Hi Jon,
Just to add my tuppence - if you're wanting to do a few trackdays and enjoy the spirited driving side more then imo a coupe is definitely where its at. I loved mine and was extremely sad to see it go. As you can see I couldn't keep away for more than a couple of months (in the wife's words; "you're so predictable!"). In my opinion there's nothing sub 30k (and really very little this side of a 997 GT3) I'd prefer to have in the garage than a Coupe.
The gearbox is definitely personal preference - for me I will always prefer the challenge and additional level of control you get with a proper manual gearbox. Buying a sports car and a proper drivers car, for me it would always have to have a manual. That being said the auto is supposedly fairly decent, certainly better than the woeful autos of old, and less clunky than the smg from the m3 etc.
Obviously it's down to your personal preference at the end of the day - I guess the mileage you do in stop start traffic will play a factor in your decision!!
Good luck with the search - it's a good time to be looking whilst it's winter and people don't want the summer sports car....!
Final thought too - what a massive shame you weren't shopping when my coupe was for sale in August/September - it had the brakes you've already bought, quaife lsd, bilstein suspension, powerflex bushes, midbox removal (subtle noise increase) and was silver grey just like your roadie! It was for sale for around £7,300 from memory too