The 2012 Mazda5 Sport with a manual transmission comes equipped with cruise control as standard equipment.

 

Modern automatics are capable getting higher mpg than manuals. Better design and engine control.

 

Ummm, no. Granted there are a few cars on the road where the automatic matches (or exceeds by one mpg) the EPA ratings of a manual transmission equpped sibling, but the vast majority of cars out there offered with both types of transmissions still show a pretty decent advantage to the manual transmission from a fuel economy perspective. That said, who really cares? I mean would you willingly give up the fun of driving a stick and be saddled with a mind numbingly boring automatic just to eek out an extra mile per gallon?

 

The automatic isn't so "mind numbing" when you're inching along in rush hour traffic every day.

 

I've seen some who are disappointed with the 5s mpg, I recently traded for a '10 Mazda 5 and am really satisfied with mileage so far. Looking forward to a road trip to see how well it will do. So far averaging 28.4

 

It is for me; even in rush hour traffic the stick keeps me more engaged than I otherwise would be.

 

Thanks all for your comments. I hope to get a bit better mpg with the stick 2012 Mazda5. I'm pickin the new car up tonite! Stick does keep your mind more on driving than automatic. You have to always remember to use both feet in stop/go. My back/forth on this was that we have a 15 y.o. daughter who starts to drive soon. She can learn on the automatic Corolla, but I also thought it'd be good for her to learn stick early in life.
Anyhow, thanks all.

 

My son got his driver's license last year and I started him on the stick in my Mazda3 even before he got into Driver's Ed (here in New Hampshire kids which are fifteen year and six months old are automatically allowed to drive with their parents without having a permit). By the time Driver's Ed started he was quite proficient with the stick and passed his classes and tests with flying colors; his instructor pulled me to the side and told me it was his belief that my son's experience with a stick made him the best young driver he'd ever taught.

 

Thank you Shipo. We live in MA. She can start driving w/permit at 16, this summer. That's good to hear about your son. I think/hope that the same will happen for my daughter. If you learn stick, automatic is piece of cake after that. So actual driver's ed driving should be much easier. I'll probably take her to a parking lot one of these weekends.

 

My belief, which will once again be put to the test in 2012 when my daughter hits fifteen and a half, is that after ten or fifteen hours on the road in an automatic equipped vehicle and another few hours in a parking lot with a stick, allowing the young driver to drive on the roads (in light traffic of course) with a stick will only reinforce their ability to focus on the job at hand, namely driving the car.

When I first got my son on the road I related the question put to me by my flying instructor years ago:

• Q: So you're turning on to short-final, you have a heavy cross wind forcing you to crab and side-slip at the same time, lots of rain causing limited visibility, another plane has just pulled out onto the runway you're lined up on, your instruments have just quit, you're running very low on fuel, and your passenger(s) start panicing; what do you do?"
• A: Fly the freakin' plane till it's on the ground and at a complete stop.

He got the point and I trust so too will my daughter.