Auto News 5

It's unfortunate that Mazda only offers the manual transmission on the most basic variant of the CX-5, though I suppose we should be happy it's available at all. Having driven this stick-shift model back-to-back with a fully-loaded automatic variant, I can say there are only two goodies I'd really miss: nineteen-inch wheels and leather. The larger wheels and, more important, the accompanying low-profile tires, translate to better-weighted and more communicative steering than the tall, seventeen-inch tires on this model. The leather also relates to steering- the cheap plastic rim on the base model ruins a perfectly shaped steering wheel.