Faults:

Nothing.

General Comments:

This car was purchased after our 2010 Ford Fusion was taken by our son who had returned from a deployment and needed a car. We had been used to having manual transmissions mated to 4 cylinder engines, and we wanted to replace the Fusion with a 4 cylinder "stick". We liked the CUV (compact utility vehicle) segment of the market, however very few of the manufacturers offered a manual transmission. The brands we looked at were: Ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, and Nissan. From what we could determine, only Mazda and Subaru had an offering in this segment with a "stick". It seemed that the whole industry was turning its back on that portion of the market. The Subaru was attractive, but included 4 wheel drive, which translated into more money and less economy.

We turned to Mazda, who at the time, had only 1 CX-5 in Western New York. It was 70 miles away. I was not fond of the idea of travelling that far, but we did. The dealer proved to be exceptional in terms of their sales staff / approach. Totally unlike any dealer experience I had ever had before or since. The CX 5 "Grand Touring" was a base model with a 2.0 litre gas engine and a 6 speed manual transmission. It was seriously under powered, but sufficient for our driving needs. We bought it and 21000 miles later are very satisfied.

Faults:

Nothing (YES, nothing).

General Comments:

A bit under powered, but this does not concern you, everything else about this car makes up for it. Just to mention a few, fuel economy is 8 litres / 100 around town and 6.9 litres on the highway.

It gets its fuel economy around town by switching the motor off at traffic lights.

Big and roomy.