gets -- but it's more visceral. You're really becoming part of the machine, and you feel it. Coordinating gear shifting with clutch pedal actuation, instinctively doing it all at the right moment based on what you hear and feel from the engine. Your body and mind are involved, consciously and subconsciously. Now all that is just ... gone.
Yup. Being in tune with the vehicle is the most fantastic part of driving. The skill and coordination required, the tactile pleasure of the controls and the gearchange. The automatic kills much of the enjoyment of it. And yes, I've been driving for about 20 years, and yes, I've commuted in some of the worst traffic in America.
Also, changing gears myself does not preclude me from listening to audiobooks, as some commenter mentioned. I'm already sitting there operating the controls on the car. Having one more lever and one more pedal does not exactly tax me mentally, or preclude my other senses, not constitute any real effort aside from perhaps an extra calorie or three burned.
I also never understood the charge that driving a manual sucks for commuting. I've done my fair share of the rather lousy downtown Chicago to Chicago suburbs commute, and never quite figured out what the big deal with all the starting/stopping was supposed to be.
IMO an electric car gets you closer in tune with the car because the input delay from pedal to torque on the wheel is pratically zero and the resolution is insanely more precise than with gasoline. At lower speeds the car feels much lighter, every input you put simply gives you instant feedback making the controls feel even more tactile, almost like riding a bike.
You can not compare electric to driving a gasoline with automatic, those still suffer from all the mechanical delays and are imo worse with regards to this as the delay of a gearshift can come at unpredictable times.
That's the thing though - it's not a mentally taxing activity once you've become accustomed to it. Listening to audiobooks is not a problem.
Driving automatic/electrics is less physically demanding, so it will allow you to more easily eat tacos while driving (which is much more challenging than eating cheeseburgers).
I suppose it is similar to the satisfaction the owner of a mechanical watch gets -- but it's more visceral. You're really becoming part of the machine, and you feel it. Coordinating gear shifting with clutch pedal actuation, instinctively doing it all at the right moment based on what you hear and feel from the engine. Your body and mind are involved, consciously and subconsciously. Now all that is just ... gone.