Test drove CX-5 on Saturday, have some questions

[Mithan]

I've been looking at SUV's and have pretty much narrowed my decision down to two SUV's, the CX-5 and the Escape. I am leaning towards the CX-5 at this point because the Escape is tiring me out more and more the more I look at the exterior. The interior was originally very cool (I love gadgets) but its become tiring as well and during the road trip, I must admit it was a pain in the ass to use the voice controls and most of the features.

My only gripe with the CX-5 so far is the lack of Leather Seats on the GS version, forcing me to upgrade to a GT if I want leather (and I do!). The Dealer here in Regina says that Japan is 5 months behind in manufacturing GT versions as well and I don't know if that is crap or not but anyways.....

My test drive of the vehicle was excellent. I really enjoyed the SUV and it had me basically going "I think this is the one". The test drive consisted of some driving in the city, which it handles perfectly and a straight run on the highway for a few KM's. The acceleration of the vehicle didn't bother me much, what was a bit of a cause for concern may have been that it seemed to power out at about 140km/h which would only be a concern when passing for me as my average highway speeds are usually 120 km/h. I loved the stiff handling though.

The main purpose of this SUV is to blow around the city and have the room I need for up to 4 adults AND AWD for our long crappy winters with lots of snow and ice. 90% of the driving will be in the city, so high gas mileage is a major reason I am looking at this vehicle. Hell, I think it beats out my 2000 Toyota Echo for city driving.

Some questions:

• Is the horse power REALLY that big of an issue? For some back story, I bought a 1999 Grand Prix GTP brand new and it had a tonne of power, but I don't drive like that anymore and to be honest, unless I was passing, I never used the cars power much anyways. I keep reading about "this lacks power" but I wonder if its because the people driving it are used to much more power and therefor notice it and the RPM's going crazy and comment on it or if there really isn't much of a difference for practicalities purpose? Like I said, I got the CX5 going 140km/h on the highway in what I found to be good time (though high RPM's) and I didn't have an issue with it. What gives? Anybody who does a lot of highway driving care to comment with more indepth opinion? How about you bigger city drivers who need to merge and such at higher speeds, are you in fear of your life? Does it suck with hills? Does passing make you need to clean your pants later?
• How much of a difference do the 19" rims make to handling? I've never drove on 19" rims before.
• If you had the 19" rims, do you think getting a good set of 17" Winter Tires/Rims would be good?
• The car seems to rev high, can we make an assumption that the high RPM's will not blow this engine or tranny up a few years after we buy it and that mazda has a decent engine here and designed this for that specifically from the ground up?
• Is it worth putting on a protection coat for the paint itself to "harden it" against paint chipping or not? I would consider putting that clear plastic film on part of the hood I think as my father had great luck with it on his 2006 Tachoma and my brother wishes he had it on his 2009 Corrola XRS.
• Can I expect Mazda to keep improving the Navigation going forward or will they totally forget about the 2013 model year when the 2014 model year comes out?
• Does anybody regret their purchase so far?

As you can see, most of my issues seem to focus around the people complaining about engine horespower, but I am just not sure that is going to be a huge deal for me. On the flip side, I have never had a gutless car in the past (forget the Echo, I drive it in the city only ).

I have considered waiting for the 2014 model year but I know when I see the 2.5l and reduced gas mileage, I wont want it anyways. On the flip side, the GS version might have Leather Seats in 2014, saving me a few thousand from upgrading to the GT.


Thanks for any information you can provide me. This seems like "the one" but I need some feed back first

 

[<se7en>]

First, welcome to the site.

Is the horse power REALLY that big of an issue?

No. I have owned two muscle cars, a 2004 Mercedes ML350, a 2007 Acura TL Type S, a 2007 Acura RDX, and now a 2009 Tacoma truck, a 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 1000, and a 2007 Honda CBR600RR. The CX-5 will not set new land speed records, but its quick enough for us. THERE IS some initial gas pedal modulation re-training required, but after a couple weeks, no worries. You get used to what is required to make you happy and all is good.

How much of a difference do the 19" rims make to handling? I've never drove on 19" rims before.

With respect to the above, you won't be tracking this vehicle, so no worries. 19's on any car make the ride a bit more stiff, but that's generally what you want. After all, this is a Mazda...zoom-zoom.

If you had the 19" rims, do you think getting a good set of 17" Winter Tires/Rims would be good?

No. Get the AWD instead. But, we live in TN, so the average snow is only about 2", with the occasional 6-8". For us, no worries as we take the Tacoma (she's lifted with 33's) with anything more.

The car seems to rev high, can we make an assumption that the high RPM's will not blow this engine or tranny up a few years after we buy it and that mazda has a decent engine here and designed this for that specifically from the ground up?

The tranny is more robust than the engine, IMO. But here again, this is not a sports car. All things in moderation and it will last a long time, most likely.

Is it worth putting on a protection coat for the paint itself to "harden it" against paint chipping or not? I would consider putting that clear plastic film on part of the hood I think as my father had great luck with it on his 2006 Tachoma and my brother wishes he had it on his 2009 Corrola XRS.

Today's cars have very thin paint on them...all of them!! Not just Mazda's. If you feel the need and have the dollars, then go for it!!

Can I expect Mazda to keep improving the Navigation going forward or will they totally forget about the 2013 model year when the 2014 model year comes out?

We can only hope. This is my first experience with the Nav in Mazda's, so I can't speak to the longevity of firmware upgrades. Acura and MB were so-so in this regard.

Does anybody regret their purchase so far?

We don't. We love it so far.


Good luck and post back up if you grab one after all!!

 

[CX-SV]

2.5L version has not been confirmed. The 2.0L power is adequate, I have 2 much more powerful premium sport sedans that I often drive back-to-back, no problem. Fuel efficiency is as good as it gets for awd compact SUV's.

The difference in ride quality is insignificant for the 19's vs 17's, I've driven both. Handling and steering is best-in-class of the affordable SUV's with 19's. 19's look best with current body style and are proportioned correctly for the vehicle from a style standpoint.

Navigation software updates are already out and expect more.

No regrets with CX-5, zero problems in first 7000 miles. It goes in for first oil change soon, nothing to fix under warranty. No reliability or durability concerns with operation at higher revs (just like the higher reving Mazda, Honda, Toyota engines out there with great long term results).

 

[katmar]

The main purpose of this SUV is to blow around the city and have the room I need for up to 4 adults...

I don't own one yet (hesitating for same reasons you mention), but with over 2 hours of test drives I feel like an honorary owner

Personally, I think it's pretty frisky in city driving. I drove it through all sorts of 0-40-0 kinda traffic, and it zipped along just fine. I even found myself unintentionally passing by most other cars when pulling away from stoplights even when just driving casually and quietly. I think the car is really kinda "tuned" for that sorta urban combat usage.

But I also spent nearly an hour running it up and down hilly, rural roads. That's where things get more interesting. It gets up to speed (usually 45 mph limits or less rural) in reasonable time, but it'll downshift quite a few times to do it on hills. My friend kept getting mad at me for "racing the engine," when I was just trying to innocently get it up to speed. And convincing the automatic to downshift can often take a good push on the pedal.

So for me, it's not so much CAN it accelerate, but rather will the downshifting and engine revving noise become tiresome?

 

[under200]

The power thing is so overblown. I honestly do not see it as a problem after driving it for 2 weeks. Sure it will not have the thrust off the light of a 300+hp v6 that gets 17mpg but it is more than enough. I have taken people off lights just fine. The tranny is a work of art. Smooth as butter but has get up and go when you nudge it.
i honestly think that moto journalist pick on the power because Mazda put such a good package together that they need something to b**** about to feel superior. The CX-5 is a great overall package, especially for the price.

 

[katmar]

The power thing is so overblown...

Agreed, it's really pretty much average in an overall sense with the other CUVs out there. The latest C&D tested the batch of small CUVs, and found:

• In 0-30, the CX-5 is as fast or faster than the CR-V, Sportage and RAV4.
• In 0-100, the CX-5 is faster than the Escape.
• In 0-110, the CX-5 is faster than the Escape (and Tuscon and Sportage since they didn't make it to 110).
• In 5-60, the CX-5 is as fast or faster than the Escape and Sportage.
• in 30-50, the CX-5 is as fast or faster than the Escape and CR-V.
• in the 1/4 mile, the CX-5 is as fast as the Sportage.

It came in last in 0-60 and 50-70, but only .1 seconds behind the Sportage and Escape.

I've also seen some tests claim that using the manual mode is significantly faster, but the timing shifts can be tricky. I'd imagine an owner would get used to it though.

 

[waylonrobert]

A lot of the descriptions with hill driving and the down-shifting/tapping the gas pedal to get it to change gears sounds exactly like what you have to do with a 2006 Mazda 3 (2.0L engine). I have yet to test drive a CX-5 though to confirm - hopefully my local Mazda dealer will have one soon.

 

[CX-SV]

Agreed, it's really pretty much average in an overall sense with the other CUVs out there. The latest C&D tested the batch of small CUVs, and found:

• In 0-30, the CX-5 is as fast or faster than the CR-V, Sportage and RAV4.
• In 0-100, the CX-5 is faster than the Escape.
• In 0-110, the CX-5 is faster than the Escape (and Tuscon and Sportage since they didn't make it to 110).
• In 5-60, the CX-5 is as fast or faster than the Escape and Sportage.
• in 30-50, the CX-5 is as fast or faster than the Escape and CR-V.
• in the 1/4 mile, the CX-5 is as fast as the Sportage.

It came in last in 0-60 and 50-70, but only .1 seconds behind the Sportage and Escape.

I've also seen some tests claim that using the manual mode is significantly faster, but the timing shifts can be tricky. I'd imagine an owner would get used to it though.

Yes, the facts via instrumented test data are useful for comparison (versus hearsay and casual perception on short test drives).

And in that September C&D review/test only the CRV came close to CX-5 in fuel economy (being 2 MPG less over 200 miles), the rest were not close.

 

[CX-SV]

But I also spent nearly an hour running it up and down hilly, rural roads. That's where things get more interesting. It gets up to speed (usually 45 mph limits or less rural) in reasonable time, but it'll downshift quite a few times to do it on hills. My friend kept getting mad at me for "racing the engine," when I was just trying to innocently get it up to speed. And convincing the automatic to downshift can often take a good push on the pedal.

So for me, it's not so much CAN it accelerate, but rather will the downshifting and engine revving noise become tiresome?

Valid concerns with any 4 banger compact SUV (except maybe the highest powered 2.0L turbo 4's that rarely need to be pushed to limit). None of these inline 4's have the sound quality of a premium 6 or 8 when pressed. All of these will be pressed into the noisy part of rev range when climbing hills or passing on rural roads. For those that are sensative to this kind of noise, best to avoid this entire class of vehicle (modestly-powered 4 banger SUV's). The CRV has best isolation of all the 4 bangers, but to the educated ear it's still clearly a 4 banger and not especially sweet-sounding when pressed.

Personally I find it to be no big deal, even though I frequently do back-to-back comparison drives in cars with premium V6 engines. The CX-5 tranny is good enough to keep engine in sweet spot (3-5K) for responsiveness without need to hit redline. (Last Saturday I did about 100 miles in CX driving mountain roads with passes over 2000 feet for reference).

 

[Exeon]

I would sell or trade the 19" wheels locally and try to get the 17" wheels.

Tires will be more expensive to replace on the 19", as well as less mpg due to more weight and rolling resistance

 

[CX-SV]

I would sell or trade the 19" wheels locally and try to get the 17" wheels.

Tires will be more expensive to replace on the 19", as well as less mpg due to more weight and rolling resistance

I would not bother, the time and trouble won't accomplish anything measurable. And the better looking 19's only improve handling and steering response. Most buyers of GT's can afford tires 50K miles down the road.

 

[rianoel]

I loaded mine to the absolute max---we went and got it weighed---and then drove it across the country, east to west. This included all sorts of driving, including up and down some rural mountain roads. It did just fine.

Then, it got into a wreck. That went as well as can be expected. We actually bought it for safety reasons, and I think it paid off. Had we still been driving my 18 year old Acura, or my husband's corolla, I think it could have been really bad.

I know folks have some gripes with the GPS, but we drove it 7500 miles and didn't have a problem, although the voice part is finicky with word pronunciation.

I'm really happy with mine. Very safe, and powerful enough.

I have the AWD GT.

 

[Jt1golf]

I rented an escape with the 2.0 liter ecoboost with national a few weeks back and I'm glad I did. The car was quick and comfortable. The tech was cool and so was the cockpit. BUT after a week of driving it I was overwhelmed. The SYNC rarely understood my commands and half the time I was staring at the screen more than the road for phone and radio use.

THEN I drove the Mazda and bought it last week. (GT Base). The simplicity of the dash and the controls are refreshing. Also for the voice activated Bluetooth phone it has been perfect. It immediately downloaded my contacts and I say, phone, call, persons name, mobile...and it dials with ease. I have made my choice and have no regrets.

One more thing, the car seems to learn your driving style as I'm on day 3 and it just seemed more powerful today. Zoom zoom!

 

[scott17818]

I love my Cx-5 I bought it about a month ago, and have no regrets.. the tranny shifts great, Its AWD, so should be great in the snow here.. the handling is great, it's just large enough for my family of 3 (maybe 4 soon), and it's got good ground clearance 8" is as good as a jeep/subaru.. the MPG is holding steady at around 28.8MPG average which is better than my 99' honda accord lx 4cyl got average... the sport mode is the same as my fance's mazda 6.. kinda punchy.. but it works in a pinch.. the only thing I wish it had was lo range... but i'll survive without it.. the "bit more power would be great, but I think it's sufficient as is... been thinking it may need the addition of a Cold air intake.. but it's actually quite peppy at low speeds.. highway driving is ok, although tends to rev high and drop gears... but I am glad that mazda solved the issue of the mazda 6's hill climb shifting.. (wont upshift while climbing a hill, it will only downshift and hold a gear until you level out.. annoying), I love the pushbutton start (had to train myself to not reach for the keys), the truck is sufficient for carrying any load.. although I'm questioning getting a divider, or non-slip mat for it, as groceries tend to slide... the sound system is great as is, but could use a little more bass.. I do wish it came standard on the 5.8"touchscreen with a backup camera, and I don't see it as a dealer offered option (where does this camera mount anyways???)

I like the CX-5 and would recommend it to any of my friends looking for a smart, efficient, safe vehicle, with all the modern features you'd want for a great price.

ohh and I love playing games with the "current MPG guage" and the "average MPG" guages.. I try and test myself on roadtrips to bring the AVG up a tenth of a mpg or two... it's fun.. moreso that whipping the rev limiter to the redline, and watch $4 a gallon spew out the exhaust...

 

[inodes]

[*]Is the horse power REALLY that big of an issue?

Can't really comment. I have the diesel and the comparison between this and the petrol is night and day.
The diesel doesn't lack any power.

[*]How much of a difference do the 19" rims make to handling? I've never drove on 19" rims before.

I've read that the difference is minimal. Suspension is quite decent and haven't had an issue riding on 19"'s.

[*]If you had the 19" rims, do you think getting a good set of 17" Winter Tires/Rims would be good?

Up to you. If you require winter tyre change, then it might be worth it. Ask those who live in snow affected areas.

[*]The car seems to rev high, can we make an assumption that the high RPM's will not blow this engine or tranny up a few years after we buy it and that

Petrol is rev happy. But the auto will kick up to 6th pretty quickly.
The diesel by design has much lower revs (although very high for diesel). Furthermore, the diesel stays in 4th most of the time where the petrol kicks into 6th. So revs not really comparable.

mazda has a decent engine here and designed this for that specifically from the ground up?

The CX-5 has three completely new engines (1 Gasoline, 2 Diesels (almost same)) designed from ground up. It's one of Mazda's first new engines in a long time (most recent engines have been sourced from existing families of engines and tweaked with upgrades).

[*]Is it worth putting on a protection coat for the paint itself to "harden it" against paint chipping or not?

I had the following installed on it: http://solutions.3m.com.au/wps/port...Paint_Protection/Film/Products/VentureShield/
Worth every cent!!! It's made it practically impossible to scratch and has made washing the car (and waxing it) a dream.

[*]Can I expect Mazda to keep improving the Navigation going forward or will they totally forget about the 2013 model year when the 2014 model year comes out?

It's up to Tom Tom. They're can be progressive with some devices (e.g. iPhone app), but slack with others (e.g. CX-5). The fact it's so poor when you compare it to the iPhone app says a lot. If they can develop an app for the iPhone that's decent, they should be able to put the same features into the CX-5.
That said.... it's Mazda's second collaboration with Tom Tom. I hope they improve the software.

One good thing I suppose.... The price of map upgrades is a pittance. Friends with any other in-car system pay upwards of 10x as much.

[*]Does anybody regret their purchase so far?

No. Not at all.

 

[tgh262]

5 Months to deliver a GT...WOW I hope your dealer is wrong. I ordered mid Jul and was told 12 weeks. And mine has further to come than a car to Regina. Good Luck with your decision.

 

[Mithan]

Great replies. Thanks guys. I think you alleviated my one fear of the car.

Just out of curiosity, what were you guys paying for GT's in Canadian dollars, taxes included?

 

[ericw2000]

Let me add my $.02

After putting 1600 miles on this car, I would not say it's underpowered. Both the car and I learning about each other, along with some break in, and I'm very happy with the performance, as well as the gas mileage. I traded in a CX-9 GT that never came close to the EPA estimates, so to have a car that exceeds them and is fun to drive is a definite bonus. The downshift is perfect when I need it, and the computer does an excellent job keeping the engine and transmission in sync. I noticed that the trans will actually downshift to keep your car at speed when the cruise is set, something that I've never seen before.

A word on the tires. I have a touring so I have the 17" tires. My 2008 CX-9 GT had the 20" wheels and the factory tires were the worst tires I've ever had. Unfortunately to replace them, because of the sporty 20" wheels, they were very expensive for a good rated tire. Now the CX-5 came from the factory with a tire I was shopping for (Yokohama Geolander) when I replaced the tires on the CX-9, and in a size that's easier on the wallet. Coming from a GT, there's a few features I miss on my Touring, but the tires are not one of them.

 

[bamirault]

Just out of curiosity, what were you guys paying for GT's in Canadian dollars, taxes included?

39530$ GT w/tech package, paint pen, carpet mats, winter trays, cargo tray, cargo cover, front/rear mud guards, rear bumper protector, trailer hitch w/wiring harness, registration/plates (Ontario).

Brian

 

[bamirault]

5 Months to deliver a GT...WOW I hope your dealer is wrong. I ordered mid Jul and was told 12 weeks. And mine has further to come than a car to Regina. Good Luck with your decision.

At the time I ordered (May 28) my Ottawa dealer claimed that due to shortages, he was allowed only 20% of his allocation in GT versions. IF this is true, then at any dealer where the demand for GTs is high, an extended wait would in fact be reasonable. At order time I was told to expect a 12-14 week delivery time. Actual time was 13 weeks. When it arrived, the same dealer told me that his GT allotment had been reduced to 15% of his total CX-5 allocation. FWIW

Brian