2019 CX-5 20,000 Mile Review

Every review of these cars since I started looking in 2018 has the exact same tenor...lots and lots of praise over every single aspect of the car, with the only ding (if any are even mentioned) being the infotainment system. Well, they may poke at the smaller cargo space, but that's only a paper comparison...none have ever said they couldn't carry what they tried to.

I feel like a little kid, smiling when I read reviews of a car I've got sitting in my driveway. My only regret is not discovering the brand earlier in my driving career.
 
Avoidin Deer said:
Every review of these cars since I started looking in 2018 has the exact same tenor...lots and lots of praise over every single aspect of the car, with the only ding (if any are even mentioned) being the infotainment system. Well, they may poke at the smaller cargo space, but that's only a paper comparison...none have ever said they couldn't carry what they tried to.

I feel like a little kid, smiling when I read reviews of a car I've got sitting in my driveway. My only regret is not discovering the brand earlier in my driving career.
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I feel pretty much the same way about ours. However, without the turbo, I would not be driving one.
 
Sig cx-5 said:
I feel pretty much the same way about ours. However, without the turbo, I would not be driving one.
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You've likely mentioned this before, but what would you be driving if not the CX-5?

Even before the turbo was released, I didn't find anything as well-reviewed, and Toyota & Honda had their own issues (of course, I'm glad I dodged the CD bullet).
 
Recently found out you can switch between Carplay and Mazda interface by holding Home button. Really improves the experience for me.
 
Chocolate said:
Recently found out you can switch between Carplay and Mazda interface by holding Home button. Really improves the experience for me.
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So much of this stuff is not documented anywhere.

The one thing that really angers me is there's no comprehensive list of Voice Commands. The tutorial telling me "You can say things like..." is valueless. "Here are all the the commands your system will recognize" is what's required.

Same goes for your accidentally discovered feature.
 
Sig cx-5 said:
I feel pretty much the same way about ours. However, without the turbo, I would not be driving one.
Click to expand...
Same here. I bought new Mazda in 2007. It was a great handling car that I thoroughly enjoyed as a second car to my truck. I started looking at a new car a couple years ago and checked out the Mazda’s even though I knew they didn’t have much I was interested in other than the MX5 which really didn’t fit my needs. Looked around at some Audi’s and Merc‘s but just couldn’t find the right one and didn’t really want to spend that much. Once the turbo came out I went back in and drove the Mazda and was sold. It’s the 3rd Mazda I’ve owned and they have all been solid cars that I have put over 100k on with no problems.
 
I took awhile to decide, almost a year. Came down to Acura RDX, Audi Q5, and CX5 turbo. In the end I loved the way the Audi and Mazda performed on the test drives. I decided the used Audi with 14k was not worth the additional $10k over the new CX5 Sig.

BTW, the Infinity qx50 was a let down. I was sure it was my next car until I drove it. I felt so disconnected from the road. Too bad, I thought it was a good looking suv.
 
I have been looking at the CX5's for quite some time. In 2018 it came down to either a CRV EX or CX5 Touring. At that point the CRV checked more of the boxes and I got a great deal on it. OD was not yet a well known issue. In preparation for my next purchase we narrowed it down to either an Outback or CX5. I test drove the CX5 Touring with the preferred package and the Outback Premium. Both were pretty nice, though I liked the CX5 exterior and handling. Wasn't a fan of either infotainment systems, but the Outback infotainment was just plain ridiculous, the Wife preferred the Subaru. Personally I wanted the CX5, but happy life, happy wife. Went back to the Mazda dealership test drove the GTR and bought it. So much for the happy wife happy life theory. If it wasn't for the turbo I probably would be driving another Outback. BTW, I was driving the CRV yesterday and Mazda is right, the touchscreen is a hazard when moving.
 
Didn’t realize the Escape is now the fastest 0-60 at 5.7 seconds. HP is the same but the Cx-5 has more torque. Guess it’s the 8 speed transmission.
 
2001birdowner said:
Didn’t realize the Escape is now the fastest 0-60 at 5.7 seconds. HP is the same but the Cx-5 has more torque. Guess it’s the 8 speed transmission.
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Saw that and it irked me a little bit, ha. But I'm going to assume the CX-5 is much more fun to drive.
 
2001birdowner said:
Didn’t realize the Escape is now the fastest 0-60 at 5.7 seconds. HP is the same but the Cx-5 has more torque. Guess it’s the 8 speed transmission.
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That is pretty quick. You're probably right about the transmission. The Escape is also ~270 lbs lighter.
 
Avoidin Deer said:
You've likely mentioned this before, but what would you be driving if not the CX-5?
Click to expand...

It's a long story that I posted when I first joined, but to summarize: The X3, Q5 and RDX were at the top of our list. After we weighed the pros and cons, my wifes that is, we were pretty set on the RDX for it's value vs. the Germans. We then went to the Mazda dealer on advice of one of our daughters, who owns an older CX-5. I liked the way the CX-5 drove, except for its lack of power. While there, we learned of the upcoming turbo 2.5 that was coming out soon, so we decided to wait.

Fast forward to December 2018. We researched the Hyundai Santa Fe Limited 2.0 and started leaning that way. The longer this was taking, the less my wife wanted to spend $45k+ on her vehicle. We test drove the Hyundai and really liked it. It was during the negotiation process where it all fell apart. We left and went to Mazda that same day. We negotiated a deal on an incoming CX-5 Signature that was the color my wife wanted. It was the easiest negotiation I've ever had on a new vehicle. They agreed to our trade-in ask and also met us on price of the new vehicle. I believe it was $2k off of sticker, which I was happy with at the time, since everyone that came in was already sold.

While finalizing everything, we saw a car carrier pull in. The saleswoman called and confirmed that the one we were looking at was on the truck. The rest is history.

I think I suck at summarizing. :)
 
2001birdowner said:
Didn’t realize the Escape is now the fastest 0-60 at 5.7 seconds. HP is the same but the Cx-5 has more torque. Guess it’s the 8 speed transmission.
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Yeh, I saw that reference in the article, but didn't catch specifics.

So many of these paper differences that are offset by the daily driving experience.
 
Avoidin Deer said:
That was an odd non-sequitur statement plunked in the middle of that Ford article, wasn't it?

Not that I disagree...
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Yup. What's even more unusual is the fact that I only read about 5 lines of that full article (mainly around the engine and performance).
 
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