I have a 2007 4 door manual and a 2012 2 door auto stock. The 2 door is stock and has not been rock crawling yet. I love driving the 2 door on the road it has a lot of nice features. The 4 door is nice to drive on the road also but in a different way. If I want to feel bad ass I drive the 4 door if I want to relax the 2 door is cool for that. But also most say rock crawling is kinda hard with the manual. But it's not the end of the world. I can see it making a big difference if you got hardcore into rock crawling.

 

I have one of each . I can tell you , it's not fun on a steep loose dirt hill climb , if you have to stop and start again in a manual .

 

I just sold my 4 DR Rubi automatic with the old motor and bought a 2DR Sport with the new motor and a 6 speed. A couple observations:

1. The combo of 6 speed, Pentastar, 3.73 gears, and light 2DR body is like a sports car compared to my 4 DR Rubi with the 3.8L.
2. Manual is a lot of fun driving around town, but it sucks in rush hour traffic. If I was daily driving the Jeep, I'd want an auto.
3. I'd gotten used to the looks of the 4DR and it really is a lot more practical. Heck you can through a full size air mattress in the back and not need a tent for camping trips. The 2DR looks better with 35's where the 4DR really needs at least 37's to pull of the same look (and breakover angle).
4. Autos are easier to drive (better) on technical trails and give you a lot more control, but manuals are more fun.
5. According to Edmunds, a 2DR 6 speed is close to 2 seconds faster to 60 than a 4DR auto. I know we don't drag race our Jeeps, but this is a huge difference and is felt when you start adding weight and bigger tires. I just put on 35's and the 3.73 gears are fine with the 2DR. With 4.10's on the JKU, I really needed to regear to run 35's.
6. A 2 DR Sport with 35's with never go where my JKUR on 37's could go. I'm OK with enjoying more moderate trails with less chance of breaking stuff.

 

MR. PETE your never going to hear the end of it if you go and pull a Nate and get a AUTO!!! Im all for getting th four door with the new engine and the color. Manual MR. PETE all the way.

 

With this new JKs the auto is just so much better. All the manual guys are just stubborn, if they drove an auto, they would love it.

 

Ditto !<-------------------

 

Every Jeep I have owned have had M/Ts. I feel more connected to the rig with a manual, but I'll tell ya.. Some buddies of mine with autos have an easier time while crawling because the lack of that third peddle. I have a 2012 JKU Rubi (6 speed) now, and there have been a handful of times that I thought that having an auto would have been helpful. but overall I'm happy I went with the manual trans. It just comes down to what you like, in my opinion.

 

Manual is so much more fun to drive! I drive in DC traffic every day and driving a manual is second nature. Autos are for lazy people

Auto is better for more technical driving, but the control of a manual cant be beat. I love the feeling of driving my vehicle, not just pushing the gas pedal. Just a personal preference.

 

Hell yeah! I feel so useless when I drive my wife's GC just cause I'm used to always doing someone in my jk 6 speed.

 

I have a 12 2 door manual and yesterday was my first time wheeling in it. I was fairly nervous about wheeling with the stick shift but honestly after having done it.. it's not that bad. You don't use the clutch as much as you think you would. Keeping it in 4lo when crawling in 1st you're good to go pretty much.