CX-5 PERFORMANCE- around town and in the mountains

sjbraun

Member
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VW Jetta Sportwagen
Those of you who have cx-5s, I'm curious to know about the car's performance. Specifically, how does it move from 20-40mph?

And how is it at freeway speeds in the mountains?

Your input is appreciated.

Thanks

Steve
 
0-40 is pretty good, also you can get ecu tuning. Your turbo diesel vw is prolly faster on a 0-40 if you can hook up (performance tire) but that's all subjective.. I had a friend with a tdi jetta... the biggest issue was spinning tires but he also had oem spec tires on it.
 
My previous ride was a Jetta TDI. I picked up a cx5 GT with Premium and headed straight to NYC from Chicago and back. Great highway ride and no problem 20 to 40 or 65 to 90 (except mpg). No real mountains on US 80 (like out west) but I did experienced two transmission abrupt and noisy down shifts. Other than that, I think it’s has the power to please - I like to drive fast but I’m more content driving this car more conservative. I particularly enjoyed the HUD.
It certainly isn’t as much fun to drive as the Jetta TDI. Mileage is 15 to 20 mpg less than the TDI. I averaged 27.5 on this trip. It’s a different species, taller and more insulated from the road. I think the diesel would be the perfect CX-5 but I don’t have any faith that it will show up in NA. For me, it’s worth adapting to. Mazda connect could be better but, nothing is perfect unless you’re the designer.
 
My diesel Sportwagen

Have you considered a test drive? Adequacy of power and acceleration is somewhat subjective.

I test drove a few cars before I settled on the CX-5. My test track was I70 where it climbs from the plains to the Rockies, just west of Golden, CO to Lookout Mtn. Very steep! And there is a frontage road with some nice twisties that served as the return route. For those that passed the steering and handling test through the twisties, a side trip up the hillside to the Mother Cabrini(?) Shrine provided some really good twisties to confirm handling. The Touareg really rocked that last test! I thought the salesman was going to lose it LOL.

Here’s the ones that failed my personal power criteria:
Honda CRV (16)
Subaru XV
Outback & Legacy 4 cyl.
Toyota RAV4 (non-hybrid)
Nissan Rogue

Here’s the ones that passed:
Honda Pilot
Hyundai Santa Fe
Infiniti QX50
Acura RDX
Kia Sorento
Mazda CX-5 & CX-9
Nissan Murano
Outback & Legacy 6 cyl.
Toyota Highlander, RAV4 Hybrid
VW Touareg

Notice that all the acceptable models were 6 cyl., except the Mazda’s and the RAV4 hybrid. In the end the CX-5 was the only 4 I seriously considered. Most of the 6’s has much worse MPG than the CX-5 (many were much heavier). Only the Touareg, and QX-50 had driving dynamics comparable to the Mazda’s.

I find the CX-5 does very well in town as well. The torque maxes out at low rpm and maintains fairly high. Amenable to jackrabbit starts and plenty of passing power at city and freeway speeds. Some of the others had a bit more power, but few really had THAT much more IMHO (VW & QX did!).

Most of the acceptable ones were $10-15k more in MSRP. Just the hybrid and Subies were only $5k more that a fully loaded CX-5 GT.

Check it and a few others out and see which ones tickle your fancy.
 
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Its slow compared to my rwd x1 but for an na gas 4 banger its actually got great low end grunt. Highway speeds in the hills are the only times I feel it wants for more but in normal driving its more than adequate. Flexible powertrain quite happy and smooth pull at 1500rpm, vg tranny, chasis and steering. My backyard is a road the climbs almost 1200' in a few miles- not exactly extreme but lots of twisties with several fairly steep sections. My 14 cx5 handles this lower speed road with ease and feels right at home there more so than the bmw that is capable but better-quieter, faster and more fe on the open road. I think the redo plus the diesel would actually compliment my gen1 nicely if it they can get it here! Yeah i may run 2 cx5s for awhile until I go for a sports car that's how well i feel about it.
 
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Those of you who have cx-5s, I'm curious to know about the car's performance. Specifically, how does it move from 20-40mph?

And how is it at freeway speeds in the mountains?

Your input is appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

It does just fine. It won't win any races, but it's not "a liability" and it doesn't "have to be thrashed".
 
Coming from a RAV4 2010 V6 I am loving the power of the CX5 2017 on my hilly terrain. I have enough power for climbs and flats. The great thing is the fuel consumption is much better than the V6. Bonus would be how it hugs on the twisties.
 
Coming from a RAV4 2010 V6 I am loving the power of the CX5 2017 on my hilly terrain. I have enough power for climbs and flats. The great thing is the fuel consumption is much better than the V6. Bonus would be how it hugs on the twisties.

Coming from a V6 RAV, the CX5 is a total pud. It may FEEL okay, but if you lined them up, you'd see a massive difference. 2 seconds difference 0-60, and it keeps getting "worse" from there...
 
Those who are inclined to 'line either of these up' are puds..either vehicle is fine (Ill pass on v6 rav) but yeah if max forward thrust is your aim prob should bring more than 185 ponies to the line so yeah v6 rav ftw fn hammer time!
 
Colorado here. Works great. 0-40 is very peppy imo.

Higher speeds (75+) doesn't necessarily have the same pep, but I've never felt like I was lacking enough power.

I highly enjoy driving the twisties in the mountains, still works great.

Just have the correct expectation (it's a 185hp NA, 4 cyl.), and in that realm is definitely very nice and fun to drive.
 
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The CX-5 is a great city driving car. Good amounts of torque in the first 3 gears. It runs out of steam above 75 mph, even on a flat highway. The trick on the highway is to start accelerating behind another car so you don't have too much of a wind resistance. If there's no other car in front of you, well just remember it is rated at 184-185 hp.
 
Mine doesn’t feel like a pud as someone noted here. On hills or long grades put your transmission into manual mode. It really helps especially on winding uphills like mountain passes.
 
Do you have any experience with driving standard shift vehicles? I ask because the best "performance" i feel with the 2017 CX5 for me is when I click off traction control, flip on sport mode, and slide the shifter to the left and drive the vehicle like a standard shift. I can then mimic driving a higher revving standard shift 4 cylinder, shifting when I know the shift point is at it's point of advantage. My experience in this driving mode came from driving 5 speed manual tranny mazda 2 seaters from 1984 to 2010. You get that feel of the shift points either up or down depending upon road configuration, whether it be winding out the motor when entering a freeway ramp or up or down shifting on a winding, hilly road. I hit the downshift going into the turn, the engine rpms increase, add a little throttle and then more in exiting the turn and then hit the upshift at the right time. With the flattening suspension of the CX5, response feels pretty good.
 
Do you have any experience with driving standard shift vehicles? I ask because the best "performance" i feel with the 2017 CX5 for me is when I click off traction control, flip on sport mode, and slide the shifter to the left and drive the vehicle like a standard shift. I can then mimic driving a higher revving standard shift 4 cylinder, shifting when I know the shift point is at it's point of advantage. My experience in this driving mode came from driving 5 speed manual tranny mazda 2 seaters from 1984 to 2010. You get that feel of the shift points either up or down depending upon road configuration, whether it be winding out the motor when entering a freeway ramp or up or down shifting on a winding, hilly road. I hit the downshift going into the turn, the engine rpms increase, add a little throttle and then more in exiting the turn and then hit the upshift at the right time. With the flattening suspension of the CX5, response feels pretty good.

Why do you have to put the car in sport mode if you are in manual mode? My 2014 does not have a sport mode but I drive a lot in manual mode and it works great!
 
Why do you have to put the car in sport mode if you are in manual mode? My 2014 does not have a sport mode but I drive a lot in manual mode and it works great!

Throttle sensitivity is increased with Sport Mode on.
 
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