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The reality of your smaller 1.6L to sub 3.0L motor is that you want to get all possible power out of it because its under powered as it is. If i'm not mistaken you can expect to lose 8-12% power to the wheels through stick and 10-15% (forgive me my numbers might be off a bit) in an auto.
Well when dealing with small motors that lose is very notice able. Take anything away from 127hp and your feeling it, add to that 1st gear is taller in auto then in stick and there you have it your car feels slower. Get a bigger motor 250hp+ and the difference is less noticable, (look into the 540i in auto vs stick if you dont believe me).
But with the recent improvements in auto, similar gear ratios, tip and better tq converts its getting harder and harder to say STICK RULES. With the similar ratios you get the benifit of 5sp but without the pains of shifting and downshifting is now an option. If you're looking into a newer car say a BMW, check out the stats. On average their auto vs stick are only .2-.4s slower 0-60mph. they also offer their own version of tip which i believe they call 'sport shift'.
The gas milage thing is minumal, @5% savings in gas that mean on a $30 tank of gas you're looking at $1.50 savings. Well i guess you could put that money towards your new clutch. If i'm not mistaken and feel free to correct me, most of your gas savings in stick comes from the ablity to put the car in N when driving, so it goes down to idle where as in an auto it stays in gear. As for shift points, i dont know what Auto you're driving but i can make my car shift at ANY rpm I want it too. If you dont know how to do this i wonder how you're still driving.
If you plan on touching the motor on a car, i would say go with stick just because more power through a tq converted then it was designed for means trouble in the long run. If you're looking at a daily driver then I'd get auto. Yes its true over time you get used to shifting and it becomes 2nd nature, but why waste the engery driving to work drinking your coffee and trying to shift in stop and go.
Of course this all my opinion and we all have them but these days with recent improvements in auto trany's (not including north american cars) its hard to turn your noise down at an auto.
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