I bought it! It's amazing!

[Preatoriancx5]

Well I finally traded in my midlife crisises for a reasonable vehicle for New England. I spent about 2 weeks researching and gathering data and it just seemed like the CX-5 Touring was the way to go. I test drove it and was very impressed. I came from a sports car and superbike so I expected a large power loss. The CX-5 was no sluff to me. Obviously it's not like what I'm used too but it did surprise me getting on the highway and generally just stomping on the pedal (love that click .

I just got back from a 470mi round trip (the vehicle now has 487mi on it) and I must say I'm very very VERY happy with my purchase. Thus far I've averaged 29mpg and I reset the mpg for my last 140mi and got 32.3mpg with a mix of country roads and highway. Out in the sticks where my GF lives with a lot of hills I noticed that 3rd gear was the preferred gear the vehicle wanted to be in and it had plenty of power/torque to get up hills and not feel bogged down. Now, if you leave it in "D" it will try to upshift and keep the rpm low and of course...... feel sluggish.

The handling was surprisingly sure footed I thought. I just traded in a sports car with tweaked suspension and everything and I was very surprised at the lack of roll I felt in this vehicle. This thing handles similar to a car. I was attacking corners without any concern. The feedback was great and the car seemed to love cutting up the country roads. I never felt like the rear was going to step out or like it was going to flip. For your everyday driver, this car will feel very stable.

My only gripe is the headrest. I feel like it's too forward, not allowing you to relax your neck muscles. In a long ride I found it extremely annoying and I turned the headrest around. But then it's too far back and you feel like you're looking up at the ceiling! So I'm still fighting with finding the right spot/combo with the headrest. I'm sure I'm not the only one so I'll do a search about it after this post.

Other than that, I LOVE this car! The way it looks, the way it purrs, the way it feels cutting through the back roads, it's just an amazing vehicle! If you're kind of torn between this and something else, I hope this post helps you chose the CX-5. It's so much more than I expected and has blown me away.



Preatorian

 

[speedbegone]

cool, i love mine too, and came from a mazdaspeed 3 with a tuned suspension also.

may I ask what car you had previous to the cx5?

so far so good for me also... love how this thing drives

 

[CX-SV]

Congrats on the new CX-5 and welcome to mazdas247!

What was the "midlife crisises" sports car traded?

 

[ourlee]

What was your mid life crisis car, for whatever reason I have to know. Congrats on the cx5 depends on the mlc trade in

 

[MikeM.]

My only gripe is the headrest. I feel like it's too forward, not allowing you to relax your neck muscles. In a long ride I found it extremely annoying and I turned the headrest around. But then it's too far back and you feel like you're looking up at the ceiling! So I'm still fighting with finding the right spot/combo with the headrest.

Most driver's natural seating position does not conflict with the headrest position. But if yours does, you can take solace in knowing that all modern cars designed for safety in a rear end collision have essentially the same geometrical relationship with the seatback/headrest angle. This relationship has been proven to reduce whiplash injuries which were once very common. I recommend not turning the headrest backwards but, instead, finding a position of seatback angle that does not cause you any issue with the headrest. It has never been an issue for most people but everyone is a little different. Just know that all modern cars designed to prevent serious injuries have a very similar geometry to the seatback and headrest.

Other than that, I LOVE this car! The way it looks, the way it purrs, the way it feels cutting through the back roads, it's just an amazing vehicle! If you're kind of torn between this and something else, I hope this post helps you chose the CX-5. It's so much more than I expected and has blown me away.

I know exactly what you mean when you say you love the way it purrs while cutting through the back roads. That is the essence of a great car. "Blown away" describes exactly how I felt the first time I drove one and, 11,000 miles later, I'm even more impressed.

Definitely a car that grows on you.