AWD system is kinda crappy...

B

buyingconstant7

Member
:
2014 CX-5 GS AWD
iActiv AWD system is kinda crappy...

So me and a buddy had the day off today, so we took his 2016 CX-5 GT AWD into the mountains. We eventually took some light offroad trails that turned into pretty severe terrain. With smart maneuvering, the car did great. However, we were presented with a twist ditch where two wheels would have little or no traction(one on each side, since they reached the max suspension travel). We tried everything to get past it, but the AWD system would not transfer any torque to the wheels with actual grip, which were obviously the ones planted on the ground, not the two teetering in the air. He tried it with the TC on and off, we tried everything, even leaving the pedal at around 50% down for about 1 straight minute to see if it took time for the AWD system to figure things out....it didn't. I remember he had a 2010 Mitsubishi Outlander,(even without their new SAWC system) AWC on the same trail and it did awesome on the twist ditch, the AWD system immediately figured out exactly which wheels had grip and within 3 seconds, we were moving forward. The CX-5 could not handle it. So why is it depicted as being so smart, when it can't even do one basic thing, that is pretty common sense?
 
Last edited:
It is smart as it has lots of inputs and performs really well under normal conditions. Without seeing what you were doing, it's hard to comment on what happened but given the Everyman Driver review, it must have been quite severe. As for comparing it with a Subaru, well my dad used to be a Commando.......

https://youtu.be/lOKHRSKOVLc

https://youtu.be/4C8b6PHrVfQ
 
Last edited:
Counterintuitive... but did you try a small amount of braking while also on the gas?
 
buyingconstant7 said:
So me and a buddy had the day off today, so we took his 2016 CX-5 GT AWD into the mountains. We eventually took some light offroad trails that turned into pretty severe terrain. With smart maneuvering, the car did great. However, we were presented with a twist ditch where two wheels would have little or no traction(one on each side, since they reached the max suspension travel). We tried everything to get past it, but the AWD system would not transfer any torque to the wheels with actual grip, which were obviously the ones planted on the ground, not the two teetering in the air. He tried it with the TC on and off, we tried everything, even leaving the pedal at around 50% down for about 1 straight minute to see if it took time for the AWD system to figure things out....it didn't. I remember he had a 2010 Mitsubishi Outlander,(even without their new SAWC system) AWC on the same trail and it did awesome on the twist ditch, the AWD system immediately figured out exactly which wheels had grip and within 3 seconds, we were moving forward. The CX-5 could not handle it. So why is it depicted as being so smart, when it can't even do one basic thing, that is pretty common sense?
Click to expand...

Actually I had my car up on jacks, and pushing gas made the engine do some wacky things with the AWD. At one point the car was actually adding power when I pushed the brake to stop the wheels (it wouldn't let me), then it was acting like it was gonna stall out (shuttered super bad) so I had to shut the engine off. This is when I was doing testing when people were arguing about the rear wheels being driven all the time.
 
Alright, so y'all can visualize the scenario, this picture is exactly what we came across, minus the useless POS, and minus the snow, also the road was about 10 feet wide, so we couldn't go around, we had to back down and turn around. The Outlander did just fine a few years ago, even though it had the base AWD system that Mitsu calls: All Wheel Control, and not their high performance Super All Wheel Control. I'm just surprised a system dubbed this advanced, which can detect the road surface, activate in milliseconds of slip, or be already activated when it anticipates slip, can't do something as simple as impersonating an LSD(like the Outlander does) with ABS, and brake the wheels that have little traction, and put power to the wheels that do have traction. It's literally no different to all the other systems out there from Ford, GM, Chrysler, Honda, Toyota and Hyundai and Kia, with their SUV AWD systems...Not impressed...
A8C47vkl.jpg
 
Chris_Top_Her said:
Actually I had my car up on jacks, and pushing gas made the engine do some wacky things with the AWD. At one point the car was actually adding power when I pushed the brake to stop the wheels (it wouldn't let me), then it was acting like it was gonna stall out (shuttered super bad) so I had to shut the engine off. This is when I was doing testing when people were arguing about the rear wheels being driven all the time.
Click to expand...

When you put the brake on, was it like the ABS was activating, and no braking power was being done for a while? Yeah, that happened to our previous VW Tiguan when I was accelerating up a slippery slope and hit the brakes, and the ABS kicked in, even though I was stopped and spinning my tires and it took a few seconds before the wheels stopped spinning.
 
Yes. The abs was pulsing like a mofo as was the pedal. I shut it off because it sounded like s*** was breaking (which later I realized was the engine trying to stall).
 
Chris_Top_Her said:
Yes. The abs was pulsing like a mofo as was the pedal. I shut it off because it sounded like s*** was breaking (which later I realized was the engine trying to stall).
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, then it was the same with me and the Tiguan. I've felt ABS kick in before in normal circumstances, but this was elevated like 1000X. The pedal was vibrating faster than Lindsay Lohan on heroin and it just sounded like the ABS was turned up to 11, and pulsed super quickly. They must all do that in these circumstances.
 
But I use my AWD for road performance, and when controlled correctly with good setups it works great.
 
I agree with the OP the AWD isnt as good as some.

I tow a caravan and when i first tried to tow off a wet grass field the front wheels set about spinning and the car was going nowhere, that NEVER happened with the Xtrail i had, which even had a "lock" option if i needed it.

having said that theres a lot of AWD cars that would fail to give traction in the OP's situation. Some of the better systems will put power to individual wheels, but really for every day road use the CX-5 copes.

The CX-5 was never designed for extreme of road use, and thats what the OP was attempting?
And although the latest system has been tweaked i can still get the occasional front wheel scrabble which suggests that the system still reacts slower than other systems available.

The Nissan system was originally taken from the super car they produced the Skyline i believe it was called, and is still a better system IMO.
 
Dang... if the pot holes ever get that bad around the lower 48 I'm buying a horse.

>Alright, so y'all can visualize the scenario, this picture is exactly what we came across, ...<
 
buyingconstant7 said:
So me and a buddy had the day off today, so we took his 2016 CX-5 GT AWD into the mountains. We eventually took some light offroad trails that turned into pretty severe terrain. With smart maneuvering, the car did great. However, we were presented with a twist ditch where two wheels would have little or no traction(one on each side, since they reached the max suspension travel). We tried everything to get past it, but the AWD system would not transfer any torque to the wheels with actual grip, which were obviously the ones planted on the ground, not the two teetering in the air. He tried it with the TC on and off, we tried everything, even leaving the pedal at around 50% down for about 1 straight minute to see if it took time for the AWD system to figure things out....it didn't. I remember he had a 2010 Mitsubishi Outlander,(even without their new SAWC system) AWC on the same trail and it did awesome on the twist ditch, the AWD system immediately figured out exactly which wheels had grip and within 3 seconds, we were moving forward. The CX-5 could not handle it. So why is it depicted as being so smart, when it can't even do one basic thing, that is pretty common sense?
Click to expand...

The AWD system in the CX-5 isn't meant for "robust" things like what you were doing with it. Neither is the rest of the CX-5. I tried to use it like I used my Grand Jeep Cherokee, and ended up scraping the front splitter (wtf with the approach angle?!), and killing an $1800 diff in a 10-12" deep stream flowing over a road. Then and there, I realized the CX-5 was just a car with more ground clearance. The AWD system is meant for ice, snow, water, and sand. Rocks make this thing lose it's mind. Even baseball-size rocks, lol
 
Similar to the diagonal test video that has been posted before


I have the Nissan ATTESA system in my G35x (V36 Skyline). It's good but only monitors a small subset of sensors 10 times a second. I can't say I have been on similar situation on level ground but was in same situation on a decent hill weeks back in my CX-5 and got through it fine. Perhaps the additional data of being on an incline helped.

It's also likely Mazda never tested system much years ago in this scenario as they weren't really thinking off-road for the CX-5. Probably not too many on-road scenarios where one would find themselves with two wheels off the ground. :)

I try not to get too crazy anyway without protection over the oil & transmission pans. I've seen some skid plates for sale in Europe but nothing in NA.
 
Last edited:
This may not amount to anything in similar situation but try turning on the wipers.... it's already been fairly proven that this forces AWD in from stop situation more readily. Not saying you should have to do this but in in OP's situation I would have also tried this in addition to slight braking.
 
The only time mine will ever end up in a field is if I get it woefully wrong driving through the countryside. To be honest I find these minor comparisons between the capabilities of brands a bit tedious. If you want a car that will improve your chances of getting home on a snowy day or giving better control in the wet, buy a CX-5 or any of the othe AWD cars which are all similar in their capabilities. If you want to do daft tricks in a rough field, buy a John Deere.
 
Anchorman said:
The only time mine will ever end up in a field is if I get it woefully wrong driving through the countryside. To be honest I find these minor comparisons between the capabilities of brands a bit tedious. If you want a car that will improve your chances of getting home on a snowy day or giving better control in the wet, buy a CX-5 or any of the othe AWD cars which are all similar in their capabilities. If you want to do daft tricks in a rough field, buy a John Deere.
Click to expand...

If a vehicle does not have a "low range" selectable, chances are, it was never meant to leave the road, is the conclusion I've come to.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
    • Haha
    • Like
At my wits end... *May contain complaints 😉
4 5 6
Replies
100
Views
8K
GFrosty
G
S
2013 2.2 AWD NAV Sport - Electronics meltdown. SCBS / Key System / Locking / Dash
Replies
11
Views
2K
Rob_W
R
R
    • Like
Learnings from messing with my 2018 KF CX5
2
Replies
27
Views
4K
Robbo
R

Latest posts

Back