I was in the same situation a few years back and went for the Auto    After 3 years I did get sick of the auto and currently are in a manual hatch, the autos are not too bad i had mine tuned by SAS and made it a lot more fun, had no issues at all with it    I found it hard trying to sell my auto one, although they are a reasonably niche market as are the manual ones, currently hard cars to sell so I'd highly recommend get a manual if that's what your really after, I paid 18k for my manual but had highish kms and motor was rebuilt  

What kind of k’s are you looking for? 32k is pretty steep unless its a GV sedan and super low k’s or heavily modified. 20-25k is about the point for a pre facelift GR with somewhere in the 150kkm + area   Also EJ25’s aren't super terrible, probably better with an auto where it’s harder to thrash/shock them. The pistons are the main weak point that don't like the abuse or a crap tune

Hey guys I am rejoining the subbie crew after selling my 350z. I am after a GR STI and while I would love to pick up a manual one they are approx 32k and I only have about 20 - 22k so I'm looking at an Auto one for the moment.   However, I am weary as I keep seeing that the EJ257 is a much more unrelliable and wondering if I just wait and save an extra 10k and get a manual. I was just thinking I could buy one for 20k give or take, save 10k and then sell the auto and buy a manual?

That may have just made the value partly close all the time. sounds like you have a boost or vacuum leak in the lines that controls the valve etc. Time to open and check BBoD   

i reset / tightened the ECV rod and that seems to have greatly improved my boost pressures, my gauge now reads 3-4psi easily on primary but i haven't gone more than half throttle with it. next up is to fix up the BOV / boost gauge piping and see if that helps