Similarly, I was all set on getting the automatic, even test drove one. It was the test drive that convinced me to go manual though. The auto is great, but the manual just gives that extra control. I found myself missing the stick and the ability to change when I wanted. The money I saved went into a whole heap of extra options and a much happier choice of car.
I made heaps of changes to my original spec and it made no change to my delivery date. That may have been because it was so far in the future that it didn't matter. I'm now in lock down so can't make any more changes even though my car build won't be started for another week
