New CX-5 owner

After a bit of back and forth with my 2008 BMW X3, I decided that money required to keep it up to snuff wasn't worth it to me and traded it on a 2014 CX-5 GT with just under 45k miles on it. Loving it so much. Definitely down on power coming from the bimmer, but looking forward to getting better gas mileage and not having to bit premium fuel anymore.

Much like the X3 when I bought it three years ago, the CX-5 hits that sweet spot for me of just enough new tech with enough familiarity and easy enough to do basic maintenance. I got the plain jane headlights, non-gated shifter (Just don't like them), proper handbrake, AWD, leather seats, upgraded sound that I probably won't mess with, etc. The only thing I would have liked on top of it would be the advanced keyless entry, but oh well.

Anyway, looking forward to learning more here and contributing when I can.

Welcome! I also ditched the BMW E91 320i for Mazda CX-5 2017. The BMW started to make a hole in my pocket after only 50000Km, owned new from start. There were multiple problems with injector, spark plugs, coils, exhaust emission readings and they seem to happen every 25000Km. So much for German quality! I had a bad experience with Volkswagen in my younger years and vowed never to touch them again and now I have taken a similar vow with the BMW. My previous Toyotas have been faultless. Hope Mazda does not disappoint me.

Its really hard to beat Toyota in terms of reliability. However I'm speaking in terms of the older models.

Yes, Toyota was actually at the top of my list for the longest time with the 4runner. However, the closer I got to getting rid of the BMW, the more I started to dislike the 4runner. It's basically a truck where I wanted a car. Not the best fuel mileage and I would have to spend about 10K more to get the same level of vehicle as I got in my CX-5 GT.

My In-Laws have also owned two Mazdas that were flawless, so I felt good about the brand overall.

My only other real concern would be depreciation, but my wife has made me swear to keep the car for at least ten years. (lol2) So it is what it is.

I would say that the RAV4 is the nearest equivalent to the CX-5 and while it is super well built they need to get a grip of the interior stylist and tell him to sort that flippin dash out. It belongs in a delivery van.

The CX-5 can compete with BMW and Audi.