Hello everyone,,
I own a 2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring, the midrange trim with the NA 2.5L in FWD.
I'm doing that write up because holy crap do people talk up the CX-5 on this subreddit. I just read a comment calling it a lifted MX-5.
We got this car because our Cobalt endured too many Northeast winters and was rusting away. My wife was insisting she wanted "a mom-mobile", despite the fact we don't have any kids and aren't planning to for a year or 2. We bought it lightly used in June 2017. We worked the price down a little because it had a scratch and a piece of trim by the passenger rear window is loose.
My favorite thing about it is the ability to lay the rear seats flat enough that an air mattress will fit for car camping. With the seat hammock covers it also contains our medium-large dog in the back seat.
The 2.5l engine is just very blah. I didn't test drive any of the other CUVs like the Rav4, Rogue, or CR-V, but my wife did. I'm assuming from reviewers that they must be VERY boring to drive, with as much praise bthey give the CX-5. The transmission is the bright spot, I'm glad to not have a droning CVT.
It is enough for her on a daily basis. I find myself fully flooring it when getting on the highway and it is so boring my wife doesn't even realize it. I could see why people would want the 2.5 with a turbo, it doesn't rev very high in the first place and it needs more low end torque.
It is "zippy", but not as zippy or as nimble feeling as my mom's 2005 Honda CR-V. If I was the one driving it every day I'd honestly pick the 13 year old Honda when it comes to driving feel, although I think that may be because of electric vs hydraulic steering, not sure what the CR-V has.
We went with the FWD because we now live in the Phoenix suburbs and never see snow, rarely rain. In the middle of the summer when accelerating hard or going up a hill the AC will temporarily cut out. Very noticeable when it is 115F. Two dealers have said it is expected behavior and doesn't have a fix, they claim it is to help with MPGs, but we'd rather have the AC. The AC is also pitiful in the summer in the back seats.
The infotainment system is ok, I'm not a huge fan of the dial systems by the shifter, I'd rather do the dash just because of years of habit. We were able to get GPS enabled for $40 from an EBay micro-USB rather than essentially pay for the $400 GPS DLC as it were. It is a much better layout than my base Mustang's dash. It doesn't show what way you'll go by where your wheels are pointed on the backup camera. It does have lots of good plugs for your phones and devices, but not a great spot to mount the phone because it has the tablet dash in the natural spot.
End of the day neither my wife or I are sold on all of the Mazda hype, although we do understand and agree it is probably better than the competition in the same price range. She wants an Alfa Romeo Stelvio or more likely a Wrangler(I've had one as a rental and hated it's driving experience/engine as well) as her next vehicle.
I own a 2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring, the midrange trim with the NA 2.5L in FWD.
I'm doing that write up because holy crap do people talk up the CX-5 on this subreddit. I just read a comment calling it a lifted MX-5.
We got this car because our Cobalt endured too many Northeast winters and was rusting away. My wife was insisting she wanted "a mom-mobile", despite the fact we don't have any kids and aren't planning to for a year or 2. We bought it lightly used in June 2017. We worked the price down a little because it had a scratch and a piece of trim by the passenger rear window is loose.
My favorite thing about it is the ability to lay the rear seats flat enough that an air mattress will fit for car camping. With the seat hammock covers it also contains our medium-large dog in the back seat.
The 2.5l engine is just very blah. I didn't test drive any of the other CUVs like the Rav4, Rogue, or CR-V, but my wife did. I'm assuming from reviewers that they must be VERY boring to drive, with as much praise bthey give the CX-5. The transmission is the bright spot, I'm glad to not have a droning CVT.
It is enough for her on a daily basis. I find myself fully flooring it when getting on the highway and it is so boring my wife doesn't even realize it. I could see why people would want the 2.5 with a turbo, it doesn't rev very high in the first place and it needs more low end torque.
It is "zippy", but not as zippy or as nimble feeling as my mom's 2005 Honda CR-V. If I was the one driving it every day I'd honestly pick the 13 year old Honda when it comes to driving feel, although I think that may be because of electric vs hydraulic steering, not sure what the CR-V has.
We went with the FWD because we now live in the Phoenix suburbs and never see snow, rarely rain. In the middle of the summer when accelerating hard or going up a hill the AC will temporarily cut out. Very noticeable when it is 115F. Two dealers have said it is expected behavior and doesn't have a fix, they claim it is to help with MPGs, but we'd rather have the AC. The AC is also pitiful in the summer in the back seats.
The infotainment system is ok, I'm not a huge fan of the dial systems by the shifter, I'd rather do the dash just because of years of habit. We were able to get GPS enabled for $40 from an EBay micro-USB rather than essentially pay for the $400 GPS DLC as it were. It is a much better layout than my base Mustang's dash. It doesn't show what way you'll go by where your wheels are pointed on the backup camera. It does have lots of good plugs for your phones and devices, but not a great spot to mount the phone because it has the tablet dash in the natural spot.
End of the day neither my wife or I are sold on all of the Mazda hype, although we do understand and agree it is probably better than the competition in the same price range. She wants an Alfa Romeo Stelvio or more likely a Wrangler(I've had one as a rental and hated it's driving experience/engine as well) as her next vehicle.