Saucony Kinvara 5

Name: Saucony Kinvara 5
Brand: Saucony
Rating: 4.6 (128 reviews)

Daily trainer · Neutral · Road · 7.6 oz · 4mm drop · 24/20mm stack

Discontinued — we no longer see this shoe in stock. The Saucony Kinvara 6 replaced it

How it ranks

The Saucony Kinvara 5 is one of the strongest daily trainers in our data. Comfort and looks are its strongest sub-ratings. Durability scores well below its other sub-ratings. Most runners who came to it from another shoe preferred it. The rating rests on 128 runner reviews and 14 other rated shoes in the Kinvara product line.

Exceptional

97/100

Overall

Exceptional 97

Comfort

Excellent 95

Value

Very good 92

Appearance

Very good 91

Cushioning

Good 86

Durability

Bottom-tier 50

Confidence

How settled the rating is against every other rated shoe. A shoe can rate high on confidence with relatively few reviews of its own when its product line has a long record and external ratings from retailer sites agree. Confidence will score low when we have few ratings or when runners disagree.

See the product line's history

Confidence

100/100

Very high 100

What runners say

“Tears occur on every pair on both sides of the toe box where the foot flexes.”

5/5 Full review 50 mpw training for a half marathon

“Toe box is just a little bit too short unless I wear really thin socks and even then taking it on 12+ km runs is a blister-risk.”

4/5 Full review training for middle distance

“On trails, the shoe might last two-three months before they begin to rip across the sides and in various places on the front.”

4/5 Full review 50 mpw came from the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 14

“The mesh is very breathable yet durable and not prone to ripping unlike the mesh of the Kinvara 4.”

4/5 Full review training for middle distance

“With added cushioning, able to run in this shoe as a recovery shoe up to about 400 miles versus Kinvara 4 at 275-300.”

5/5 Full review 110 mpw training for a half marathon

“Light weight (7.7 oz) and low drop (4mm) give it versatility as both a racing shoe (10k-Marathon) and daily mileage trainer.”

4/5 Full review training for middle distance

“Holes develop pretty quickly around the toe area.”

5/5 Full review 80 mpw training for a marathon

“Light with just enough cushioning and versatile enough to run a 5k or a marathon in.”

5/5 Full review 65 mpw training for a marathon

“Pieces of the outsole started to fall off as early as 180 miles.”

4/5 Full review 60 mpw training for middle distance

“The heel tab is nice and low and the liner in the heel area is super soft and still quite durable.”

4/5 Full review training for middle distance

Prefer this shoe over another

50% 58/115

Where to buy

No offers available

Affiliate links included. They never affect our ratings.

Prices updated daily. Last checked Sep 14.

Pros

At 7.6 oz reviewers still find enough cushioning for daily miles.
Runners use it for track intervals, tempos and marathons alike.
The Kinvara 4 before it scores 73 on a hundred and twenty-nine reviews, and reviewers rate this version's fit, comfort and upper above it.

Cons

Reviewers frequently report the upper mesh tearing near the toes.
Durability is the weakest dimension at 3.6 out of 5, and several runners retire pairs near 200 to 250 miles.
Four reviewers find forefoot traction poor on certain surfaces.

Kinvara 5 rates 97. This shoe has very high certainty. See how we rate shoes.

Better Shoes Rating of prior versions of the Saucony Kinvara

Each dot is one version of the Kinvara, placed by its rating and release year. The gold dot is this shoe.

Rating

40 60 80 100

58 2011 97 73 97 2014 97 98 89 2017 88 97 2019 71 87 2021 77 88 2023 82 88 2025

Release year

We use the reviews of past versions to inform this shoe’s rating. See why.

Kinvara 16

2025 · 2 reviews

88 Good

74 Confidence
Kinvara 15

2024 · 13 reviews

82 Good

84 Confidence
Kinvara 14

2023 · 49 reviews

88 Good

94 Confidence
Kinvara 13

2022 · 36 reviews

77 Decent

93 Confidence
Kinvara 12

2021 · 6 reviews

87 Good

84 Confidence
Kinvara 11

2020 · 7 reviews

71 Decent

76 Confidence
Kinvara 10

2019 · 51 reviews

97 Exceptional

98 Confidence
Kinvara 9

2018 · 55 reviews

88 Good

97 Confidence
Kinvara 8

2017 · 57 reviews

89 Good

98 Confidence
Kinvara 7

2016 · 21 reviews

98 Exceptional

97 Confidence
Kinvara 6

2015 · 8 reviews

97 Exceptional

94 Confidence
Kinvara 5 This shoe

2014 · 128 reviews

97 Exceptional

100 Confidence
Kinvara 4

2013 · 129 reviews

73 Decent

99 Confidence
Kinvara 3

2012 · 11 reviews

97 Excellent

92 Confidence
Kinvara 2

2011 · 3 reviews

58 Bottom-tier

75 Confidence

Reader Ratings

128 ratings

5/5 82

4/5 43

3/5 2

2/5 1

1/5 0

See written reviews Write a review

Specs & fit

Sizing and ride details at a glance.

Weight: 7.6 oz
Release: 2014
MSRP: $100
Stack Height: 24mm heel - 20mm toe
Drop Height: 4mm

Runner reviews

Write a review

Reader review

4/5

Overall

I've been running in the Kinvara since the first version came out and use it almost exclusively for all road runs, from easy days to long days to races. I've raced everything from a 5K to a road half marathon to a trail 50K in these. They are lightweight, flexible, low to the ground, and enough cushion to feel good.

RustyK · Apr 7, 2015

45 mpw training for a half marathon

Comfort: 4/5
Durability: 3/5
Appearance: 4/5
Value: 5/5

Reader review

5/5

Overall

Well cushioned every-day training shoe that is lightweight and has minimal heel to toe drop

Anonymous runner · Apr 6, 2015

25 mpw

Comfort: 5/5
Durability: 3/5
Appearance: 4/5
Value: 3/5

Reader review

5/5

Overall

I was looking for a lightweight trainer with a lower heel to toe drop but that still had enough cushion for the roads. I've had 4 pairs now & while I can only run about 13-14 miles at a time in them for the price ($100) I have consistently gotten 350-400 miles (more than any other lightweight trainer and consistent with most other traditional training shoes i've tried) out of each pair.

Anonymous runner · Apr 6, 2015

60 mpw training for a marathon came from the Newton Gravity

Comfort: 5/5
Durability: 5/5
Appearance: 5/5
Value: 5/5

Reader review

4/5

Overall

Anonymous runner · Apr 6, 2015

50 mpw training for middle distance

Comfort: 4/5
Durability: 4/5
Appearance: 5/5
Value: 5/5

Reader review

4/5

Overall

Anonymous runner · Apr 5, 2015

25 mpw training for middle distance came from the Nike Free 3.0 V5

Comfort: 4/5
Durability: 3/5
Appearance: 3/5
Value: 4/5

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Analyses

Saucony Kinvara 5

Exceptional