I went from a 2016 Touring to a 2017 GT. The difference between these models is huge. For me it was worth it for the leather seats, automatic headlights and wipers, and the automatic dual climate control alone, not to mention the host of other features the 2017 offers. I dont know for sure but Id imagine he 2014 GT to a 2017-18 GT is less of a leap than what I went through
2014 CX-5 GT owner thinking of buying a new one -- anyone done that?
- Thread starter CeeEx5
- Start date
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- Plano, Texas, USA
SPCCI SkyActiv-X 2.0L is still at least 2 years away for production. Mazda is predicting about 188 horsepower and 170 lb-ft of torque from this SkyActiv-X 2.0L. There's no sights of SkyActiv-X 2.5L at this time. So you really think this 188 hp SA-X 2.5L will be sufficient for next generation CX-5? And you really believe Mazda can introduce a 48 volt mild hybrid system with the SA-X in a couple of years? Mazda can't even make SkyActiv-D available in 2017 as promised. What make you think Mazda can make a hybrid with SA-X available very soon?
We don't know what the EPA fuel economy rating will be on 2019 RAV4 with new 203/206 hp Dynamic Force 2.5L and 8-speed automatic. But based on the MPG improvement from 2018 Camry (the average MPG at Fuelly.com has shot up to 31.5 for 2018 Camry 2.5L I4 from 26.3 for 2017) which uses the same drivetrain, MPG on 2019 RAV4 will be the best among all compact CUVs.
Even with my current weep issue I plan to keep mine over 10 years. Barring the junk I had as a kid it has never made good economic sense for me to dump a car before a decade.
Like you mentioned, the biggest concern is the thermal effect of the disabled cylinders. Physics is physics and no matter what Mazda's CD does, you can't change the physics and thermal issues on the 2 non-running cylinders is always going to be an issue.
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- 2022 2.5GT
It’s also why Mazda have paid particular attention to balancing the cooling during shut down. Why do we think that we’ve thought of something that Mazda haven’t? How long will it take until the experts on here are proven right? Is it years or mileage before certain doom raises its inevitable head? Poor 18 owners.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
Thanks for the documents. To control the imbalance of thermal dynamics between active and inactive cylinders Mazda has added an engine coolant control valve, integrated with the thermostat (meaning it's expensive to replace), feeds engine coolant via 3 engine coolant passages. I wish I can see "Water Flow Control" part of cylinder deactivation on SkyActiv-G 2.5L but it's not included in your attached documents.
It says the PCM adjusts the engine coolant control valve opening angle and switches the engine coolant passage
according to changes in the engine coolant temperature. I really doubt how effective this system can be to balance the heat, unless Mazda has modified the cylinder block and head on water passages so that each cylinder has its own coolant passage, added with temperature sensors for each cylinder. I don't believe Mazda would go this far for its CD system.
Again, all of this complexity and cost with unknown longevity for cylinder deactivation saved 1 mpg on FWD and 0 mpg for AWD? (uhm)
I own a Previous gen camry. Let me fill you in - My CX5 trounces the camry in city / mixed driving. I asked my wife why the camry is not giving anything close to 35 mpg - her response was everyone gets 32 on highway - many threads to this effect. By the way - I also invite you to search youtube for Mazda6 + 40 mpg - there are people scoring 45 in the 6 and 45+ in the 3. In some ways the EPA shafted mazda - from my experience neither of hyundai kia honda toyota nissan mpgs are so close to EPA#s like Mazda. The Mazda i drive will hit more mpg than the Camry in all city + mixed conditions, infact if i drive 400 yds - i still noticed the CX5 getting 11 mpg whereas the Camry getting 8. Today was the first day in my entire CX5 ownership I spent more than $30 on a fill up. Last tank was 28.9 mpg with 50% on fresh oil - note I havent maxed out my tire pressure to 38 - keep it balanced at 36.
Digest this.
New engine tech is released independent of other brands. I doubt Mazda will look at Toyota and say we need to release ours quickly - nope they will do it at their pace. Toyota Rav4 sales for its last 2 years of prev. gen are based on 10+% discounts. Nissan sales as far as I can remember are based on 20+% discounts. CRV came out with new everything - next year Mazda sales are setting records with a 4 year old drive train. I bet for my drive - Cyl deactivation on a 18 would net me 40+ mpg.
So in conclusion - what you are saying is Yota has achieved with new engine tech is almost same as what 2.5L Skyactiv did in 2014. Congrats Toyota.
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- 18 CX-5
yrwei52 (or anyone with zero trust in Mazda's implementation of CD), what would your advice be to those who one reason or the other decide to get a 2018 CX-5, ie for the illuminated and one-touch window controls?
More frequent oil changes seems to be the only advice we've been hearing so far. By the way how much more frequent should it be ideally? But are there more we could do? Asking you folks because your mitigation plans will hopefully be more thorough than others, given your negative opinion on the subject.
Alternatively ask yourself this hypothetical question: Let's say your wife forces you to get a 2018 CX-5 what extra measures you would take to look after the car, reluctantly?
Wow, the CD is more complex than I thought at first. Shutting down coolant and redirecting coolant through the engine blocks passages is extremely complex, especially with the return on investment of only 1 MPG.
The system, if it breaks, would amount to probably over a thousand dollars in repairs and diagnosis. The CD system looks like a techs nightmare. The most simplest systems are usually the most reliable.
yrwei52 (or anyone with zero trust in Mazda's implementation of CD), what would your advice be to those who one reason or the other decide to get a 2018 CX-5, ie for the illuminated and one-touch window controls?
More frequent oil changes seems to be the only advice we've been hearing so far. By the way how much more frequent should it be ideally? But are there more we could do? Asking you folks because your mitigation plans will hopefully be more thorough than others, given your negative opinion on the subject.
Alternatively ask yourself this hypothetical question: Let's say your wife forces you to get a 2018 CX-5 what extra measures you would take to look after the car, reluctantly?
I bought a 2017 instead of a 2018 to avoid CD. If I couldn't find any 2017's and was stuck with getting a 2018, I would do more frequent oil changes and run the engine hard every other day to burn off any carbon buildup on the pistons, rings, valves, etc. A couple of 5,000 RPM blasts every other day.
Nobody knows what the end results will be with CD. It will take 2-3 years to find out if the technology is damaging the engine. Some with high mileage might find out after 1 year but it will take around 20-30,000 miles of driving to see the damage, if any, that is occurring with CD.
I just don't understand WHY go through all of this complication just for a gain of 1mpg. One can air up their tires and see better mpg results. I average 30 mpg (70% highway/ 30% city) on my 2017 by keeping my tires aired up to 40psi cold (General Altimax RT43)
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- RDX Aspec Adv.
Good grief. Yeah, it sounds absurd, and $1K? HAH! maybe $1K to diagnose it. Sounds like an absolute nightmare.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
No, Toyota's new 203/206hp Dynamic Force 2.5L engine and 8-speed automatic transmission configuration is BETTER than Mazda's current SkyActiv Technology. Toyota this time concentrated on improving the thermal efficiency without the help from turbo、CVT、CD、or complicated SPCCI. The result is it has more power and better fuel economy, period. I believe anyone with some engineering background would appreciate Toyota's effort towards this direction, just like Mazda's SkyActiv Technology in 2012/2013.
You're comparing your old 2015 (?) Camry which is of course not impressive on MPG. I've listed Fuelly's data that 2018 Camry with new 2.5L drivetrain has jumped 5.2 on average mpg from 26.3 in 2017 to 31.5! Mazda6 with SkyActiv-G 2.5L has always been good on average mpg based on Fuelly, at 29.9 mpg for 2016 and 2017.
And your 2016 CX-5 FWD definitely falls into a lucky one with more efficient SA-G 2.5L engine than others hence your CX-5 is having more impressive MPG. My 2016 AWD can hardly beat EPA's combined MPG, floating around 25~26 mpg. A friend of mine who took my advice bought a 2015 CX-5 FWD, its combined MPG could always be 31+. But his second 2016.5 CX-5 FWD can only reach 29 mpg with exact route to and from his work. Each engine out of the same assembly line will perform a little differently, hence the different efficiency out of each engine.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
If one is doing the leasing or planning to keep 2018 CX-5 for a short term, he/she should not be worried about cylinder deactivation. How long or how many miles is hard to predict but I'd definitely get rid of my 2018 CX-5 before 100,000 miles if I ever decided to get one.yrwei52 (or anyone with zero trust in Mazda's implementation of CD), what would your advice be to those who one reason or the other decide to get a 2018 CX-5, ie for the illuminated and one-touch window controls?
More frequent oil changes seems to be the only advice we've been hearing so far. By the way how much more frequent should it be ideally? But are there more we could do? Asking you folks because your mitigation plans will hopefully be more thorough than others, given your negative opinion on the subject.
Alternatively ask yourself this hypothetical question: Let's say your wife forces you to get a 2018 CX-5 what extra measures you would take to look after the car, reluctantly?
Wife had a chance driving a 2017 CX-5 FWD loaner for 11 days and she felt there's not much diffenence between the 2nd-gen and our 2016 other than a little better acceleration. I credited it to the difference between FWD and AWD. The combined MPG is at about 26~27 which is not much better than ours either.
Other than cylinder deactivation, the big drop on reliability rating from Consumer Reports also bothers me. Compounded with more problems been reported here on 2nd-gen CX-5, I now have reservation of purchasing another CX-5.
BTW, changing oil more frequently than recommended interval definitely won't help to compensate the drawbacks of cylinder deactivation.
Try to balance the negative posts and the positive ones. So far we haven’t heard of any issues with the 18’s. The other side will say that these issues won’t come up until a few years down the road.
In the end, is something like CD a deal breaker for you? Only you can answer that question.
In the end, is something like CD a deal breaker for you? Only you can answer that question.
