2017~2024 How much abuse can the CX-5 take?

sodasui

2020 CX-5 Sport AWD Jet Black Mica
I got the 2020 CX-5 Sport last October, want to talk about the durability of these. I went from driving pothole-ridden Midwestern roads to last month moving to Bay Area. For lack of holes and indents here, it makes up for it with the opposite: bumps everywhere. Every manhole cover lies on raised mound of road like a little mountain, so many raised boards of sheet metal everywhere, and other random bumps and folds over the highway. Not to mention every parking garage has speed bumps so steep they automatically turn your steering wheel as you go over them. It's quite jarring - worse yet the bumps are usually on the side of the lane...

So yesterday I went over a "manhole cover mountain" at around 40-45mph on my right side tires, it felt like my car wouldnt stop bouncing up and down for a while after the impact. I've read threads in here that say they drove over entire curbs many times in their CX-5 with no damage, but are the suspension parts any better than your typical sedan? How have your CX-5's fared on crap roads at 35-50mph speeds? Should I take to mechanic?


Edit: I also just got an alignment done like 2 weeks ago too, mechanic said it was surprisingly misaligned. I scraped curbside on only two occasions, once on a super narrow lane, and another while doing a U-turn. He said those probably caused it. If those caused misalignment how do people take this thing off-roading or "drive over curbs regularly" as I've read online???
 
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The CX-5 is a car, definitely not an offroader. (Mazda continues to miss the opportunity to sell a lifted, higher priced offroad CX-5 like several competitors in the segment). The ground clearance is about an inch higher than a typical sedan. The approach angle is not suitable for any actual off roading beyond a gravel road. I recently drove on a gravel road for about 2 miles and saw noticeable wear on the Yokohama street tires (and had to pick out a ton of rocks from the tires - note to self, avoid gravel roads) which I hope to replace with better tires on 16s soon.
 
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The CX-5 is a car, definitely not an offroader. (Mazda continues to miss the opportunity to sell a lifted, higher priced offroad CX-5 like several competitors in the segment).
Right. In the world of Toyota, for example, if you drive on roads you buy a Highlander with car-like unibody construction. If you plan off-roading you buy a 4Runner with truck-like body-on-frame construction and a suspension built for it.

There are quite a few unibody CUVs and SUVs these days with mud, snow, sand, whatnot trans settings. That might might be fine for many situations but a buyer of such a vehicle should probably think twice about taking it through deep ruts or climbing over rocks.
 
I'm the Bay Area as well...Oakland. The roads here are awful and you really need to keep an eye open not only at the road but also the debris on the roadways. It takes time to adjust but it will come, especially if you use the same roads. My 2020 touring came with the 17" 225/65/17. You could look at a larger tire that would give you a bit more defensive surface.
 
I'm the Bay Area as well...Oakland. The roads here are awful and you really need to keep an eye open not only at the road but also the debris on the roadways. It takes time to adjust but it will come, especially if you use the same roads. My 2020 touring came with the 17" 225/65/17. You could look at a larger tire that would give you a bit more defensive surface.
I'm in the south (Santa Clara) but this weekend I was in Santa Rosa and drove down 80/ 880 south through Berkeley/Oakland to get home so I know now what you mean; the random debris and bumpy hard slopes between new and old patches of highway and bridges are quite jarring, even at 70-75mph. I also have 17'' rims, did you change anything on yours? And did you have to change any suspension components yet? Bearings, bushings, etc ? Are your shocks okay?
Back in Illinois I was used to potholes everywhere so driving I was always on the defensive, and knew when to go slow; here a lot of stretches of road are smooth like butter, its easy to go faster and then suddenly slam over the kind of road joint or diagonal slope which leaves your car springing up and down like in the cartoons...
 
I bought some 18" cx 30 rims and installed some 235/60/18 tires. Their .4"s taller and wider then the 19" wheels found on the GT and up models. There smoother, offer more ground clearance/roll over then the 17"ers and i haven't noticed any minuses otherwise so far.
 

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some relevant previous discussions:


Maybe ask @Pitter -- that owner seems to live in a place with less than ideal road conditions and I'm sure can provide some overall feedback on "how much abuse..".
 
I bought some 18" cx 30 rims and installed some 235/60/18 tires. Their .4"s taller and wider then the 19" wheels found on the GT and up models. There smoother, offer more ground clearance/roll over then the 17"ers and i haven't noticed any minuses otherwise so far

Looks beautiful. Thank you for the info, will consider.
 
The CX-5 is not a truck, like others said, it is more like a car that goes good in bad conditions on pavement. But hitting manholes or potholes fast will put any car or truck out of alignment.
 
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