French Snowie
Member
- :
- CX-5 2.2, 172ps, AWD Selection, Manual
Hi,
Newbie here.
Picked up my new 2016 CX5 (175bhp, AWD, Black) end of July having sold my Mitsi ASX and have just returned from a 3k round trip to the UK from my home here in the French Alps. I spotted a white pre-2015 CX5 at the Burghley Horse Trials. Anyone there? My CX5 has still got the hallowed Burghley mud on it from the wonderful drenching on the Sat for the cross country. I don't want to wash it off just yet...
As for the car, well, what can I say. It drove and drives like a dream. I was able to fully test the radar cruise control properly, which for me is a great piece of technology which I would highly recommend. The radar is so sensitive, even with the minimum distance set, you have to move out to overtake slightly earlier than you might normally do to avoid the car slowing down. Just a change to my driving which isn't a bad thing. Neat. I also have had to change my rather cavalier approach to peage barrier arms, in fact any barriers (car park etc.) as the City smart brake system thingy has caused me a few red faces when I try to drive at the barrier knowing it will lift at the last minuted (as I used to do) and the sensor doesn't like the quick movement of the barrier and automatically brakes... stops dead! This car is teaching me driving manners and its not a bad thing. Because of all the safety features and even thought my CX5 is more powerful than my old ASX, my full comp insurance has also dropped by about Stg 20 pm! Clearly they believe the car is far more intelligent, capable and safer than the driver... they are probably not wrong..
The SatNav worked very well and a neat feature for me is that is shows the UK mph speed limit in km/hr so this being a French car with kmph I always knew what speed to drive (apart from the more recently updated lower speed limits). Interestingly the SatNav gave me slightly different info depending which country I drove through which included France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the UK. And when driving long distances, the buttons that allow you to juggle between the music and satnav quickly were a great help - as is the dial button in the central console which allows to easily juggle the Infotainment system.
The car has now done about 5k kms and on average before and for the trip I was getting between 5.8 to 6.1 litres/100kms which I think converts to around 38mpg. The consumption varied according to the max motorway speed limit and weight in the car. I consumed 6 litres on the French and Luxembourg motorways with max speed 130km/hr and less when in Belgium and UK (lower max speed limit) but coming home I had 3x17" steel rims and winter tyres in the back on top of my other stuff and the final leg through France back home went up to 6.1 litres/100kms. And occasionally I didn't hold back when I could put my foot down and the sheer torque and smooth power delivery was just superbe.
As I was unsure about whether I would blind the UK drivers, driving on the wrong side of the road with the LED headlights, and not being able to find any decent information about whether I needed the deflect stickers, I turned the headlights to ON and not auto, which means that the clever swivel auto mode is turned off and they become straight forward headlights. No one flashed me so I would assume that it worked.
So, there we have my report on my road trip in this frankly fantastic car. Despite the wonderful Indian summer weather here, I am now looking forward to putting the winter boots on and seeing just how well this fab car drives in winter here in the Alps.
Newbie here.
Picked up my new 2016 CX5 (175bhp, AWD, Black) end of July having sold my Mitsi ASX and have just returned from a 3k round trip to the UK from my home here in the French Alps. I spotted a white pre-2015 CX5 at the Burghley Horse Trials. Anyone there? My CX5 has still got the hallowed Burghley mud on it from the wonderful drenching on the Sat for the cross country. I don't want to wash it off just yet...
As for the car, well, what can I say. It drove and drives like a dream. I was able to fully test the radar cruise control properly, which for me is a great piece of technology which I would highly recommend. The radar is so sensitive, even with the minimum distance set, you have to move out to overtake slightly earlier than you might normally do to avoid the car slowing down. Just a change to my driving which isn't a bad thing. Neat. I also have had to change my rather cavalier approach to peage barrier arms, in fact any barriers (car park etc.) as the City smart brake system thingy has caused me a few red faces when I try to drive at the barrier knowing it will lift at the last minuted (as I used to do) and the sensor doesn't like the quick movement of the barrier and automatically brakes... stops dead! This car is teaching me driving manners and its not a bad thing. Because of all the safety features and even thought my CX5 is more powerful than my old ASX, my full comp insurance has also dropped by about Stg 20 pm! Clearly they believe the car is far more intelligent, capable and safer than the driver... they are probably not wrong..
The SatNav worked very well and a neat feature for me is that is shows the UK mph speed limit in km/hr so this being a French car with kmph I always knew what speed to drive (apart from the more recently updated lower speed limits). Interestingly the SatNav gave me slightly different info depending which country I drove through which included France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the UK. And when driving long distances, the buttons that allow you to juggle between the music and satnav quickly were a great help - as is the dial button in the central console which allows to easily juggle the Infotainment system.
The car has now done about 5k kms and on average before and for the trip I was getting between 5.8 to 6.1 litres/100kms which I think converts to around 38mpg. The consumption varied according to the max motorway speed limit and weight in the car. I consumed 6 litres on the French and Luxembourg motorways with max speed 130km/hr and less when in Belgium and UK (lower max speed limit) but coming home I had 3x17" steel rims and winter tyres in the back on top of my other stuff and the final leg through France back home went up to 6.1 litres/100kms. And occasionally I didn't hold back when I could put my foot down and the sheer torque and smooth power delivery was just superbe.
As I was unsure about whether I would blind the UK drivers, driving on the wrong side of the road with the LED headlights, and not being able to find any decent information about whether I needed the deflect stickers, I turned the headlights to ON and not auto, which means that the clever swivel auto mode is turned off and they become straight forward headlights. No one flashed me so I would assume that it worked.
So, there we have my report on my road trip in this frankly fantastic car. Despite the wonderful Indian summer weather here, I am now looking forward to putting the winter boots on and seeing just how well this fab car drives in winter here in the Alps.
