Great review!
I definitely agree that the lack of interior features is a little disappointing in the CX5. Adjustable back seats would be very nice, and I never thought of having the passenger seat fold down but that would be awesome as well. Theres a few other trivial but nice additions that I would love such as one touch windows and sunroof, auto folding mirrors, etc. As for the interior lighting, I remember the first time I took my new car out at night, and was disappointed in how dark it was in the cabin. I decided then to add interior accent lighting to the footwells, center cubby, and even the cupholders. I am halfway done! Going to add another 12v and hopefully a 110v outlet in the process.
All in all, I agree I would rather take the car that is focused on actually driving rather than the point A to B with fancy lights any day. What Mike pointed out is very true, I had to swerve off the road the other day and was very happy in how the CX5 handled at speed on a loose dirt shoulder, while evasively driving. It never felt out of control or disconnected, and helped save me from a head on 70 vs 70 mph collision.
Of note, when I bought my Grand Jeep Cherokee, the shocks and struts were shot. Even braking from highway speed was a scary thing, as it floated/bounced/pulled to the side. I feel that in a "moose avoidance test", it would have performed a barrel roll, lol! I promptly changed the struts and shocks and it was glued to the road ever since.
As to my CX-5, I did dodge a tree branch in the road yesterday morning that presented right after a turn. It performed competently. No aftermarket mods required.
That said, some soccer mom had happily carted her family around in my Jeep for 68,XXX miles before I bought it. All on the OEM tires, too, I might add, lol! What I am saying is, you bought a CX-5 because you are different, and a niche person. Most people don't even THINK about stuff like avoiding a head-on during test drives. Of the hundreds of test drives I took a customer on, not one of them did any driving that would clue them in to how a vehicle might handle such a situation, at any speed.
The CX-5 is unique, and does offer advantages, but they are lost on almost all CUV customers but a very few.
Also, yes, OP, great review, and it mirrors a lot of what I read about the Jeep Cherokee as well, in magazines. You could have copied and pasted it out of a magazine, for how closely it mirrored them. It sounds like you did a solid eval of the thing! Props.
