My battery has been very weak if it sits overnight in the cold after a few short trips (<2 miles), and in the morning the car wouldn't start.
Come to find out, the water in the battery was practically bone dry. I filled up the six cavities with new distilled water, and so far, so good, but haven't taken many small trips with it yet.
My car is only 3 years old. Anyone have to do similar maintenance? My Mazda3 I owned before this for 8 years, with a similar type battery, I NEVER had to refill the water. Is this normal for these CX-5 to need to re-filled periodically?
"Maintenance free" or not, you should always check the electrolyte levels if you live in a hot climate, annually
heat will cause the electrolyte to "boil off"
since you just topped it off (I hope you didn't overfill it), you really need to hook up a battery charger to it in order to desulfate the cells and also to remove acid stratification from the electrolyte... not doing so will cause high alternator load, premature alternator wear, and premature battery failure due to high current recharging
to get the most out of your battery, you should be doing this at least once a year, regardless of which climate you are in... a simple level check then a recharge from a charger will keep a battery lasting long... alternators NEVER fully recharge a battery unless you are doing a road trip
I got 7 years out of my stock Panasonic battery in my old SP23 doing this... I ran it till the cells died