I feel your pain......my 2002 Ford Escape has 297,000 miles on it-have not had a 3rd gear for over 80,000 miles. Was wary of the CX-5 Sport manual for the same reason you stated, but pulled the trigger in April.....do a lot of interstate driving and so far, "peppy" enough. Something about doing 75 in 6th gear and not quite to 3,000 rpms that intrigues meI would buy the CX-5 again........
Thanks, that is good to know. The CX-5 Sport MT-6 is definitely my goto choice if I am forced to suddenly replace the Escape. That being said, since I'm keeping vehicles much longer these day, my choice would be a higher trim level 2.5L MT-6, like they do with the Mazda 6. At this point, I will drive the Escape and see what my choices are next year. I will eventually pull the trigger too, and whatever it is, it will be a manual, perhaps a 2.0 Sport. I appreciate the input.