So whatever happened with this? Did you ever find/buy a Jeep?
While I think a JL is arguably a better overall vehicle than the JK was, I would not buy a JL (or JT) with the manual transmission. Too many clutch issues, and the 8sp is just awesome.
I would however, definitely buy a manual JK. I'm a bit biased though since that's what I already drive.
And while a late model JK would be more expensive than a TJ or LJ, I think I think I'd go for a JK over a TJ/LJ unless you just want the old-schooliness of a TJ/LJ.