2016 CX-5 Sport oil change interval?

:
2016 Mazda CX-5 Sport
I have a '16 CX-5 Sport with the 2.5L skyactiv engine. What is the oil change interval? Is it six months or 5k or twelve months or 10k? The dealer suggests every four to five months or so.

I live in sunny South Florida and drive about 20 miles a day. Roughly put about 5k miles every six months and have been getting the oil changed every six months at the dealer with 0w-20 synthetic oil. I just took a look at the manual and it states "USA Residents - Engine oil flexible maintenance schedule". It says engine oil and filter 10k miles/12 months.

It's such a waste to change the oil at 5k or six months. Toyota can go up to 10k miles on their cars. Just doesn't make sense.. Any suggestions?
 
I have a '16 CX-5 Sport with the 2.5L skyactiv engine. What is the oil change interval? Is it six months or 5k or twelve months or 10k? The dealer suggests every four to five months or so.

I live in sunny South Florida and drive about 20 miles a day. Roughly put about 5k miles every six months and have been getting the oil changed every six months at the dealer with 0w-20 synthetic oil. I just took a look at the manual and it states "USA Residents - Engine oil flexible maintenance schedule". It says engine oil and filter 10k miles/12 months.

It's such a waste to change the oil at 5k or six months. Toyota can go up to 10k miles on their cars. Just doesn't make sense.. Any suggestions?

There's your answer. Always follow the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual when it comes to basic services like oil and filter changes. That dealer just wants more of your money.
 
There's your answer. Always follow the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual when it comes to basic services like oil changes. The dealer just wants more of your money.
I have about 63k on the CX-5. Will go to the 10k interval.
 
I have about 63k on the CX-5. Will go to the 10k interval.

When you switch to the flexible maintenance schedule, the onboard electronics will warn you when the oil needs to be changed. Depending on a bunch of different factors, that warning can happen before the 10k/12 month interval. Just something to keep in mind in case you see the oil change warning before the 10k/12 month interval.
 
When you switch to the flexible maintenance schedule, the onboard electronics will warn you when the oil needs to be changed. Depending on a bunch of different factors, that warning can happen before the 10k/12 month interval. Just something to keep in mind in case you see the oil change warning before the 10k/12 month interval.

How can I tell if my CX-5 is set to the "Flexible schedule"? Is there a way to see the current setting in the system?
 
The flexible setting doesn't go over 7500 mi or one year before alerting

ETA: ok, this is weird. In the 2016 manual, for the flexible schedule it says max one year/10k miles. For the fixed schedule it says one year/7500 miles. From 2017 on, the separate 10k max interval goes away
 
Last edited:
The flexible setting doesn't go over 7500 mi or one year before alerting

ETA: ok, this is weird. In the 2016 manual, for the flexible schedule it says max one year/10k miles. For the fixed schedule it says one year/7500 miles. From 2017 on, the separate 10k max interval goes away
So it's 7500 max, before I have to do the next oil change?
 
So it's 7500 max, before I have to do the next oil change?
When you use Flexible OCI on 2017 and newer CX-5 , it’s UP TO 7,500 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Only for 2016 / 2016.5 CX-5, the first year Mazda started to use Flexible OCI, it’s UP TO 10,000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. The onboard computer will calculate the oil life depending on the driving habit and many other factors, and display a red wrench indicator and “Oil change due” message in instrument cluster to notify you it’s time to change the oil.

When you use Flexible OCI, it’s the computer which decides the oil change interval, not you.

If I remember it correctly, 2016 CX-5 Sport has different way, not from Maintenance Monitor App on infotainment screen, to set up Flexible oil life monitor, read your owner’s manual.
 
When you use Flexible OCI on 2017 and newer CX-5 , it’s UP TO 7,500 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Only for 2016 / 2016.5 CX-5, the first year Mazda started to use Flexible OCI, it’s UP TO 10,000 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. The onboard computer will calculate the oil life depending on the driving habit and many other factors, and display a red wrench indicator and “Oil change due” message in instrument cluster to notify you it’s time to change the oil.

When you use Flexible OCI, it’s the computer which decides the oil change interval, not you.

If I remember it correctly, 2016 CX-5 Sport has different way, not from Maintenance Monitor App on infotainment screen, to set up Flexible oil life monitor, read your owner’s manual.
So, does the dealer usually set the schedule to Flexible or Fixed? Typically I have done oil changes every 5000 miles at the dealer, but I have a few times gone over that by a couple of hundred miles, but never received any warnings.
 
So, does the dealer usually set the schedule to Flexible or Fixed? Typically I have done oil changes every 5000 miles at the dealer, but I have a few times gone over that by a couple of hundred miles, but never received any warnings.
I believe many Mazda dealers either disabled Oil Change in Maintenance Monitor or set it to Fixed at 5,000 miles, although the default from factory is Flexible. You can review the setup on your Maintenance Monitor, although your Sport is not as easy as just bringing up the App on infotainment screen if I remember it correctly. Check your owner’s manual.
 
So, I went into the Applications\Maintenance. In there the Oil change settings of flexible or fixed is not selected. The Off radio button is selected. So looks disabled..

So if it is set to 'Off', then do I follow 5000 miles or 10,000 miles for oil changes?
I believe many Mazda dealers either disabled Oil Change in Maintenance Monitor or set it to Fixed at 5,000 miles, although the default from factory is Flexible. You can review the setup on your Maintenance Monitor, although your Sport is not as easy as just bringing up the App on infotainment screen if I remember it correctly. Check your owner’s manual.
 
Last edited:
So, I went into the Applications\Maintenance. In there the Oil change settings of flexible or fixed is not selected. The Off radio button is selected. So looks disabled..

So if it is set to 'Off', then do I follow 5000 miles or 10,000 miles for oil changes?

At this point, you'd do whatever you want. Meaning you can enable the flexible setting and change the oil whenever the system recommends, but don't go over 10k miles or one year. Or, if you choose the fixed setting, the computer will warn you when you're approaching the 7500 mile mark, but you should still change it once a year if you don't go more than 7500 miles per year. Or you can keep it off and follow whatever oil change interval you want. At 63k miles, you're no longer covered by the powertrain warranty, so you can change the oil whenever you want without having to worry about keeping the warranty intact.

I would personally stick with a fixed schedule of changing the oil once a year, at the same time every year, to keep things simple.
 
At this point, you'd do whatever you want. Meaning you can enable the flexible setting and change the oil whenever the system recommends, but don't go over 10k miles or one year. Or, if you choose the fixed setting, the computer will warn you when you're approaching the 7500 mile mark, but you should still change it once a year if you don't go more than 7500 miles per year. Or you can keep it off and follow whatever oil change interval you want. At 63k miles, you're no longer covered by the powertrain warranty, so you can change the oil whenever you want without having to worry about keeping the warranty intact.

I would personally stick with a fixed schedule of changing the oil once a year, at the same time every year, to keep things simple.
Thanks for the advice!
 
At a 5,000 mile interval and assuming you drive an average of 15,000 miles per year, an oil change using OEM filters and premium synthetic oil is about $30 about 3 times per year. Less than $100 per year!

Are you really quibbling over spending an extra $30?
 
At a 5,000 mile interval and assuming you drive an average of 15,000 miles per year, an oil change using OEM filters and premium synthetic oil is about $30 about 3 times per year. Less than $100 per year!

Are you really quibbling over spending an extra $30?

That's assuming OP wants to DIY. Based on the first post, the OP prefers to have the oil changes done by a shop, which means that the cost can easily get up to $100 USD per service.

Roughly put about 5k miles every six months and have been getting the oil changed every six months at the dealer with 0w-20 synthetic oil.
 
So, I went into the Applications\Maintenance. In there the Oil change settings of flexible or fixed is not selected. The Off radio button is selected. So looks disabled..

So if it is set to 'Off', then do I follow 5000 miles or 10,000 miles for oil changes?
You said in OP that you live in South Florida and drive about 20 miles a day, this means about 7,300 miles per year. Then you said you roughly put about 5k miles every six months and have been getting the oil changed every six months, this means 10,000 miles per year. Like sm1ke said above, you have no warranty and you can change the oil any time you want now. But I’d change the oil at least once a year if I were you driving 7,300 ~ 10,000 miles per year provided I use name brand 0W-20 (or 5W-30 if the engine uses oil) full synthetic SP / GF-6 oil. But I change oil on my 2016 CX-5 GT about once per year driving 3,000 ~ 5,500 miles which is just convenient for me. And I personally wouldn’t pass 6,500 miles and 1 year changing the oil on my CX-5, not to mention passing 7,500-mile maximum OCI on both Flexible and Fixed OCI currently recommended to CX-5’s by Mazda.

You should always set the Oil Change to Flexible in Maintenance Monitor with ignition on without engine running (push the ignition button twice without brake). You can see what the computer calculation on oil life in percentage, and wait for the notification message and wrench indicator to change the oil. Or just use the oil life % as a reference and change the oil whenever you want. Just remember to reset it after each oil change.
 
You said in OP that you live in South Florida and drive about 20 miles a day, this means about 7,300 miles per year. Then you said you roughly put about 5k miles every six months and have been getting the oil changed every six months, this means 10,000 miles per year. Like sm1ke said above, you have no warranty and you can change the oil any time you want now. But I’d change the oil at least once a year if I were you driving 7,300 ~ 10,000 miles per year provided I use name brand 0W-20 (or 5W-30 if the engine uses oil) full synthetic SP / GF-6 oil. But I change oil on my 2016 CX-5 GT about once per year driving 3,000 ~ 5,500 miles which is just convenient for me. And I personally wouldn’t pass 6,500 miles and 1 year changing the oil on my CX-5, not to mention passing 7,500-mile maximum OCI on both Flexible and Fixed OCI currently recommended to CX-5’s by Mazda.

You should always set the Oil Change to Flexible in Maintenance Monitor with ignition on without engine running (push the ignition button twice without brake). You can see what the computer calculation on oil life in percentage, and wait for the notification message and wrench indicator to change the oil. Or just use the oil life % as a reference and change the oil whenever you want. Just remember to reset it after each oil change.

So I am about a 1,000 miles from 5k oil change interval. Had used Tiresplus last time for a synthetic oil change. I'll probably get an oil change in January at the dealer. So should I set it to "Flexible" right after the oil change?

Once I set it to Flexible, I'll probably not go past 7,500 miles. Just want to keep the vehicle for a long time without any trouble.
 
Last edited:
So I am about a 1,000 miles from 5k oil change interval. Had used Tiresplus last time for a synthetic oil change. I'll probably get an oil change in January at the dealer. So should I set it to "Flexible" right after the oil change?

Once I set it to Flexible, I'll probably not go past 7,500 miles. Just want to keep the vehicle for a long time without any trouble.
Yes, if you want to keep the car for long, change the oil within 7,500 miles or 12 months whichever comes first. Make sure to reset the Oil Change with Flexible setting after you changed the oil.


The only thing I’d be concerned is changing oil at “Tiresplus”. Mazda dealer should be better, but you still want to find out what kind of bulk oil they use.

IMO, the best way to change oil without DIY is you buy your own oil (preferred 0W-20 or 5W-30 SP / GF-6 full synthetic oil) and correct OEM oil filter and take them to a reputable indie for the oil change paying them only the labor (~$20). And make sure ask them to save empty oil bottles and oil filter box for you.
 
Back