High-Speed Stability?

I occasionally take road trips where I cruise along at 72 mph or so for hours at a time.

Is it easy to maintain speeds like that in 6th gear on flat ground? Does it sound like it's struggling?

Is it easy to stay within one's lane at speed, or do you find that light crosswinds make things difficult?

Any other concerns or problems you've noticed (I'm aware of the potential hood and mirror problems)?

I find the CX-5 to be very stable at 72mph which is about what I set my cruse at. Flat ground is no problem staying in top gear and it does not struggle. Light crosswinds are no problem, I have not driven in heavy crosswinds, in over 7000 miles I have no issue with control. In cruse in drive, it will downshift if the hill is steep but you have to be watching the tac or you will not even notice that it is doing it. In cruse it will also downshift in drive to provide engine braking going downhill to stay near the cruse set speed. If you switch the gear selector to M it will stay in top gear longer before it shifts down for the hill or for braking so if I am in rolling hilly country I will put it in M to avoid engine braking on small hills, I would rather the car go a bit faster than the set cruse down hill and carry the speed against the next hill as I think that is more efficient. My overall mpg average readout is 32.8 in a GT FWD with mostly rural/small town 2 lane driving but it does not change much on the interstate as I usually stay under 75.

I can tell you about 2.2 diesel (175hp), it's extremely stable at high speeds (170-180km/h). It gets there without any struggles (skyactiv-drive), to be honest no need for manual over-ride as it has plenty of torque (420 Nm). I did try it to its max (showing 210 km/h on speedometer, while you actually drive it 204 km/h, according to spec.) for brief moment (minute or 2). However, above 4,500rpms engine gets pretty loud (almost like benzine), not so pleasant, and there is a lot of noise coming from mirrors. Most comfortable speed is 140-150 km/h on a highway.

What I did notice on several occasions, when you have strong side wind (and driving fast), well it does feel like wind is crashing into car trying to dis-balance it. I haven't experienced this with my company's CX-7. Maybe it's due to weight reduction, it was an excessive wind but still...


Cheers,
Miki

Florida turnpike, I cruise at 75mph and have bursts up to 80-82mph. Solid as a rock.
In fact the other morning I was late for work and I had to stop myself from driving like a d!ck because I glanced down at the dash and realized I hit 90mph.

Jcanracer said:

Florida turnpike, I cruise at 75mph and have bursts up to 80-82mph. Solid as a rock.
In fact the other morning I was late for work and I had to stop myself from driving like a d!ck because I glanced down at the dash and realized I hit 90mph.

Click to expand...

LOL, yes on my test drive my friend kept yelling at me to slow down as I didn't realize how fast I was going. I think because it's so much quieter than I'm used to, and sitting up high, my speed judgement is way off

But thanks everyone, good to hear it's pretty stable. miki69's wind experience is a little concerning, but yes I'd expect some buffeting in wind since it's a tallish and light CUV.

Jcanracer said:

Florida turnpike, I cruise at 75mph and have bursts up to 80-82mph. Solid as a rock.
In fact the other morning I was late for work and I had to stop myself from driving like a d!ck because I glanced down at the dash and realized I hit 90mph.

Click to expand...

Same speeds as driving in California (usually 75-80mph) on freeways, same stability noted. Not sure about driving like a dick part, but I have hit 90 mph on empty freeways in my CX-5 on occasion, no problem.

Some sensitivity to crosswinds but not enough to be dangerous or to make unwanted lane changes.

72mph in top gear, the engine is nearly dead silent, not struggling, achieving very good gas mileage. At 72 mph it's only turning 2500 rpm which is why it's nearly silent, only noise is the usual road or wind noise which is still a low sound level for this class of vehicle.

Regardless when reving the motor over 4000rpm, it sounds like a inline 4 cylinder engine, not a premium V6, V8, flat six or inline 6. Something any potential buyer needs to be aware of when buying into this class of compact 4 banger SUV. Honda (CRV) does best job of masking 4 cylinder NVH, Mazda CX-5 and Ford Escape are just a little bit louder.