I find it more stressful to drive automatic. You need to be more careful with the gas pedal to get just the right amount of acceleration, since too much will make the car shift down and rev up. Also there is the risk of uncontrolled acceleration by mixing up the gas and brake pedal and not having the clutch as a double safe.

>gasoline consumption.

That's only true if we talk about hybrids.

>even vehicles from 10 years ago aren't competitive in creature comforts

That depends a lot on your priorities, I drive a nearly 20 year old premium car that holds up very well against many new cars