Long start time and slow acceleration (2019 CX-5)

[xanders0812]

Hi everyone! New member and new owner of a 2019 CX5 touring. I love this car so far, but have had a few concerns, I purchased it at Kia and overall I love the options and space compared to my Miata! I’ve had it in the dealer a week after purchasing, finding that it takes about four to five seconds to start. Now if I turn the ignition on and off a few times it will start about 2-3 seconds.

I also feel that it takes a lot to accelerate, the transmission has to shift to a lower gear often just to accelerate say from 40-50 or even 20 to 25. Just seems like the motor isn’t gaining enough power to go. The dealer said the fuel pump before replacing was going from 40 psi to 7 psi and they replaced it. This was after a battery install. But I feel like there’s no significant change.

I did research here and found various hypotheses like belts and even a check valve leaking? I saw a thread about certain cylinders shutting off that can cause hesitation too. Just want to see if anyone has insight to these specific issues, my cars still under warranty but I hate having to go back and have parts thrown at it.

 

[HyFlyer]

How many miles on your new (to you ) cx5?

When you say you've taken it to the dealer, do you mean the Kia dealership you bought it from or a Mazda dealership?

 

[xanders0812]

How many miles on your new (to you ) cx5?

When you say you've taken it to the dealer, do you mean the Kia dealership you bought it from or a Mazda dealership?

There are 62,000 miles roughly! I meant the Kia dealership, I have a warranty with them. I have a good feeling I’ll need to take it to Mazda though

 

[GFrosty]

2019 CX5 touring ... I also feel that it takes a lot to accelerate, the transmission has to shift to a lower gear often just to accelerate say from 40-50 or even 20 to 25.

2016.5 GT, here.

With accelerating, I've noticed on mine that it takes a decent amount of throttle position change to actually make it drop a gear or even two. I drive rather sedately, except when taking off from a traffic signal and getting up to speed. The car does accelerate briskly, but at certain speeds even a one-gear change doesn't really swiftly change the speed. A two-gear change does.

A very small nudge on the throttle, on my CX-5, does practically nothing. Anemic acceleration. Until I give it quite a bit more throttle than I think I should need to. At which point it drops a gear or two and really goes. If refusing to drop a gear, it'll shudder a bit as it's determine whether to bother shifting. (I hate that.) So, I find myself hitting the throttle harder when I know I'm needing to accelerate briskly.

On mine, there's a "Sport Mode" switch. Of course it'll suck the gas if always driving around in that mode, but it makes a significant difference in how hard the car accelerates, via changing the valve/timing characteristics and changing the shift map. Of course, accelerating in "Manual" shift mode, particularly when in "Sport", results in the quickest acceleration, if I know that I'm going to need to briskly speed up.

Just for comparison it'd be worth trying out each of those shifting/mode alternatives (above). It'll give you a good idea of what the car's capable of, depending on how much throttle you give it, how each mode varies things.

Uncertain how sedately or briskly you typically drive. If new to you, the prior owner's driving behaviors have essentially been "learned" by the transmission. There's a procedure to "zap" those current settings and forcing it to re-learn. I did this with my CX-5, and it greatly reduced the car's tendency to select one too "high" of a gear at any given speed (seeking best fuel economy at all times, instead of the "Zoom Zoom" type of driving experience Mazda's well known for).

At north of 60K miles, too, it might well be that your spark plugs are nearing the end of their lives. If they're the original plugs and are sooted-up or worn, you might well see a solid improvement in "zippy" performance if swapping in a new set that's properly gapped.

 

[xanders0812]

I’ve used sport mode before to get across roads a little quicker before. What you’ve described is exactly what mine does, almost a ratcheting feel at low rpm when it doesn’t lower a gear. I try to gradually press the throttle but it doesn’t accelerate much at all until it lowers gears to help push it. I even thought, well is the timing off? Maybe I can see if Mazda can do a hard relearn on it. They did put a new battery in but I figure it would take more to get a previous owners habit erased. Thanks for your insight and glad to know I’m not alone!

 

[N7turbo]

On mine, there's a "Sport Mode" switch. Of course it'll suck the gas if always driving around in that mode, but it makes a significant difference in how hard the car accelerates, via changing the valve/timing characteristics and changing the shift map. Of course, accelerating in "Manual" shift mode, particularly when in "Sport", results in the quickest acceleration, if I know that I'm going to need to briskly speed up.

I thought it only affected gear shifting behavior of the transmission.

Also, the only difference that I've noted while putting it in Sport while in manual mode, is that it won't upshift automatically at WOT.

 

[N7turbo]

I’ve used sport mode before to get across roads a little quicker before. What you’ve described is exactly what mine does, almost a ratcheting feel at low rpm when it doesn’t lower a gear. I try to gradually press the throttle but it doesn’t accelerate much at all until it lowers gears to help push it.

Do you have the paddle shifters? A quick blip of the - paddle is the user input the car needs to know what you want it to do.

If not, Sport mode increases the sensitivity to downshifting, as well as just driving in manual mode and learning how to control your gears. Like it or not, the transmission is tuned for economy and smoothness in Normal mode.

 

[cz5gt]

Probably need PCM and TCM reflash with latest calibration versions.

btw TCM learned habits are erased the moment battery is disconnected.

 

[xanders0812]

Good to know about the battery thank you! I don’t know if they used a memory saver or not, the time and memory of the mileage stayed the same after they put a new battery in, but maybe it reset either way? I know it’s supposed to be economy when driving, I’ve driven an older one and it was still more peppy than mine is, and I’ve daily driven a Prius before hand! I’ll see about getting over to Mazda to let them know and see if they can do a tcm relearn, I could barely get the car to get out of its own way driving across a road earlier. The five to six seconds of turning over concerns me as well, like it’s starved of gas?

 

[GFrosty]

I thought it only affected gear shifting behavior of the transmission.

The "Sport Mode" switch on my 2016.5 definitely does wake-up the valve/timing profile (?), not merely speeding-up the shift map. Beyond setting the RPMs higher at every given speed (by comparison to non-"Sport"), it definitely pulls harder when hitting the throttle at every given RPM. That part of things has zero to do with whether it shifts or the shift point.

Now, I'm no mechanic. My description of the "valve/timing" aspect might not be exactly what the engineering tweak is inside the car. But if it's not the shift point, there's not much else that influences how hard the car pulls when hitting the throttle.