New owner obligatory review :)

[katmar]

Purchased my Metro Gray AWD Touring Tech saturday and couldn't be more pleased:

Commuting to work is seeing 34.8 mpg. That's just astonishing for a 3,400 pound AWD trucklette, lol.

First I gotta say this "underpowered" thing reviews mention is crazy. I held off buying one so long because I kept thinking I must be missing something on my test drives, and feared once I bought one I'd realize how slow people said it was. But... I dunno, maybe I got a turbo or diesel by accident lol, but the darn thing is very zippy! And I'm still breaking it in, so haven't even revved it up very high yet.

To alleviate my fears, the first thing I did was run it up all the hilly roads in my area. And it just sings up the hills. I mean sure OK, not like a Ferrari "sings," but I've had zero problems or compaints about the power. It has a lot of initial "grunt" when you first touch the pedal which is great to get you moving, and accelerates just fine after that too. Honestly, I realize I'm biased and prone to "purchase justification," but I would easily buy it again. I'm actually mad at myself for listening to the "needs more power" reviews in magazines.

Now add that to the great handling, and it's just a joy to drive enthusiastically. It turns in quickly, far quicker than any CUV has a right to, making it feel extremely nimble. "Nimble" isn't a word I ever expected to use for a CUV, lol... but leave it to Mazda! In corners, it seems to just be neutral, like a good sports car.

And I am in LOVE with AWD! It's my first AWD car, and I just adore the lack of wheelspin in any situation. I took it out in the rain yesterday and did all the "wrong" things I could, such as accelerate hard from a stop sign while turning sharply out onto a road, and... it just digs in and goes. No drama, no slippage.

The only complaint I have really is the silly TomTom unit. Typing anything into it is so tedious, you have to press pretty hard to get it to recognize your keystoke, and then it takes a second to catch up, then press another letter, another second to catch up... the lag is nasty.

The auto-lights are also kinda odd in that it has to be REALLY dark for them to come on, even when the sensitivity is turned up. They don't come on in rainstorms for example, or at dusk when everyone else has their lights on already.

But the saving feature of the Tech Package is the swiveling bright headlights. I LOVE them, although it's a little freaky at first seeing them move, lol.

So overall, I just love the little thing! I highly recommend anyone considering one to just go test drive one honestly, and try to not bias your expectations by all the "underpowered" reviews. Find out for yourself

 

[CX-SV]

Congrats on the new CX-5, the color looks luxury SUV-like. Enjoy.

Interesting note on the sensitivity of AUTO-lights. I actually turned down the sensitivity on my AUTO-lights because they were coming on a bit too early for my taste.

 

[katmar]

Interesting note on the sensitivity of AUTO-lights. I actually turned down the sensitivity on my AUTO-lights because they were coming on a bit too early for my taste.

Yea, they've been a bit unpredictable. They came on once when I was just driving under some shade trees on a cloudy but bright day, which seemed TOO sensitive. But then later when it started raining and it was darker/cloudy they didn't come on.

I'll keep experimenting, I could be doing something wrong as I've only been driving it for two (full) days or so now

 

[dpod]

Great review Katmar! After reading your comments on AWD, I'm now having a little remorse in buying the FWD version.

I too have to agree about the lights. So far they have been hit and miss coming on, especially when I am in my office parking garage. Though I'm thinking the cloud cover outside may have something to do with that...

 

[Mithan]

Do you have the GT version?

 

[katmar]

Do you have the GT version?

Nope, "just" the Touring

GT's are becoming pretty rare on lots it seems. I've seen a few, but they're vastly outnumbered by Tourings around here (Philadelphia area).

 

[Mithan]

Nope, "just" the Touring

GT's are becoming pretty rare on lots it seems. I've seen a few, but they're vastly outnumbered by Tourings around here (Philadelphia area).

Same in my area (Saskatchewan). I want leather but I may say screw it, not sure. Going to go test drive again today.

 

[udayse]

wow.. 35mpg on the awd is pretty amazing.. I am struggling to hit 29.

 

[katmar]

wow.. 35mpg on the awd is pretty amazing.. I am struggling to hit 29.

Well keep in mind I reset the AVG MPG once I was done playing around with it the first day or so, lol. It actually dropped to around 19 mpg for awhile there, but I was playing with the manual mode, testing it's acceleration up hills, testing the AWD grip from a stop in the rain, etc.

So I then I reset it and did a couple normal drives to work and shopping (no manual mode, no hills, just casual driving), and was pleasantly surprised to see that 35. I'll start tracking it the real way (calculated fillup gallons / miles driven) after I fill it up the first time

Still, even 29 is pretty incredible when you think about it for an SUV...

 

[ralph33ca]

Same in my area (Saskatchewan). I want leather but I may say screw it, not sure. Going to go test drive again today.

I was talking to a dealer in Ottawa, Ont., looking at a GX manual transmission, and they said they can add leather. They do it through a third party. Someone did that in the access. section and it looks good.

 

[jack_dh]

How do you adjust the Auto-Lights sensitivity?

 

[katmar]

How do you adjust the Auto-Lights sensitivity?

Trying to remember (I'm away from my manual at the moment), but something like push SETUP button on your center console, then VEHICLE... look for LIGHTING... towards bottom I think is an option for AUTOLIGHTS. You can pick from LIGHT through DARK.

 

[cr2crf]

Great writeup. I'm waiting for mine to get off the boat and to the dealer. It's an AWD GT. I have test driven a dozen because I, too, have been skeptical about the power issue. But after all those test drives and a few post from folks in my neck of the woods who actually named the highways they drive on and that they were having no problems on them, I am feeling a lot better about picking up the CX5 next week. Again, thanks for the write up.

 

[CX-SV]

Great writeup. I'm waiting for mine to get off the boat and to the dealer. It's an AWD GT. I have test driven a dozen because I, too, have been skeptical about the power issue. But after all those test drives and a few post from folks in my neck of the woods who actually named the highways they drive on and that they were having no problems on them, I am feeling a lot better about picking up the CX5 next week. Again, thanks for the write up.

If your other car is a (BMW) M3, then contrast of power will be big...

 

[Bcdad182]

I have a stand alone Tom Tom unit and it is laggy and really hard to push the screen...perhaps a design "feature" ;-)

 

[mobius120487]

Great review, I agree 100%, love my touring AWD

 

[CX-SV]

Katmar asked a lot of good questions of actual owners before he pulled the trigger.

 

[milesyyc]

Same in my area (Saskatchewan). I want leather but I may say screw it, not sure. Going to go test drive again today.

I just picked up my GT this morning. I ordered on Aug 17th and was told not to expect it much before mid October. Heading to the mountains for a few days and can't wait to see how it does.

 

[Mithan]

I was talking to a dealer in Ottawa, Ont., looking at a GX manual transmission, and they said they can add leather. They do it through a third party. Someone did that in the access. section and it looks good.

Interesting....