Hi Folks.
New to Mazda. New to anything but a Saab, after 35 years of driving . Looking for suggestions on a driving stragegy for a particular problem.
I just bought a used CX-5, last week. 2014, sport, 6MT. After driving Saabs for all this time, I threw in the towel on them (parts getting hard to find!). Have to start being practical . I searched long and hard for something else that I enjoyed driving and settled on Mazdas, the handling is super impressive.
Requirements were a manual transmission, good road feel, tight steering and some cargo space (I have dogs and horses and their gear and detritus). I knew this CX-5 would be underpowered compared to what I'm used to. But, since I spend 95% of my time on tertiary roads, not being able to pass at 70 in 6th gear isn't a problem I'm going to worry about. Shifting down for highway passing isn't a big problem.
I have one very hairy thing I have to do on my preferred way home from work. Pulling out from a stop on a 45 degree hill (really!), very sharp left turn into 40 mph+, usually heavy, traffic. Most of the time with some fool nearly attached to my rear bumper. I've done it in my last three Saabs for years. FWD, but with plenty of torque. I had to slip the clutch, so as not to roll back into the car behind me, and sometimes left a bit of rubber on the road, but I was always confident. The CX-5, arggh! I'm not sure it can do it. The "hill assist" feature, which I've never had before, didn't seem to help. Too light up front and not enough juice from a dead stop in first? I made it, but barely, and it was scary. Brand new tires lost their grip, it just didn't seem to be able to haul itself up there that fast. Felt really light in front.
Do any of you with more experience with this car have any suggestions on how to drive this effectively in this situation? Or, should I just suck it up and take the long way around?
New to Mazda. New to anything but a Saab, after 35 years of driving . Looking for suggestions on a driving stragegy for a particular problem.
I just bought a used CX-5, last week. 2014, sport, 6MT. After driving Saabs for all this time, I threw in the towel on them (parts getting hard to find!). Have to start being practical . I searched long and hard for something else that I enjoyed driving and settled on Mazdas, the handling is super impressive.
Requirements were a manual transmission, good road feel, tight steering and some cargo space (I have dogs and horses and their gear and detritus). I knew this CX-5 would be underpowered compared to what I'm used to. But, since I spend 95% of my time on tertiary roads, not being able to pass at 70 in 6th gear isn't a problem I'm going to worry about. Shifting down for highway passing isn't a big problem.
I have one very hairy thing I have to do on my preferred way home from work. Pulling out from a stop on a 45 degree hill (really!), very sharp left turn into 40 mph+, usually heavy, traffic. Most of the time with some fool nearly attached to my rear bumper. I've done it in my last three Saabs for years. FWD, but with plenty of torque. I had to slip the clutch, so as not to roll back into the car behind me, and sometimes left a bit of rubber on the road, but I was always confident. The CX-5, arggh! I'm not sure it can do it. The "hill assist" feature, which I've never had before, didn't seem to help. Too light up front and not enough juice from a dead stop in first? I made it, but barely, and it was scary. Brand new tires lost their grip, it just didn't seem to be able to haul itself up there that fast. Felt really light in front.
Do any of you with more experience with this car have any suggestions on how to drive this effectively in this situation? Or, should I just suck it up and take the long way around?