I read that CX-5 thread. Hmm.
I have a Canadian-spec Titanium 2019 Mazda6 GS-L turbo, and my complaint is the lousy pace of the slow-warming up engine and thus heater in cold weather here in Nova Scotia. Wasn't expecting that in a modern car.
However, and to the point, no, I haven't experienced power loss even at -17C as the driver's side window and two others remained stuck closed after an hour's running. It was following a slight slushy snowfall the day before which then froze hard overnight, but was barely enough to even see. And not enough to try to scrape/chip off or face damaging the trim trying. And the roads were clear and dry that morning, to compound my annoyance! Even at only -5C it takes a good eight to ten miles to get up to normal temperature, and longer if you have the fan set high to try to capture some defrost heat.
I thrashed the beast to warm it up once it got past 50C and finally got it to read about its normal 98C on the temp gauge. No luck on the stuck windows - had to wait for the outside temperature to moderate. Worst car at that in my past forty years of new car purchasing. But no lack of power at any time, perhaps the opposite.
I have V-rated snow tires on Mazda steel rims, so an occasional unlawful blast to high velocity on lightly travelled four lane rural highways is fun. On the normal two-laners in my slightly rural area, my major hassle is the other slowpokes because the car has a natural tendency to waft along at well over the posted speed limits on very light throttle. Mostly, I like the car very much, and especially the way the transmission shifts. The accelerator pedal throttle-opening law could do with slowing down to allow finer control at normal speeds. The Sport setting is thus essentially useless by being even more sensitive. Higher speed stability is not great when changing lanes over worn-down truck-rutted paved roads - there's a distinct wobble at the front on either sets of tires that sometimes occurs unexpectedly. Once at only about 100 km/h really bothered me as I thought the car was out of control, so it's not perfect by any means. That wobble was an attention-grabber, and it occurred after I had checked tire pressures - they're still fine - I bought TPMS for the winter wheels and carry a tire gauge and pump. I'm what used to be called an enthusiast.
Like I said, poor heater, and the electric seat warmers are pretty sketchy as well. The HVAC is my main disappointment with the car. Since the car has shown zero assembly faults and not one single rattle, I assume the heater is normal, especially after talking to other owners in the waiting room while I got an oil change at the dealer. SkyActiv Mazdas are cold-blooded beasts even in normally-aspirated trim, apparently. Mileage is excellent compared to my traded-in Subie Legacy turbo in normal local driving (9 to 10 versus 11.5 to as much as 13) but identical on long highway trips at 7.8l/100km.
The engine is highly consistent for me, and capable of memorable torque steer with a prod to half throttle if the car isn't pointed straight ahead. Car overtaking on secondary roads car can thus be a bit dicey unless you cool it -- the right front tire will spin going over the painted centreline under boost and the steering goes numb! You have to be awake driving this car sportily.
Full accelerator pedal makes almost no extra difference over halfway. I even found that starting out in second, snow mode, caused the OEM tires to still chirp and minorly squeal all the way up from rest to perhaps 40 klicks at full whack on dry roads last fall. Low gear under boost from rest is a tire roastfest with howling front tires. I use premium gas exclusively - it's only 9 cents/litre more in NS due to our price controls for the last 15 years.
Perhaps premium's why it's a bit lively, I do not know. Three different test drives before purchase did not hint at the power, because after AWD, I especially tried full throttle from rest to see the reaction. Compared to what mine is like after running in, the test cars were dullards, presumably because of regular gas. I would likely have been more circumspect in my purchase if the test cars had been as wild, but I loved the comfy fit and finish, steering linearity, ride and quiet easy cruisin'. Still do. The engine is a bit too loudly raspy for me under throttle and not anywhere near as smooth as the old Subie flat four - the Mazda is an obvious big four and a bit Harley-like under throttle. If Subaru hadn't turned into a big doggy-show wobblefest with CVT, and still made the competent GT, I'd have bought again - it was a better car than the 6. But for reasonable money, there's nothing comparable to the old LGT, and SUVs? You can keep 'em. My brother has a 2014 CX-5. Meh at best for me. Its reliability has been stellar though, but I cannot stand the front seats.
The Toyo snow tires on my 6 are actually better steerers and no more prone to losing traction on dry roads than the OEM all seasons. In snow and under (very) light throttle, the tires have impressive traction and the car is stable. The TC light comes on very rarely even when you sense a bit of wheelspin and never in reverse on my icy uphill driveway when spinning grandly, so I wonder what its calibration is -- probably pretty loose because of the FWD and expected wheelspin with all that instant shove from the turbo. I keep LKAS off permanently - no ghosts in the steering for me, thanks all the same.
Cannot imagine what is going on with the CX-5 turbo's temperature sensitivity if it's not a calibration issue, and am a mechanical engineer with some minor clue. A mystery otherwise. Although, has anyone looked to see if the intercooler connections are different on the CX-5 compared to the 6? Early Legacy GT's often leaked at the connection to the intake manifold, and that caused power loss sometimes depending on how the boost grew. Solution was to make sure the large diameter hose clamps were, in fact, very tight.
Joined up just to tell you all that! First and foremost, this Mazda6 turbo needs AWD, presuming Mazda can handle the calibration, which it seems they may not based on those CX-5 results. For the money, the 6 GS-L turbo is a steal for such a well-manufactured item. It has its quirks -- you just have to learn them.
