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This is not the case anymore with modern transmission having 8 to 10 gears available. See https://www.theautopian.com/heres-exactly-when-automatic-tra...

I drive a BMW with a 8 gear automatic, it's always in the gear I want it to be, and I was a stick advocate for many years, no need for it anymore.

You won’t get better fuel efficiency unless your manual gearbox has eight (or even nine or ten) gears like the automatics have now. For example, BMW says that the manual BMW M2 does 10.0–10.2 l/100km and the eight-speed automatic does 9.6–9.8 l/100 km. It’s also slightly slower and has higher emissions (since it burns more fuel too).

The VW Golf manual does 4.7L/100km

Either of those use way too much. As sibling points out, 4.7 is more in the range of what I drive and expect. I have a Skoda Rapid with just 5 gears, and I manage to get it under 5L/100km.

The BMW M2 is a sports car powered by a three-litre twin-turbocharged inline-six with a bit under 500 horsepower.

On highways i just use cruise control, for the rest shifting has pretty much become automatic for me.