0-60 times are the roughly the same in gen 1 and gen 2 CX5 as would be expected because they have the same engine and transmission with a few tweaks on the '17. There is no "one second" difference that you mention. Car & Driver tested the '17 again last month and got 7.8 seconds in the FWD and everyone says the AWD should be faster as has already been discussed here. When they tested the '16 they got 7.7 seconds. The CRV did get 7.6 seconds. For all practical purposes, performance-wise, all 3 vehicles perform nearly identical. Maybe you should actually drive a '17 before you decide all they did was add "techy items" to cover up a vehicle that got worse, lol. Oh, and as I mentioned earlier, the MSRP increased $40 from a loaded '16 to loaded '17. Not bad considering all that was added.
C/D TEST RESULTS: 2016 CX5, 2017 CX5, 2017 CRV
Zero to 60 mph: 7.7 sec, 7.8 sec, 7.6 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 23.0 sec, 23.8 sec, 21.5 sec
Zero to 110 mph: 31.0 sec, 32.5 sec, 28.8 sec
Rolling start, 5-60 mph: 8.0 sec, 7.9 sec, 8.1 sec
Top gear, 30-50 mph: 3.8 sec, 3.8 sec, 4.2 sec
Top gear, 50-70 mph: 5.2 sec, 5.3 sec, 5.3 sec
Standing -mile: 16.0 sec @ 86 mph, 16.2 sec @ 86 mph, 16.0 sec @ 89 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 120 mph, 130 mph, 124 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 175 ft, 177 ft, 166 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad*: 0.81 g, 0.82 g, 0.82 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 24/30 mpg, 24/31 mpg, 27/33 mpg
C/D observed: 23 mpg, 32 mpg, 25 mpg