Scotty has always recommended avoiding all Hyundai/Kia vehicles.

The reliability of the transmission may improve with a manual, but new Kias, Hyundai and Genesis cars are all notorious for burning oil. Pass, if you value your money. 

I had a Ford Ranger with almost 300k miles on it and the frame cracked. The engine still only burned half a quart of oil every 5,000 miles. Kia engineers consider it "normal" to burn oil at a rate of 1 quart per thousand miles on new engines. That's not normal. 

like we've told you before, check Scotty's reviews at the bottom of our main page. They'll tell you everything you need to know about Korean cars.

You're better off getting a Subaru WRX if you are getting a car of that caliber. And please get it with a stick.

Haven't heard of any issues with the DCT, but it depends what you prefer. DCTs are made for performance hence why they are in the elantra N. I would be prepared to do more maintenance than a regular elantra. As long as you keep up with the maintenance you should be alright. They're not made to the same standard as Toyotas or Hondas but if you can get at least 100k miles out of that then you're going to have a lot of fun. 

Manuals are more simpler by design so i would expect them to have less issues but the con is to learn how to drive a manual. That's about it

A friend had the same car here in Kuwait and drove it from 1,00,000 kms to 2,50,000 kms. Turbo gave up after 3 years of purchase at 1,80,000 and he put in a new one.  Firstly, see if its made in Korea or USA. IF USA run away since like Uncle scotty says they are bad. Made in Korean ones are slightly better. Next see the year. And maintenance. About the burning oil, not sure if it happened for my friend. But another known person at the dealership says the newer ones keep doing it.