CX 5 GS Snow Handling

Snow tires are cheap comparied to the cost of an accident!

Drove in our recent 40 centimeters here in Ottawa this past week. I have 6 speed manual FWD with Gislave Nord frost ice tires. Totally awsome, however had to turn of the TCS to charge throug the snow bank as i preferer to tap the gas and play the clutch and drive in a slightly higher gear to get thru. ( this is my first car with TCS, so will have to get used to it). I always has manual transmission and have driven in winter since 1975. Snow tires are always a must have, if you encounter winter. The ABS is awesome and is fun to drive and hugs the road. A little rocky in the high winds. My Mazda 5 GT was a little more stable, but after 230,000kms, it lost the battle with a log that fell off a truck on the highway. Took the engine off the mounts, torn open the fuel tank and pulled the rear cross member back 6 inches. RIP in peace my old friend, but eh....out with the old and in with the new.... I love my CX5! BTW, forgot to ask if a blockheater was available, but with full synethic, it doesn't seem to be an issue as it doesn't seem to turn over slower in the cold.
 
CX5Dude said:
Drove in our recent 40 centimeters here in Ottawa this past week. I have 6 speed manual FWD with Gislave Nord frost ice tires. Totally awsome, however had to turn of the TCS to charge throug the snow bank as i preferer to tap the gas and play the clutch and drive in a slightly higher gear to get thru.
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Can you elaborate on how you felt the FWD did compared to other 2WD cars you've owned over the years?

And by "snowbank" do you mean the pile of snow the snowplow leaves in front of driveways?

As far as cranking the engine with the electric starter in very cold temperatures, I imagine the Skyactiv engine with it's variable valve timing on intake and exhaust cams probably goes into a cold-start mode during initial cranking to get the flywheel rotating with minimum compression resistance. This could reduce starter motor requirements while enhancing starting reliability under very cold temperatures.
 
It was the snow bank at an intersection that I plowed thru. I gave up charging frozen driveway snowbanks when bumpers went from metal to plastic as well as the addition of plastic undercarraige air dams. The higher ground clearance and tall tires made it easy to get going. I took it out to the mall and got a little stupid to see how it would react under sudden breaking and tight steering with a little bit of handbrake to swing the rear end. Results were great. With my Mazda5 GT equiped with snow tires, I never got stuck and it would often plow the street due to the lower ground clearance. Prior to the Mazda 5, had two FWD MPVs and a rear wheel drive MPV. (that one needed 200 lbs of weight over the rear wheels to make it safe on icy roads as the rear end was too light.) Those buying snow tires or any tire for that matter, be weary of "deals" as many are trying to sell old stock.The age of the tire can be determined by checking the tire identification number on the sidewall of the tire, which begins with the letters "DOT". The last four digits represent the week and year the tire was manufactured. On newer model tires, the tire identification number is on the outside sidewall; older models will have the identification information on the inner sidewall. If you rotate the tires and check airpressure regularly, don't drive too fast, you should get up to 4 winters. If the tires are already 3 years years old when you buy them ( new or even worse, used), that makes a 7 year old tire in its fourth year which can come apart while driving. It is not unreasonable to question the age of the tire when you buy them, even on-line.
 
Since it really doesn't matter how the vehicle performed (I have a FWD Touring), I'll go ahead a say that the 17" Yokohamas on my Touring faired overly well on very icey (ICE, not snow) roads down here in North Texas.
 
BarPet said:
How does the CX GS handle in snow? Just regular driving - city streets. Will I need to buy snow tires?
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I own the CX-5 touring AWD. I live in upstate New York and we just got over 6 inches of snow last night. This morning I drove in it and the car was amazing with stock tires. On the side roads it wasn't plowed yet and I had no problems. I'm impressed with the way the CX-5 handled in the snow and looking forward to my next snowstorm.
 
ciara said:
I own the CX-5 touring AWD. I live in upstate New York and we just got over 6 inches of snow last night. This morning I drove in it and the car was amazing with stock tires. On the side roads it wasn't plowed yet and I had no problems. I'm impressed with the way the CX-5 handled in the snow and looking forward to my next snowstorm.
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Im a little bit north of you (Montral suburb's) and we have almost 2 feet's so far and it's still snowing.
I stop my ride completly in 2 feet's of snow and it just went trough it like it was nothing.
I have GY ultra grip ice WRT wich help a lot but im still pretty impressed so far.
 
Had about 6" of snow here in Central Ohio. With the stock rims/tires, the CX-5 AWD held the road as well as my 2004 WRX did. My 2010 Mazda3 FWD was terrible in the snow (twitchy traction control) until I changed the stock tires, then it was not bad.
 
Took my AWD CX-5 out in light snow this week with stock 17" all season tires - about 7,000 miles on them. I liked the starting and stopping and straight line traction. Even starting and stopping on a hill, it just goes. Hardly any slippage.

Going around corners it does fine unless I really try to get it sideways. Once I broke loose traction in a corner it slid very much like a rear drive car, not front or awd. The rear end just kept coming around until I slowed way down. Guess there's just not enough power to use throttle to straighten the car up like you might do in a WRX.

Overall, I'm very happy with it and I'm looking forward to taking it to a frozen lake where I can practice sliding it.
 
jeisensc said:
Had about 6" of snow here in Central Ohio. With the stock rims/tires, the CX-5 AWD held the road as well as my 2004 WRX did.
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Know someone who has same trim as you and made it back to NYC from Pittsburgh in yesterday's storm with no issues. He had to pull over several times to clear ice build up off the wipers and had no trouble getting back on the road but saw that other 2 wheel drive vehicles did.
 
Exspeedaway said:
Im a little bit north of you (Montral suburb's) and we have almost 2 feet's so far and it's still snowing.
I stop my ride completly in 2 feet's of snow and it just went trough it like it was nothing.
I have GY ultra grip ice WRT wich help a lot but im still pretty impressed so far.
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WOW!!! That's a lot of snow and the CX-5 did well with the tires you added. For my area the stock tires should hold up well. I haven't tried my 2012 Mazda 3 touring in the snow yet, I might just leave that to the CX-5 AWD.
 
GT w/ AWD, stock tires, 4 people with snowboards + gear, trip from DC to 7springs resort in PA. This thing did very very well. I am extremely pleased with the performance of the CX-5 w/ AWD and stock tires in snow. That said, it rarely ever gets below freezing at the resorts I go to, so there's no sense in me buying snow tires. I drove about 100 miles in the snow and never came close to getting stuck, in fact the AWD only kicked in a few times here and there at slow speeds. As the drive went on, I began to trust it more and more and even pulled off the road into fresh powder, stopped, and zoomed right out of it. I just wanted to see how it'd perform in the deep stuff.

The best part was during our trip back home. We had to travel through a town (about 30 mph max) and there was a very steep and long hill we had to climb. A chevy Captiva (similar to CX-5) pulled out in front of us and stopped at the bottom of the hill looking up at it. We sat there behind the chevy, which was front wheel drive, and watched nervously as it sloooowly slipped and slided it's way up the hill. We remained at the bottom because it seemed at any minute the thing would start sliding backwards. Luckily it made it to the top a couple minutes later. After it crested the hill, we took off up the hill with no troubles whatsoever! I loved it.

My only complaint is that it isn't any fun in a parking lot. My old WRX could go sideways and do donuts with ease because of the 50/50 split AWD system. The CX-5 doesn't like to be sideways, but I'm okay with that. The AWD is constantly trying to straighten it out. I'm still happy with it though - it was reassuring knowing we wouldn't get stuck. We're going back to the mountain next week and I hope there's snow!
 
My GT, awd standard tires that came with the car work just fine here in Rochester, New York. We get on average 100 + inches of snow every season. I have had nothing but AWD since 1985- Jeeps, Chevy S10, Santa Fe and my CX 5 is just as great on the snow with the factory all season tires as any of the previous cars. I have NOT had snow tires in 30 years. But, we have great plowing service in Rochester.
 
How can you tell when the CX-5 AWD kick into 4 wheel drive ?

What can you sense / feel / hear to tell when the rear wheels power the car ?

CodyZoom said:
GT w/ AWD, stock tires, 4 people with snowboards + gear, trip from DC to 7springs resort in PA. This thing did very very well. I am extremely pleased with the performance of the CX-5 w/ AWD and stock tires in snow. That said, it rarely ever gets below freezing at the resorts I go to, so there's no sense in me buying snow tires. I drove about 100 miles in the snow and never came close to getting stuck, in fact the AWD only kicked in a few times here and there at slow speeds. As the drive went on, I began to trust it more and more and even pulled off the road into fresh powder, stopped, and zoomed right out of it. I just wanted to see how it'd perform in the deep stuff.

The best part was during our trip back home. We had to travel through a town (about 30 mph max) and there was a very steep and long hill we had to climb. A chevy Captiva (similar to CX-5) pulled out in front of us and stopped at the bottom of the hill looking up at it. We sat there behind the chevy, which was front wheel drive, and watched nervously as it sloooowly slipped and slided it's way up the hill. We remained at the bottom because it seemed at any minute the thing would start sliding backwards. Luckily it made it to the top a couple minutes later. After it crested the hill, we took off up the hill with no troubles whatsoever! I loved it.

My only complaint is that it isn't any fun in a parking lot. My old WRX could go sideways and do donuts with ease because of the 50/50 split AWD system. The CX-5 doesn't like to be sideways, but I'm okay with that. The AWD is constantly trying to straighten it out. I'm still happy with it though - it was reassuring knowing we wouldn't get stuck. We're going back to the mountain next week and I hope there's snow!
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