Mazda cx-5 2013-2015 Reliability Report

Hi there,

I was trying to find some reliability information on the CX-5 in general (2013-2015). However, i only found JD Power's 2 star ranking which has zero explanation on what was specifically poor or unreliable. Anyone have any reliability information on the car? I tried consumer report but you have to pay for the rankings...

Cheers.

JD Power rankings are full of s***. The majority of their stuff is based on owners thoughts and not actual empirical evidence. Go to a grocery store or a Walgreens that sells the Consumer Reports auto issues and just browse through it for free. The CX-5 is rated much better than average in the CR rankings and True Delta, an independent online reliability site, ranks the CX-5 with a very low repair rate.

As Seminole noted, CR records that the CX-5 has very few issues based on their annual driver survey with over a million responses.

To put things in perspective, though, you're doing research for a $20k-30k vehicle (30k-40k CAD, going by the other Canadians I see posting here), but you aren't willing to shell out <$50 to get decent information on the vehicles you're choosing between?
CR is certainly not perfect, but they do present a lot of objective data and the subjective views of drivers that drive more cars than you will ever have access to.

I think you can get a 1 month online subscription to CR for only a few dollars. As others have said, CR has rated the CX5 above average for reliability.

Our public library carries Consumer Reports and you can browse it for free there.
Not a big fan of Consumer Reports, but it is true I mainly tried them for other things and was at least somewhat disappointed (cameras: they have no clue, tires: better, but will skip next time).
I do remember distinctly that CR gave excellent ratings to the new Subaru Forster the *same* year it came out. Now, unless they can predict the future, I would not trust that rating.

JD Powers have several different studies. Initial quality is the quality at purchase time or very few days after purchase. Dependability study is for 3 year old vehicles, which you can claim is not old enough. They do put into categories, e.g. "drivetrain mechanical" but some categories are about the design. I am not sure what they actually ask owners. Many are quick to say that they are paid money to improve ratings of some auto manufacturers.

In the past, I used JD Powers only to see overall brand dependability, ignored CR and looked at owners forums to find out the truth and know what to expect.

When reading Consumer Reports for cars, you just have to keep in mind that they try to cater to the average car buyer. Unfortunately, the average car buyer generally views their car as a means of conveyance and doesn't care that much about how enjoyable the drive is. I realize that's a sweeping generalization, but consider that the Toyota Camry has been the top-selling non-truck in the US for the last 13 years even though it's about as inspiring as a blender.

They do have a nice approach to objective tests, and they cover more enthusiast-relevant details in the road tests and podcast. The overall scores, though, aren't very helpful if you want to like your car.
(Case in point: CR loves the Forester, which anyone here can tell you is blasphemy )

In contrast, you have the enthusiast publications like Car and Driver that love the Ford Escape even though Ford has had over 60 recalls for the last few model years of Escape IIRC, most of which seem to involve ways the engine can set itself on fire.

I do agree that CR is pretty bad at tech reviews. They keep trying to use objective tests, but software innovations are difficult to assess objectively.

Even if you discard their vehicle reviews the reliability reports have value IMO. Each year they send out surveys to subscribers. Only darker mark on the '15 CX-5 is the infotainment system. Over the years it has been accurate on my cars as for issues.