Transmission Difference

[Sigs]

I'm a prospective Yaris buyer, coming from driving a Pontiac G8 and Jeep Liberty that are absolutely murdering me in fuel costs. Up until now I've been a strictly automatic driver but know how to drive stick.

My question as of now is how do the transmissions match up? I've heard some say that acceleration is dreadful in the automatic and that a standard is the way to go, while others don't seem to see an issue. Given my rural area the "Used" market is full of automatics 3 door LBs, only one 5 door LB (auto tranny), and just a handful of 5 speeds listed for 150 miles in my price range. I'm not above buying into a 3 door, but for convenience sake when I'm hauling friends around, a 5 door seems so much more practical.

Thanks in advance to everyone here. Looking through your gallery and reading your opinions on the car has sold me on it. :) Now it's just a matter of finding the right one for me.