Looks like this discrepancy is gone on version 1.6:
1.5:
julia> mancellin2(a, i) = getindex(a, i...)
julia> @btime mancellin2(a, i) setup = (a = [1 2 3 4; 5 6 7 8]; i = (3, ))
1.971 ns (0 allocations: 0 bytes)
julia> @btime mancellin2(a, i) setup = (a = [1 2 3 4; 5 6 7 8]; i = 3)
139.657 ns (2 allocations: 32 bytes)
1.6:
julia> @btime mancellin2(a, i) setup = (a = [1 2 3 4; 5 6 7 8]; i = (3, ))
1.981 ns (0 allocations: 0 bytes)
julia> @btime mancellin2(a, i) setup = (a = [1 2 3 4; 5 6 7 8]; i = 3)
1.972 ns (0 allocations: 0 bytes)