Mountain driving?

I'm in the market for a new car and, after doing a bit of test driving, I found that the CX-5 is pretty close to what I've been looking for. I plan on taking the car camping quite a bit, but I have not seen many comments or articles discussing driving the car in the mountains. What has everyone's experience been with this? How does the car fare when it's packed?
 
I drove my CX-5 with 2 adults and 3 teens, gears at the back fully loaded to Gila Cliff dwelling. No problem at all. Only wish the trunk is a bit bigger.
 
I'm in the market for a new car and, after doing a bit of test driving, I found that the CX-5 is pretty close to what I've been looking for. I plan on taking the car camping quite a bit, but I have not seen many comments or articles discussing driving the car in the mountains. What has everyone's experience been with this? How does the car fare when it's packed?

My experience with the 2.0L AWD is that it has plenty of power fully loaded in the mountains. But this is on twisty 50 mph Mountain passes under 5000 feet ASL. At 10,000 feet, fully loaded, on 70mph passes I'm sure it would do it but the reserve passing power is not going to be abundant by modern standards. The 2.5L would have more reserve but it's not necessary to accelerate to speed and maintain it, even in the mountains.

Where power might come into play would be if high speed passing is necessary and whether you needed sport boxes or to tow a small trailer. While I've not driven the CX-5 with outside appendages, I have enough experiences with other vehicles to know that aerodynamics are more important than weight when dealing with highway mountain passes. Personally, I would buy a larger vehicle before I would put a sport box on the roof or tow a trailer.

I am no longer the type of person who thinks I need to pass every vehicle in front of me. If you are that type, there are vehicles better suited to your personality. 150 hp might not sound like a lot by modern standards but it's more than enough for normal driving, even fully loaded. Certainly there are more powerful vehicles available but what do you really gain? And my experience is with the 2013 2.0L - the extra half liter of the new engine would be that much extra above what I've experienced.

I have a pair of very fast sporting motorcycles and I rarely hesitate to wring out their throttles in the big high passes of the Sierras and Rockies. This puts them into the triple digits in very short order. Cars, even sports cars, are blas in comparison. SUV's - laughable. Even the ones with the biggest V-8's and V-10's. That's why they are called utility vehicles (the sport is a misnomer when it comes to big SUV's). All I want in my four wheeled vehicles is the ability to maintain the flow of traffic and get me to my destination feeling safe, relaxed and comfortable. The CX-5 excels at this and allows the driver to comfortably and safely carry more corner speed than the overly heavy SUV's with big, heavy engines and poor handling chassis.

Power is all relative. Only really bad drivers "need" more.
 
I just took a 1300 mile trip that took me through mountains in Virginia and Tennessee. I was pleasantly surprised with how good the CX5 did. I set my cruise between 75-80 for the whole trip and the lowest mpg I got 28.1 (through pump calculations). I probably averaged 30 mpg over the whole trip. You can check out my fuelly I recorded it all there if your interested.

When I first got into the mountains the CX5 would downshift once we started up the hill, but then try to up shift half way up. It took a few steep grades to make it get with the program to hold 5th gear until we got to the top. It did downshift to 4th maybe 2-3 times the whole trip. Once was because I had to slow down for a car, then I tried to accelerate back to cruising speed. We did not have a lot of extra weight 3 people, 1 dog, plus luggage, cooler, etc. I could not even tell I had more weight in the back.

The seats were awesome, my butt did not go numb, I was not shifting positions every 20 minutes. The AC works great even in the hot Okie sun the CX5 stayed cold, too cold sometimes.
 
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i don't know first hand about mountain driving, because i don't do it regularly, but i do know this weekend i took a drive from the bottom of michigan to the top (and back) with me and my wife, back seats folded and the whole rear packed with camping gear,and it was not a problem at all...
according to the average mpg readoutin the cluster(wich i reset before starting the trip and just before driving back after getting gas) i got ~35mpg...

the car started the trip with ~200mi on the odometer(never used cruise control yet because i wanted to wait till it's fully "broken in", and yes i know it sayd it's at 600mi but figure i'd wait till the end of the trip)...now my '14 cx-5 2.0l m/t has ~800mi and it took just over 1 full tank of gas(if i would've use cruise control im sure i'd get a few miles more per tank since theres less fluctuation on the gas pedal...according to google maps it's ~492mi total for the trip...plus the extra driving on top after we got there visiting places etc)...there were no mountains, only occasional hills, but there WAS a ton of wind...the car did swerve on occasion from the wind but i know if i was driving my old car('04 mitsubishi lancer ralliart 2.4l m/t) i'd be all over the road and i wouldn't have gotten anywhere near as good gas mileage)...

i know this car as light as it is, sure feels quite planted and defenetly a great pleasure to drive on such a long trip...(which im basically repeating in 2 weeks)

based on my trip in NON mountainous terrain, im sure in mountains you'll do fine and if the car is loaded you may get a bit less gas mileage since it's loaded up but you'll get a bit more planted to the road too
 
I'm in the market for a new car and, after doing a bit of test driving, I found that the CX-5 is pretty close to what I've been looking for. I plan on taking the car camping quite a bit, but I have not seen many comments or articles discussing driving the car in the mountains. What has everyone's experience been with this? How does the car fare when it's packed?

I live in Denver.
Car performs great anywhere between 5k and 11k feet, one person, two people, 4 people, a dog, loads of stuff, it doesn't matter.

Don't let your dog drive the car though, state troopers don't like it.

BC.
 
I live in Denver.
Car performs great anywhere between 5k and 11k feet, one person, two people, 4 people, a dog, loads of stuff, it doesn't matter.

Don't let your dog drive the car though, state troopers don't like it.

BC.

I'm in Arvada too. Small world. We've had ours up to the Rockies too and it's fine. Never had a problem.
Where in Arvada are you at Bladecutter?
 
I'm near 72nd and Sheridan.
I've seen a group of regular CX-5's on my drive to and from work.

There's a white one I always see driving down 80th.
There's a red one that works in the Ball facility on 108th just up the road from where I work.
There's a black one that I have had pass in front of me several times when I'm turning onto 72nd Avenue.
I've also seen a grey one going up and down 72nd several times. Caught that driver watching me as I was watching him go by one day.

Today I saw a white one with Sil-TerHar plate on the front of it when I was turning onto 92nd heading toward Sheridan. It was heading North on Harlan St/Westminster Blvd.

They are enjoyed by more and more drivers every week here in the Arvada/Westminster/Broomfield area.

BC.
 
Right on. I'm on the West side, 72nd & Simms. I see a few here & there. More & more that's for sure.
 
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