2017 CX-5: Initial Review

Really? I found the seat bolstering in my 2016 (Touring, so with cloth seats) about the most in any of the CUVs I looked at.
He's comparing the bolstering to seats in a sport sedan, so it's really apples to oranges. If you compare the CX-5 seat bolstering to say a Mazda3 or Mazda6, the CX-5 seats will seem too loose for a lack of a better term.
 
Seems like 80-90% of the '17s I am seeing are all in Soul Red Crystal.... or maybe it is just that color popping out at me? :)
 
Seems like 80-90% of the '17s I am seeing are all in Soul Red Crystal.... or maybe it is just that color popping out at me? :)

Much hype has been made about this colour. So no surprise if more on the road :)
 
Also been about 3 weeks and still in love with this car. The dislikes are primarily nit-picky, nothing has ruined the honeymoon phase yet.

'17 CX-5 GT + Premium, Soul Crystal Red + Black


LIKES

- Exterior is simply amazing, going to cry harder than any previous car when the inevitable scratches and dents start to accumulate
- Interior design "cleanliness" and (at least the appearance of) build quality is far superior to the the CR-V (wow that CR-V steering wheel is an abomination)
- Handling is amazing, nothing SUV like about this thing corners, the Zoom Zoom feeling is ever present.
- Safety equipment seems top-notch. Got to see Cross traffic alert in action when a car came around the corner as I was backing out of my driveway.
- HUD is quite cool...bonus of directions is super handy.
- Cruise control seems really amazing, just not a cruise control user yet.
- Upcoming cross street name on top of nav regardless of the current activity, nice touch.
- This is my first car with push-button start and this style keyless entry (vs a remote)...it's so good that it has made it annoying when I have to take out my keys for other purposes now.
- So much car for the price.

DISLIKES

- Would love more power. My last car was a V6 with ~260 HP and seemingly just a few MPG less. If they would just put the CX9 turbo in the CX5, people would pay for it.
- Interior (both the leather and plastic/rubber dash components seems to scuff easily.
- Top dash rubber is "sticky", tearing up a microfiber cloth and leaving fuzz everywhere when wiping...probably just need to find the right cleaning material.
- Center console storage is smaller than I would like, maybe it will just force me to keep less junk in there.
- HUD brightness significantly impacted by sunglasses (polarization?).
- NAV system UX (as a whole including radio, etc.) is a bit of a mess and the inability to perform operations while moving is maddening. Takes too many "clicks" to perform some basic functions. Suspect that the Android Auto upgrade is going to help alleviate some of this.
- Automatic liftgate makes you feel like you are doing something wrong when closing it manually, learning curve I suppose.
- Unpainted calipers are a blight on an otherwise near flawless exterior.
- Lane assist is still more an annoyance than a benefit as it activates during normal driving...flirting with turning it off. Maybe on a long drive it would be helpful.
- Blind-spot warning is a tad too sensitive, sometimes alerting on lane changes with plenty of room.
- Rear seats both not folding without moving up the front seats and not folding flat (knew both of these going in but still a dislike). Hoping to eventually get the JDM headrests for both easier folding and improved rear visibility.
 
Also been about 3 weeks and still in love with this car. The dislikes are primarily nit-picky, nothing has ruined the honeymoon phase yet.

'17 CX-5 GT + Premium, Soul Crystal Red + Black


DISLIKES

- Would love more power. My last car was a V6 with ~260 HP and seemingly just a few MPG less. If they would just put the CX9 turbo in the CX5, people would pay for it.

Lots of people would like this but with what it has, how do you find it?

- HUD brightness significantly impacted by sunglasses (polarization?).

Correct, wearing polarised sunglasses will reduce brightness. Did you crank up the brightness in the settings?

- Blind-spot warning is a tad too sensitive, sometimes alerting on lane changes with plenty of room.

You can adjust the sensitivity via settings in MZD
 
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Lots of people would like this but with what it has, how do you find it?

It's just "OK".

Correct, wearing polarised sunglass will reduce brightness. Did you crank up the brightness in the settings?

Still playing around with the brightness and positioning but the reality is that even with glasses on, the default is still acceptable. Think it would be too bright without glasses on if I turned it up higher
 
I know what you mean about keyless entry (first car with it for me too). I now keep expecting all doors to unlock for me with just a touch and grumble every time I need to reach for my keys when entering my house. :D
 
The dislikes are primarily nit-picky, nothing has ruined the honeymoon phase yet.
- Interior (both the leather and plastic/rubber dash components seems to scuff easily.
- Top dash rubber is "sticky", tearing up a microfiber cloth and leaving fuzz everywhere when wiping...probably just need to find the right cleaning material.
- NAV system is a bit of a mess and the inability to perform operations while moving is maddening.
- Lane assist is still more an annoyance than a benefit as it activates during normal driving...flirting with turning it off.
- Blind-spot warning is a tad too sensitive, sometimes alerting on lane changes with plenty of room.

Could you expand more on these issues? Do others here have similar experiences?
These are serious issues for me as I'm considering the CX-5.

- What exactly scuffs easily? The leather seats, steering wheel, other? Do both the rubber dash top and hard plastic items scuff as well?
- I didn't realize the top dash was more rubber instead of plastic. The "stickiness" sounds like a major drawback of the soft-touch feel.
- The NAV system sounds almost worthless. What are others' experiences?
- The safety features also sound nearly useless. What do other people think?
 
Could you expand more on these issues? Do others here have similar experiences?
These are serious issues for me as I'm considering the CX-5.

It's all a matter of perspective. To me these aren't that serious

- The NAV system sounds almost worthless. What are others' experiences?

Probably referring to the touchscreen being locked out whilst moving. You can use the dial next to the park brake or voice commands to get around this

- The safety features also sound nearly useless. What do other people think?

Not useless at all. These features have been available in one way or another for the last 5 years on various models. The current iteration just improves on it.
 
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- What exactly scuffs easily? The leather seats, steering wheel, other? Do both the rubber dash top and hard plastic items scuff as well?
- I didn't realize the top dash was more rubber instead of plastic. The "stickiness" sounds like a major drawback of the soft-touch feel.
- The safety features also sound nearly useless. What do other people think?

The hard plastic does scuff easily, I'm going to have to take some care with my work boots. The dashtop isn't "sticky" per se, but it does attract dust like crazy and I also have yet to find the right kind of cloth to clean it well.
The safety features, however, are perfect for me - I turned off the lane beeps because they are annoying, and the lane assist is a bit weak and I wouldn't count on it save my life if I were falling asleep at the wheel, but in busy traffic the BSM comes in handy regularly, the adaptive cruise control makes highway commuting pleasurable past the point it's usually tedious, and the smartbrake has kicked in when there was a sudden pileup on the highway. But the car isn't a lazy-man's paradise - the best part is that it still rewards active drivers, and when I'm darting through traffic or opening up on the highway, the CX5 seems hungry for more. :)
 
And that's the key, you should be able to either disable or change the settings to something lower for the safety features
 
The Nav system is hardly worthless, though it does not have live traffic. There is a learning curve, but it's easy enough to enter an address and have the Nav instruct you were to go. It's true that you can't use the touch screen while driving, but that's a safety feature - as a driver I think it'd be dangerous to reach over and adjust things on the screen. That's what the controller is for.
I don't have all the new-fangled safety features in my 2016, but BSM and the cross traffic alert are more than worth it.
 
3rd day of ownership and it's sat in the garage during work hours as the wife and I carpool in her hybrid. I've taken it out a couple of times in the evening to try out some of the features.

  • Love the Active Display
  • Love the Radar Cruise Control
  • Love the auto LED high beams. I did manage to fool it when I turned into our suburban neighborhood with no street lights. I came to a T intersection and my headlights reflected from the picture window of the house ahead of me. They dimmed to low beam.
  • Lane Keep Assist is a bit 'iffy' - definitely not a hands off system such as the Tesla has. I did test this on a lonely road with no traffic by taking both hands off the steering wheel. The Mazda doesn't like this and you'll get an audible warning and a nasty message in the Active Display saying to Keep Both Hands on the Steering Wheel.
  • Nav interface is still a bit bewildering. I wanted to set a favorite not from an address but where I currently was on the map. The map display is a bit plain.
 
3rd day of ownership and it's sat in the garage during work hours as the wife and I carpool in her hybrid. I've taken it out a couple of times in the evening to try out some of the features.

  • Love the Active Display
  • Love the Radar Cruise Control
  • Love the auto LED high beams. I did manage to fool it when I turned into our suburban neighborhood with no street lights. I came to a T intersection and my headlights reflected from the picture window of the house ahead of me. They dimmed to low beam.
  • Lane Keep Assist is a bit 'iffy' - definitely not a hands off system such as the Tesla has. I did test this on a lonely road with no traffic by taking both hands off the steering wheel. The Mazda doesn't like this and you'll get an audible warning and a nasty message in the Active Display saying to Keep Both Hands on the Steering Wheel.
  • Nav interface is still a bit bewildering. I wanted to set a favorite not from an address but where I currently was on the map. The map display is a bit plain.
Next report please on how it goes when you give it some gas [emoji3]

Love the positive feedback

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
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Next report please on how it goes when you give it some gas [emoji3]

Love the positive feedback

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

At age 65 I'm not much of a 'spirited driver' but in Sport Mode it seems pretty peppy. Mine is too new to romp on it for now.
BTW, the car did come from Iowa and had 280 miles on delivery - so yes, they did drive it up here but they knocked a grand off the list price.
 
We don't reach for touch screen even when idle, kinda forgot that it's touch screen, the commander knobs are more convenient to use.
Nav has proven useful when we were out of cell coverage, or when we know there's no traffic, having direction showing up in HUD is nice, google maps became our backup.
Lane keep assist has one good use - it makes the steering wheel lighter so it's easier for you to turn back in lane, don't rely on it to turn for you.
Adaptive cruise control is very nice, highway driving has never been so relaxing, I could take my eyes of the car in front for a second or two, and not worry about hitting the car in front.
 
As a 16 owner with 10K miles on mine - here is a big big plus for 2017

Front Grille
On my 16 its plastic - looks horribad and the 17 is metallic. Superb looking. Realized how good it looks when i saw a 17 in flesh this morning.
Yrwei - you better listen to your wifey and get a 17! it is just a million miles better than a 16. Hopefully they have fixed the windshield too.
 
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