*chuckle* Well, in answer to that, let me tell you a little story...
I bought mine brand new, and when I was looking, the local dealership had eight of them. I really, really wanted a manual transmission, though, and they didn't have one. Plus I really didn't like any of the eight cars they had - they all had features I didn't want and would have to pay extra for.
Well, my best friend sells Mazdas. She also lives about a thousand miles away in Texas. I called her for advice, and discovered that the dealership she worked for had
35 of the Mazda 5s! Including 5 manual transmissions with the features I wanted. So we worked out the math and found that even including the travel costs, we'd still save nearly two thousand dollars by flying down to her, buying a 5 from her, and then driving it back.
So we did.
I know you said you can't buy brand-new, but are you looking at an '08? I'd recommend an '08 if there's any possible way - they have rear air vents and a passenger arm rest, and the '07s don't. The arm rest is basically just an annoyance, but I really hate not having rear air vents, both in the winter and summer. It's not too hard to heat/cool the 3rd row, because the car is still pretty small, but in order to keep the kids comfy I generally have to wear one less layer than them in the winter, and one more layer than them in the summer.
So... I suppose the answer to your question is "yes," I had to work pretty hard to get a manual transmission!