Precisely this. If you don't need to actually rebuild a manual and just need to get to a seal that can only be replaced by cracking the case apart, it's not tha

Precisely this. If you don't need to actually rebuild a manual and just need to get to a seal that can only be replaced by cracking the case apart, it's not that bad. There just isn't that much to a manual. Keep it clean, and work with care and diligence, and you're probably not going to get in truly deep shit. I'll second that a manual in normal service is unlikely to fail catastrophically. The synchros can wear or the transmission can start popping out of gear, but they tend to experience graceful degradation, and the control software is sufficiently adaptable to work around the quirks.