I like manuals in little cars... you can get a bit more performance out of them with it... engine braking is great too with snow. But now you have the DSG, which I hear some good things about... so you get the best of both worlds... except the added weight of the automatic.
I used to live in the Houston area, ~30 years, had a stick in an Ford Escort, Toyota Pickup, Toyota Camry, Plymouth Arrow, Nissan Frontier, Kia Spectra... and a GMC Sierra. So driving in traffic was a given... LOL!!!