Quote:
Originally Posted by redphaser
So from my admittedly limited understanding I think what you’re feeling is likely the difference in steering ratio and “type” as opposed to the “lock to lock” differences.
The twins have a fixed steering ratio of 13.12 to 1 whereas the CX-5 has an effective progressive ratio of 15.5 to 1.
The smaller the first number, the “faster” the steering will feel. The other bits I mentioned are fixed vs progressive steering. Fixed means that the wheel is always 13.12 to 1, no matter how far you have the wheel turned. Progressive steering (and I’ll admit this is where I’m a bit more fuzzy on the details) generally means the steering is “slower” off center then speeds up as you get closer to lock. This is likely to help a car feel less twitchy at speed/on the highway, which is probably fine for a non-sporty vehicle, but can make the steering feel sluggish off center.
So while the lock to lock numbers are very similar, there are some huge differences in the the ratios in both type and numbers.
The BRZ has one of the quickest racks available, especially at this price point. It’s one of the reasons I miss my old 2015 BRZ so much (damn you freak hail storm!). The steering was plain fantastic.
And if I got any of this incorrect someone please let me know. Always willing to learn and correct myself 
Data sources:
https://www.mazdausa.com/siteassets/...ures-specs.pdf
http://subarumedia.iconicweb.com/med..._Specs_2.0.pdf
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Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to scratch my head over this for a bit.
If I understood this correctly, the only thing stated in the Mazda manual is variable assist. This basically changes the power steering assistance making the steering sometimes lighter sometimes heavier but does not effect the steering ratio which is as far as I know fixed for the CX-5. I actually patiently hate variable steering ratio and I avoid cars that have this. Hondas tend to have this and I hate driving them for this reason. I think if the CX-5 has a variable ratio, I would've sensed it the same way I do in Honda but maybe I'm missing something here?