[Repost from r/Subaru] Should I lease my first manual?

Considering pulling the trigger in a few months on the new 2018 Crosstrek with the global chassis. Would like to go for a manual despite my commute which takes me through some stop and go city traffic... would I be better off going for a lease for the Crosstrek 6MT first and then either buying out the lease later if I'm enjoying the experience or better to just buy it and trade if I really am not digging it or not learning it as quickly as I hope to?

Also considering a Forester 6MT depending on when they refresh to global chassis.

I learned on a family's Toyota Camry stick 15 years ago but have only owned automatics. Drove a manual truck not too long ago and was "mediocre" (no stalls but bucked a little especially from stop to 1 when I tried to rush with traffic behind me. When there was no traffic I was fine. )

Heard the AWD is a lot harder of a beast to deal with and the incline assist seems to piss off a lot of people since it overrides your throttle input?

I've accepted the fact I will need to replace a clutch at some point especially since I'm learning so it would be "accelerated" wear, no doubt. That's fine. But I don't want to replace it at like 15k... then again if I lease it's not my problem and I can walk away.

Thanks for input. I may do a refresher manual course for an hour or two at a local driving school before I go start test driving.