Close to pulling the trigger on a 17 CX-5 GT - information needed!

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

2. He mentioned also that the safety features like lane assist/blind spot monitoring just threw alerts constantly even when things were far away so he had to turn the noises off. Is it that bad?

I'm getting a GT over a T because of the additional safety perks. I've luckily never been in an accident before, but with a little one coming soon I want to be as safe as possible.

3. Assuming that the cargo area will be a good enough space for baby stuff ? Plenty of room in the back for carseat?

Thanks all, hope to join the Mazda family soon!

When you did your test drive, what do you think about the infotainment startup? Was it fast enough for you? How long does your computer at home take to start up, how fast does your phone start up after being totally shut down? I say this Not too be rude, but just understand realistic expectations..
I think the 2016 does fine, would I like it faster, sure who wouldn't, but it does okay...

alpha0meqa said:

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

2. He mentioned also that the safety features like lane assist/blind spot monitoring just threw alerts constantly even when things were far away so he had to turn the noises off. Is it that bad?

I'm getting a GT over a T because of the additional safety perks. I've luckily never been in an accident before, but with a little one coming soon I want to be as safe as possible.

3. Assuming that the cargo area will be a good enough space for baby stuff ? Plenty of room in the back for carseat?

Thanks all, hope to join the Mazda family soon!

Click to expand...

the infotainment system is a little slow, but the screen resolution is good so it isnt a dealbreaker for me. I'm more focused on the driving experience then anything else.

I cannot comment on the safety feature, but I think the best form of safety is the drivers undivided attention without any sort of gimmicky nannies.

the Mazda 6 sedan we have has TONS and TONS of space in the back seat and trunk, more then we need so I doubt the CX-5 is going to be any different.

good luck with your purchase. let us know the details if you end up signing the deal one one. hope the deal goes smoothly for you!

alpha0meqa said:

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

2. He mentioned also that the safety features like lane assist/blind spot monitoring just threw alerts constantly even when things were far away so he had to turn the noises off. Is it that bad?

I'm getting a GT over a T because of the additional safety perks. I've luckily never been in an accident before, but with a little one coming soon I want to be as safe as possible.

3. Assuming that the cargo area will be a good enough space for baby stuff ? Plenty of room in the back for carseat?

Thanks all, hope to join the Mazda family soon!

Click to expand...

If these 3 things are your only concerns on purchasing a new 2017 CX-5 GT, I'd suggest don't worry about these and go ahead to get it.

But I'd still suggest you considering the optional GT Premium Package only for the Memory Seat feature.

alpha0meqa said:

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

Click to expand...

Just make sure you pair your phone after the infotainment system comes on (aka bluetooth off on phone until screen boots up then turn on bluetooth on phone and pair)

alpha0meqa said:

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

Click to expand...

Info systems hangs occasionally - re boots when you are driving. Start up is pretty decent. I never wait more than 2-3 secs - just turn on put in gear remove p brake go.

2. He mentioned also that the safety features like lane assist/blind spot monitoring just threw alerts constantly even when things were far away so he had to turn the noises off. Is it that bad?

Click to expand...

I think you are talking of savageese video. BSM is very good, it leaves a bit of buffer but is very very good. Note it does not work unless you give an indicator - only the light comes on. When you indicate it kindof beeps if there is a car. RCTA works good as well. Apart from this GT has collision braking / radar CC. No idea how those work.

I'm getting a GT over a T because of the additional safety perks. I've luckily never been in an accident before, but with a little one coming soon I want to be as safe as possible.

Click to expand...

GT only gives you Lane Keep / Collision avoidance / Radar CC. If you are relying on these to be safe - you could spend 100 bucks on a safe / defensive driving course. RCTA and BSM work well - rest is meh. Also - incase you have a small rear - ending, difference between GT / T - the cost could be 2-3 grand more. Plus you would always have a doubt that all your sensors have been re-calibrated well. You are basically leaving your life in the hands of the repair shop which usually is insurance affiliated.

3. Assuming that the cargo area will be a good enough space for baby stuff ? Plenty of room in the back for carseat?

Click to expand...

New XV Crosstek has 55 cu ft when seats fold, CX5 has 59, XV is a segment lower in CUVs. So cargo needs to be verified by you. Rear leg room comparison in my two cars
Camry "BIGGGGG"
"CX5 - daddy can you push your seat way forward." I would give it same or slightly smaller as a Sentra or possibly 2 inches more than a Corolla / Civic.

Kaps said:

Info systems hangs occasionally - re boots when you are driving. Start up is pretty decent. I never wait more than 2-3 secs - just turn on put in gear remove p brake go.


I think you are talking of savageese video. BSM is very good, it leaves a bit of buffer but is very very good. Note it does not work unless you give an indicator - only the light comes on. When you indicate it kindof beeps if there is a car. RCTA works good as well. Apart from this GT has collision braking / radar CC. No idea how those work.


GT only gives you Lane Keep / Collision avoidance / Radar CC. If you are relying on these to be safe - you could spend 100 bucks on a safe / defensive driving course. RCTA and BSM work well - rest is meh. Also - incase you have a small rear - ending, difference between GT / T - the cost could be 2-3 grand more. Plus you would always have a doubt that all your sensors have been re-calibrated well. You are basically leaving your life in the hands of the repair shop which usually is insurance affiliated.


New XV Crosstek has 55 cu ft when seats fold, CX5 has 59, XV is a segment lower in CUVs. So cargo needs to be verified by you. Rear leg room comparison in my two cars
Camry "BIGGGGG"
"CX5 - daddy can you push your seat way forward." I would give it same or slightly smaller as a Sentra or possibly 2 inches more than a Corolla / Civic.

Click to expand...

Ive never had an issue with the computer glitching out or restarting. I do have the older 2015 design however.

Agreed, the BSM (blind spot monitoring) in this car is truly excellent. Its response and accurate and even warns you when a car drives by while you are backing out. Its a far more effective system then whatevers in my 2011 5 series.

Thank you everyone for the awesome information and advice. I know it sounds odd to be so concerned with all this gadgetry. But I've never had a car with any features other than MP3.....So this is all very cool to me.

One downside to this seems to be the lack of Auto(Android) and Whatever Apple car is. ---I saw a report that it will be released to any car though in the future?...maybe? I also see people saying they have said this for 3 years hahaha. What are your thoughts on that?

alpha0meqa said:

Thank you everyone for the awesome information and advice. I know it sounds odd to be so concerned with all this gadgetry. But I've never had a car with any features other than MP3.....So this is all very cool to me.

One downside to this seems to be the lack of Auto(Android) and Whatever Apple car is. ---I saw a report that it will be released to any car though in the future?...maybe? I also see people saying they have said this for 3 years hahaha. What are your thoughts on that?

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If you think Android Auto and Apple CarPlay highly, I believe you should consider other compact CUVs as chances are slim getting these two features on CX-5 in the near future.

ddtigger1 said:

When you did your test drive, what do you think about the infotainment startup? Was it fast enough for you? How long does your computer at home take to start up, how fast does your phone start up after being totally shut down? I say this Not too be rude, but just understand realistic expectations..
I think the 2016 does fine, would I like it faster, sure who wouldn't, but it does okay...

Click to expand...

I know on my 2015, it can take 5-10 minutes for the bluetooth to FINALLY LINK PANDORA. Get the vehicle with XM so you don't have to deal with that. That is one of the big reasons I am looking at the 2017 diesel. This "paired" s*** is trash. It's the first car I've had that's done it, and it's absolute ghetto crap like tape-deck-cd-player adapter level bulls***.

Just got my CX-5 the other night. The infotainment startup isn't any slower than my Honda Pilot and the bluetooth seems to connect fairly quickly on its own. All the tech can be adjusted for sensitivity as well. As far as Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, I have it on my Pilot and rarely use it. I guess that's a personal thing as to whether you think you'll need it or not. We were doing comparisons between the CX-5 and the CR-V (which has it) and it was definitely not a deal breaker for us.

Agreed it's not a deal breaker for me either

Plenty of room for a car seat. I have a forward-facing seat in now behind front passenger seat for my 2-year-old. I did buy a protective covering because she kicks the crap out of the front seat (something to keep in mind for future).

We have a baby due in December, and the rear-facing bucket seat will fit fine. This was a primary reason for us getting our CX-5.

The only electronic safety feature that throws alarms out at questionable times in Blind Spot Monitoring. Even at that it's just being conservative. It seems to be set to alert you to a car that's rapidly overtaking, and in that scenario it works just right. But for the typical "guy on your right that's driving at about the same speed" or "I just passed a truck and want to move back into the right lane" situation it looks a little too far back, alerting you even when you're well past the other vehicle. It only beeps if you signal a lane change and it's not that loud, after a while you just ignore it, while still appreciating that it alerted you at the right time to that Porsche that just blew past you on the right going 95 mph.

alpha0meqa said:

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

2. He mentioned also that the safety features like lane assist/blind spot monitoring just threw alerts constantly even when things were far away so he had to turn the noises off. Is it that bad?

I'm getting a GT over a T because of the additional safety perks. I've luckily never been in an accident before, but with a little one coming soon I want to be as safe as possible.

3. Assuming that the cargo area will be a good enough space for baby stuff ? Plenty of room in the back for carseat?

Thanks all, hope to join the Mazda family soon!

Click to expand...

I have a 2016 GT so not exactly the same, but the cars should be similar.

1. The infotainment boots up just fine for me. I don't think it is really fast, but I also don't think it is slow. It boots up way faster than the infotaintment system on my 2013 Speed3. The Bluetooth connection resumes pretty quick, which is awesome. This took a long time in my Speed.

2. Cannot comment on lane assist but I would say BSM is perfect in this car. I see other cars with BSM and I notice that it only triggers when the car in the other lane is very close to them. The BSM system in the Mazda CX-5 is pretty conservative as others have mentioned. The benefit here is that when you change lanes after it has stopped beeping, you usually have put enough of a gap to not annoy the driver of the car that you passed. You can definitely change lanes while the BSM is beeping and you can also turn it off via the infotainment system.

3. Good enough room in the back for car seats. Unless you or your wife are really tall or have long legs, a big rear facing car seat should fit just fine in the back seat and still allow you to sit in the front passenger seat. Note that you cannot install a car seat in the middle section of the back seat, at least I cannot do that with our Britax car seat. There are no latch anchors made specifically for the middle section. There is plenty of cargo space in the hatch. Even with a stroller in there, you can still make Costco runs and fit a good amount of stuff in there.

alpha0meqa said:

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

2. He mentioned also that the safety features like lane assist/blind spot monitoring just threw alerts constantly even when things were far away so he had to turn the noises off. Is it that bad?

I'm getting a GT over a T because of the additional safety perks. I've luckily never been in an accident before, but with a little one coming soon I want to be as safe as possible.

3. Assuming that the cargo area will be a good enough space for baby stuff ? Plenty of room in the back for carseat?

Thanks all, hope to join the Mazda family soon!

Click to expand...

1. It's not the most advanced infotainment system out there, but it does the job quite well. I've noticed lag here and there but nothing serious. Reviews tend to be negative for these reasons, which I don't agree with, and why it contributes to vehicles' low ratings. It plays Pandora, my iPod and the radio quite well. Not a deal breaker by any means.

2. The safety features are truly spot on from my almost 2 months of driving it. My wife's 2015 Nissan Rogue SV has BSM and we had to turn it off because that does not function like it should. I like how you can change the feedback of the these features as well.
I didn't buy the CX-5 GT for these perks. I bought it for the value it has compared to the competition. I looked at a 2018 Tiguan and for the same features I would have been close to $40K. The Tiguan had more space for sure but the CX-5's ride was far better.

3. We have a 4 month old in his Chicco Keyfit 30 infant car seat that's in the center of the back seat. This is because my wife likes a little more reclining room, so the center was the best option. It has a base that the carrier can pop in and out of. I can manage fine because of my long arms. She can ride back there with him as well with no problem. The stroller folds and can be put in the rear cargo area with room to spare. Her Rogue has a little more room in the back where the car seat can be put behind the passenger comfortably, just as a comparison. A car seat will fit behind the driver or passenger, you'll just need to move the seat up a bit.

Agreed, mazdas chassis and suspension tuning is really quite excellent and I cant say enough good things about Mazdas overall product delivery as a driver focused vehicle. It tracks nice and straight on the highway and is stable even at very high speed yet darts into corners with precision that you do not see in a typical sedan/crossover. The way the car is tuned to he smooth/comfortable when cruising yet firms up and darts into corners as soon as you flick the wheel is just brilliant. This car floats and rides very, very nice over smooth pavement.

I cant mention Mazda without talking about the huge stride theyve made with transmission tuning and overall drivetrain calibration as of recent. The new engines make gobs of torque at a very low RPM and the transmission tuning is very well tuned to make the most of it. I only have experience with the NA 2.5L in the smaller Mazda 6. (3200LB)I find the engines torque output, 185 ft/lb at 3250RPM to be very fun and usuable during daily driving even if you like to drive spiritedly. Of all its competitors, its got by far the best throttle response, the most torque at the lowest RPM, a lovely brassy engine/exhaust note, very useable powerband and it pulls like a brick all the way to its rev limiter. Its a great contender for a turbocharger so I imagine the CX-9s drivetrain to be even better.

Moving on to the comfortable, driver focused and ergonomic interior of the vehicle - fit/finish is excellent with zero creaks or raffles and fine choice of materials, especially the driver touch-points. The interior is very inviting and urges its driver to devote more attention to the brilliant driving experience rather then the electronics found in the interior. Since I prefer sedans, I like my seating position to be as low as possible. Unfortunately the electric seats do not have as much adjustability as the manual seating, so the seating position is good but not quite perfect like Honda or Volkswagen. The Manual seats lowered all the way is perfect however. The brakes are very easy to modulate and quite pleasant to use but would benefit from a slightly more firmer pedal bite, but its more then sufficient for any sort don driving short of track abuse. The brakes do not fade easily. The steering tracis nice and straight on the highway yet turns in very direct with excellent feel. To top it all off, the performance Yokohama tired that came OEM with the sedan brings out the direct, precise feel of the chassis with very good steering feel and amazing grip/predictability in the rain. I cant say enough good things about this car coming from a spirited drivers point of view, yet the car is perfectly comfortable and well suited to normal conservative driving as well.

the Mazda 6 sedan with a manual transmission, limited slip differential, coilovers and sway bars, cat delete, 91 octane ECU tune, upgraded brakes and stickier wider tires would turn this car into one of the most capable, funnest FWD track car you can buy. Cars are simply not built to be this fun and involving to drive anymore and Im very happy that Mazda continues to focus on that despite the majority of sales prefer comfort.

GJ-Molestor said:

Moving on to the comfortable, driver focused and ergonomic interior of the vehicle - fit/finish is excellent with zero creaks or raffles and fine choice of materials, especially the driver touch-points. The interior is very inviting and urges its driver to devote more attention to the brilliant driving experience rather then the electronics found in the interior. Since I prefer sedans, I like my seating position to be as low as possible. Unfortunately the electric seats do not have as much adjustability as the manual seating, so the seating position is good but not quite perfect like Honda or Volkswagen. The Manual seats lowered all the way is perfect however. The brakes are very easy to modulate and quite pleasant to use but would benefit from a slightly more firmer pedal bite, but its more then sufficient for any sort don driving short of track abuse. The brakes do not fade easily. The steering tracis nice and straight on the highway yet turns in very direct with excellent feel. To top it all off, the performance Yokohama tired that came OEM with the sedan brings out the direct, precise feel of the chassis with very good steering feel and amazing grip/predictability in the rain. I cant say enough good things about this car coming from a spirited drivers point of view, yet the car is perfectly comfortable and well suited to normal conservative driving as well.

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A big positive and reason as to why I went with Mazda. I was very impressed with the new CX-9 when I sat in one back in January. And again was impressed of what they did with the CX-5.
I had a 2010 Audi A5 3.2 before this for a couple of years. I was looking for a quality used Q5 but the right price with low miles was almost non-existent. I couldn't justify spending that much for used when something like the CX-5 was brand new. It's not German but what Mazda has done recently is very impressive.

alpha0meqa said:

Hello all,

I wanted to ask a few questions if anyone has experience with the 2017 CX-5 GT.

1. I watched a review video where the person mentioned that the infotainment system is quite slow when the car turns on. Is that the case?

2. He mentioned also that the safety features like lane assist/blind spot monitoring just threw alerts constantly even when things were far away so he had to turn the noises off. Is it that bad?

I'm getting a GT over a T because of the additional safety perks. I've luckily never been in an accident before, but with a little one coming soon I want to be as safe as possible.

3. Assuming that the cargo area will be a good enough space for baby stuff ? Plenty of room in the back for carseat?

Thanks all, hope to join the Mazda family soon!

Click to expand...

2017 GT 1000 miles here

Item 1. Never had any probs with infotainment system comes right up but you do have to view the "distracted driving nag" for about 5 seconds if you dont put the car in reverse to back out of a space. If you put it in reverse instantly goes to reverse camera

Item 2. Lane assist has three settings. It ships with it set to most sensitive so I switched it to medium. No probs works great no false positives. No problems with blind spot monitoring here although you might get a false positive if you are right turning with turn signal on and you are close to guardrail. Anti collision works great. It has actually deployed the breaks for me. Had a car in front of me making a turn and instead of making the turn just stopped in the middle of the road.... fool was probable sending a text message.

Item 3. Cargo area is slightly smaller that 2014 (few inches). I assume thats because the rear seats will recline somewhat but there is still plenty of room.

I LOVE mine. Absolutely no regrets