CX-5 AWD snow performance

[CrystalWhiteCX5]

Where in Chicago/land are you at?
I see a few white CX-5 GTs around me. I'm in Glenview.
Yeah the CX-5s AWD isn't the best but certainly more capable than a FWD car.
As long as I feel safe in moderate snow (~6"), it should be fine as they plow pretty quickly around here.

Far west/southwest. I don't make it up north very often so the white CX5's you've seen aren't me. Clearly you have nice taste in vehicles, though. (drinks)

Agree that the CX5 AWD works pretty well, but sometimes it makes me nervous during the process. (boom06) I think it will be very capable with proper snow tires on it.

I have not owned a front-drive car in a very long time and don't intend to any time soon. The CX5 AWD is as close as I care to get.

 

[MikeM.]

I have not owned a front-drive car in a very long time and don't intend to any time soon. The CX5 AWD is as close as I care to get.

Nothing wrong with FWD unless you lack driver skill:

http://www.speedhunters.com/2013/02/so-fwd-is-boring-huh/

 

[xtrailman]

I drove a my2000 A4 Quattro Avant for close to 5 years, it was only fair in snow but excellent on wet roads.
I didn't like the transmission wind up that the permanent 4wd system could throw up on fast cornering, islands mainly.
I actually prefer the FWD with the auto 4WD on demand, it makes for increased economy and allows more leeway with balancing the tyre depth.
The Xtrail allowed fwd, auto, or lock to be selected.

In the UK the cx-5 comes with summer tyres.

As a former owner of Audi B5, B6, and B7 platform cars/wagons (A4 model) , I would take Quattro any day over the AWD system in the CX5. It feels more solid and sure-footed, and is very predictable in a wide variety of conditions. Also should note that I ran summer/winter tires on the Audis as appropriate and have not yet gotten winter wheels for the CX5, however, the front bias with delayed rear wheel engagement on the CX5 is very unnerving to me. I am still getting used to it.

That said, the CX5 with all-season tires is still pretty capable in the snow, especially in a straight line. I was out last night in blizzard-like conditions and pulled away from a Jeep Wrangler from a stop light - a young man out having fun in the snow and looking to race. I was not impressed with the performance of his Jeep.

BTW, in the U.S., "all season" tires are designed for year-round use. "Summer tires" are high performance tires for warm weather use only. "Winter tires" are designed for cold weather, ice, and snow.

 

[CrystalWhiteCX5]

I drove a my2000 A4 Quattro Avant for close to 5 years, it was only fair in snow but excellent on wet roads.
I didn't like the transmission wind up that the permanent 4wd system could throw up on fast cornering, islands mainly.
I actually prefer the FWD with the auto 4WD on demand, it makes for increased economy and allows more leeway with balancing the tyre depth.
The Xtrail allowed fwd, auto, or lock to be selected.

In the UK the cx-5 comes with summer tyres.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "transmission wind up" that you experienced, but I am curious...can you explain?

I don't particularly have anything against FWD, I just prefer the feel of a 50/50 split AWD system.

The ability to select the AWD mode in the Xtrail sounds nice, I can understand why you liked it.

That said, while I find the front wheel slippage/rear wheel engagement process in the CX5 slightly unnerving, overall the AWD system has proven to be effective in my experience (even with the all-season tires).

 

[CodyZoom]

The snowiest ski area in the world is in Japan. The best place in Washington State averages approx. 50 feet of snow per year. Japan averages approx. 100. US does not compare to snowfall of Japan.

 

[MikeM.]

The snowiest ski area in the world is in Japan. The best place in Washington State averages approx. 50 feet of snow per year. Japan averages approx. 100. US does not compare to snowfall of Japan.

Read it and weep:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22150492/.../top-snowiest-ski-resorts-world/#.UucVHBHTlk8

Japan's Niseko is 2nd most snow. In fact, at Mt Baker I've met (on three separate occasions) three different local ski enthusiasts from Niseko, Japan who all told me they traveled to Washington to experience for themselves the one area who has outdone their home mountain.

In any case I make 50+ trips a year up/down this mountain and I time my trips to hit the best storms so, even though I've only had my CX-5 for 1 1/2 ski seasons, we've been through a lot of incredible winter storms on a steep, narrow twisty road with plenty of switchbacks. And it's my favorite ski car of all after 30 years of ski cars including Subaru's, VW's, and Volvo's.

And if you think I cherry-picked the article in the link above, just Google "worlds snowiest ski area" or "snowest ski area in the world".

 

[Chris_Top_Her]

Read it and weep:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22150492/.../top-snowiest-ski-resorts-world/#.UucVHBHTlk8

Japan's Niseko is 2nd most snow. In fact, at Mt Baker I've met (on three separate occasions) three different local ski enthusiasts from Niseko, Japan who all told me they traveled to Washington to experience for themselves the one area who has outdone their home mountain.



In any case I make 50+ trips a year up/down this mountain and I time my trips to hit the best storms so, even though I've only had my CX-5 for 1 1/2 ski seasons, we've been through a lot of incredible winter storms on a steep, narrow twisty road with plenty of switchbacks. And it's my favorite ski car of all after 30 years of ski cars including Subaru's, VW's, and Volvo's.

And if you think I cherry-picked the article in the link above, just Google "worlds snowiest ski area" or "snowest ski area in the world".

never tried snowsports while I was living in WA but I did when I moved back to Germany. I know I missed out

 

[cjecpa]

In any case I make 50+ trips a year up/down this mountain and I time my trips to hit the best storms so, even though I've only had my CX-5 for 1 1/2 ski seasons, we've been through a lot of incredible winter storms on a steep, narrow twisty road with plenty of switchbacks. And it's my favorite ski car of all after 30 years of ski cars including Subaru's, VW's, and Volvo's.

Quotes like this helps me a lot in choosing my next vehicle. Really like the CX-5 but was concern with its snow performance.

 

[MikeM.]

Quotes like this helps me a lot in choosing my next vehicle. Really like the CX-5 but was concern with its snow performance.

Yeah, it's easy to become sidetracked on Internet forums, especially with regard to what is really important. AWD is not essential in a car used extensively for driving in treacherous winter conditions in most situations. Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice thing to have, that's why my CX has AWD, but, far more essential - 4 snow tires and a vehicle with good driving dynamics and, now that it is so cheap and ubiquitous, dynamic stability control (which can apply brakes individually or even in diagonal pairs). DSC can operate the brakes in ways that not even the most skilled rally driver could. All of these things are more important for treacherous winter conditions than AWD.

That said, Mazda's AWD implementation works very well and seamlessly. I've heard the claim that it is somehow deficient because of the fact that it must detect wheel slippage before it kicks in. What I know from using it is it just plain works. I can be on a sheet of uphill ice, step on the accelerator and I go. I don't have the experience of having to wait for the system to activate because it all happens in milliseconds. Perhaps in a drag race on ice/snow one of the Subaru 4WD systems might have an advantage, I don't know (and it doesn't matter to me because I don't use the CX-5 in competition). I only know the Mazda AWD implementation works and works well, feeling very direct and seamless.

Far more important is how secure the CX-5 feels in corners and under braking (and this has nothing to do with AWD). I drive a lot in the snow and ice and don't have the luxury of slowing to 30 or 35 mph for every corner just because conditions are variable or treacherous (over half my route is continuous curves) . Near the top of the list of what makes a good snow/ice car is road feedback, the driver needs to be able detect even minor slippage - this feedback is very important and cars with a numb driving feel need not apply! While I haven't driven the latest generation of Honda CR-V, previous generations were very poor in this regard and I doubt the latest generation is a radical improvement. To a lesser degree, Subaru's tend to have this problem. They isolate the driver from what the tires are doing.

When I do hit a particularly slick patch mid-corner while going too fast, the CX-5 is easy to control, primarily due to it's superior road feedback, balanced handling and well tuned suspension and, secondarily, due to it's well implemented DSC which will literally save your butt when a corner has far less grip than you were counting on.

 

[cjecpa]

Thanks, snow tires are important my main thing with AWD is I live in the hills not the mountains and sometimes conditions get bad enough where front wheels will slip and it would be nice to have the rear wheels pick up the slack to continue moving. In really bad conditions I just don't drive. Road feel or driving feedback is important drove my wife's 12 Camry to Dallas on Christmas night 2012 (24 hours straight) in some bad conditions and could not tell if the car was slipping or how bad the roads were in some major snow in the mountains. Kind of white knuckle driving no feedback.

 

[V8toilet]

DSG saved my CX5 from certain doom once. Of course since that incident I haven’t had much confidence in the corning abilities of these tires in the cold (stock Geolander G91)

 

[silverboy]

The cx5 is not fun and understeers way more than I would like. Mid speed stuff isn't too bad, but any sharp or low speed corners are terrible. Left foot brake, right foot brake, doesn't matter. Car pushes and has very little front bite.

I agree with your comment.
Jut got a set of Continentals CrossContact LX20 with EcoPlus Technology, rated #1 at tirerack. Barely got two inches last night and I took the CX5 for a spin on an empty parking lot. Got to about 10MPH and made a left turn, the CX5 went straight and the understeer was horrible. A 2014 AWD Honda CRV, 2014 Subaru Forester XT and the wife's 2013 VW FW Sportwagen handled that same scenario much better.
I guess is the light weight of the vehicle but scared the crap out of me.
No, I'm no expert driving on the snow but I drove for many years in NYC and now in Colorado.

And yes, I know, winter tires will handle better.
What I'm saying is that based on the same drive, the other vehicles with all season tires handle it much better.
Maybe I have to get use to the CX5, my first AWD Mazda and may have to get use to it.
Also, none of the lights in the dash did lit up (ABS). The wife was asking if the CX5 was an AWD, so I had to even look at the paper work from the stealership to verify it, and yes it said AWD.

Link below is for the tires I got from tirerack, I used them before in other vehicles and they handled really well.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=CrossContact+LX20+with+EcoPlus+Technology&partnum=265TR7CCLX20&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Mazda&autoYear=2014&autoModel=CX-5&autoModClar=Touring AWD

 

[ALafya]

> A 2014 AWD Honda CRV, 2014 Subaru Forester XT and the wife's 2013 VW FW Sportwagen handled that same scenario much better.

I am highly skeptical.
All these cars are front-biased vehicles and all will have understeer characteristics as FWD vehicles. The Forester XT (automatic) might (or might not) have slightly less understeer among these and a manual Subaru could be an exception.

 

[silverboy]

> A 2014 AWD Honda CRV, 2014 Subaru Forester XT and the wife's 2013 VW FW Sportwagen handled that same scenario much better.

I am highly skeptical.
All these cars are front-biased vehicles and all will have understeer characteristics as FWD vehicles. The Forester XT (automatic) might (or might not) have slightly less understeer among these and a manual Subaru could be an exception.

I agree with you BUT, they drove different.

Just saying.

 

[V8toilet]

I don’t know about you guys but both my 2013 Sport (sold) and my 2014 Touring (both FWD) handle great in the snow with the stock Geolander G91 tires. I can keep up with many AWD vehicles. I recently watched an AWD Kia Sorento that was following me on the highway wipe out because he lost traction. Of course his tires may not have been up to snuff either.

Silverboy, those Continentals CrossContact LX20 truck tires should be good in the snow as they are rated well by CR. Was curious on how you think they reduced road noise if at all. They are supposed to be very quiet.

 

[silverboy]

Silverboy, those Continentals CrossContact LX20 truck tires should be good in the snow as they are rated well by CR. Was curious on how you think they reduced road noise if at all. They are supposed to be very quiet.

They reduced the noise a lot in comparison to the stock tires.
And yes, the tires are rated really well but they're no Winter tires but, I was surprised on how the CX5 handled the two inches or so we got the other night in Denver CO.

I think the CX5 might be too light.

Those Continentals are really good.

 

[ironbrewer]

My FWD CX-5 with stock snows didn't slide once going to work or home from work yesterday in the Denver area. When I try to throw it into a slide on empty roads or parking lots it is very predictable and easy to recover from.

Maybe you guys should have bought the FWD.

 

[MikeM.]

Jut got a set of Continentals CrossContact LX20 with EcoPlus Technology, rated #1 at tirerack.

You would be hard-pressed to select a worse tire for winter driving.

I've never seen a tire rated for 90,000 miles perform adequately in snow/ice. Ain't gonna happen.

Barely got two inches last night and I took the CX5 for a spin on an empty parking lot. Got to about 10MPH and made a left turn, the CX5 went straight and the understeer was horrible. A 2014 AWD Honda CRV, 2014 Subaru Forester XT and the wife's 2013 VW FW Sportwagen handled that same scenario much better.

Unless all vehicles were equipped with the same low rolling resistance tires, the comparison says more about the tires than the vehicle. Any experienced winter driver knows how true this is. Even the OEM Geolanders perform better in the snow and ice than those (and that's not exactly a glowing review of the Geolanders snow performance).

I guess is the light weight of the vehicle but scared the crap out of me.

Once you've cleaned up the mess in your underwear and settle down, I recommend you contemplate your ridiculous conclusions.

First off, anyone who becomes frightened doing low speed turns in two inches of snow in an empty parking lot probably shouldn't drive a car in the snow. Period. Maybe don't drive at all, even on bare wet pavement.

Secondly, there is nothing about the weight of the vehicle that makes it bad in the snow. Vehicle weight must be balanced with the size of the contact patch of the tire. That is why lighter vehicles have smaller and narrower tires and why many people downsize winter tires for even better winter performance. But all the vehicles you list are in the same approximate weight class of the CX-5. In any case, it would be like saying an ATV would be helpless in the snow because it only weighs 700 lbs. Complete nonsense.

 

[Dr_Watson]

^^ agree 100%.

 

[ALafya]

I too was interested in best performing all-season tires on ice/snow. Not real snow tires, because for me it makes little sense, as most of my driving is on dry pavement. Even when I go on ski trips, the roads are usually clear and most of the way is dry. On the remote chance that roads are not going to be clear, I am going to drive more carefully or use chains, if appropriate. If conditions are really bad, Caltrans simply closes the roads.

According to Tirerack, Consumer-Reports the stock Geolanders are below average.
According to Tirerack surveys and professional testing, the Continentals CrossContact were very good. This is somewhat surprising, because they have low-rolling resistance compound, which usually mean bad snow/ice performance, such that some LRR tires are considered of summer category. I could not find exact tire in Consumer-Reports, but a similar one also was considered ok for snow/ice (obviously, less than winter tires).
Another such tire of a different category is Destination LE 2.

When it is time to replace my tires, I will of course reevaluate but will reconsider the Continentals, Destination LE 2.