I was also at the dealer today and drove a GTR (in Canada they aren't calling it a GTR far as I can tell), sat in a Signature and drove a regular GT back to back with the GTR. The regular GT is laughably slow compared to the GTR - it's fine as a daily driver but any enthusiast or anyone who likes gusto will want to the turbo. It was my first time driving the 2G CX-5 and it's an impressively quiet car and the interior is very nice - definitely in the realm of a luxury car. The Signature trim is nice but not actually significantly nicer than the GTR - in Canada it's $1,500 more and it's really just the nicer leather and more LED lights and I think I'd get the GTR instead.
OTOH I then went over to the Acura dealer and gave an RDX the gears. That thing is definitely a better car than the CX-5 - the A-Spec trim is about $10K more after taxes than a Signature and I'd say people who have the money should spring for it. Great backseat, great motor - the motor is a class ahead of the GTR.
The RDX has an estimated 0-60 of 6s and easily felt like it while I'd say the CX-5 is a mid/high 6 car.
All that said, can't go wrong with either car at their respective price points. I think Mazda will sell these at a good clip.
https://youtu.be/kUWUhrjA0VI
You can embed it here as well.
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