No regrets... Mine is my DD and I drive almost exclusively in manual mode (save for those rough mornings when I just want to drink my coffee on the way in to work
)
Personally, I like the flexibility of having it "both ways" so to speak... But as far as your concern about just leaving it in auto... the driving experience is obviously soooo much better when you are controlling the shifting yourself so I usually pop it into manual every time I get in it.
Absolutely love this car... even in 7AT form.