2017~2024 CX-5 Signature 800+ Mile Report / Thoughts

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CX-5
So I've had the CX-5 for a few weeks now and thought I would offer my perspective so far as the other threads were of tremendous help to me when trying to decide on which vehicle to purchase. I going to "steal shamelessly" from a previous thread and then add my thoughts:

Performance - A (Agreed and it passes easily, at highway speeds, uphill, etc. without the transmission going into "limbo" trying to decide what gear it should be in!)
Handling - A-
Brakes - B (good but not as good as I'd hoped for but it is almost 2 tons)
Noise - B+ / A- (very good for a vehicle in this price range IMO)
MPG - C+ (23-24 MPG and highway driving seems to gain 2 MPG)
Overall fit and finish - A
Styling - A- (very subjective)
Fuel Range - haven't gone on any long trips yet so TBD
Instrumentation - A (well laid out, intuitive, not cluttered, excellent implementation of HUD)
Driving Aids - A- (all are good except backup camera is a D in terms of quality / clarity)
Seating comfort - B+
Front seat Legroom, headroom, comfort, etc - B+ (see below)
Exterior Lighting - A+ (headlights are indeed excellent!)
Interior Lighting - B- (it's ok but nothing special as mentioned before in other thread)
HVAC - A- (very good but heat seat comes on a little slow, steering wheel heat is nearly instant)
Infotainment - C+ at best (NOT a fan of Bose so Audio is just OK, Apple CarPlay is fickle as is Bluetooth)
Winter Driving - N/A (untested as it stays fairly nice year round in Tennessee)

LIKES:
#1 by a huge margin is Overall VALUE! Features vs price vs ongoing maintenance costs vs reliability is excellent and about $10K less than Acura RDX (my other top choice). Looked at a lot of SUV's, including VW MDX, Audi Q5, Acura RDX) I won't compare it to my Toyota Tacoma as that is a very apples to oranges comparison.

Has HUD, heated front & rear seats, heated steering wheel, nice interior, wheels, Spare Tire, and liked I could fold down middle part of rear seat while still having four passengers overall.
Also my wife and I found the controls to be very intuitive (9/10) and very similar to an Audi I had previously.

Nit Picks:
- Love touchscreen but hate that its disabled while driving (other cars I own do not do this).
- CX-5 would NOT unlock all of the other doors today. Surmised it was my wife's keyfob confusing the system (which is the 1st time this has happened).
- Wish rear seats would go flat W/O having to remove headrests
- Wish I had more room for my left foot at rest while driving and that the arm rest was higher so my arm rested on it easier AND my left leg went UNDER it vs resting on hard surface.
- Hate that my V1 radar detector shows the rear arrow ON ALWAYS due to multiple safety systems (remember I said nitpicks). :)
- Not a huge fan of Bose systems
- Adaptive Cruise is more "intrusive" than the RDX, Audio is not as good and RDX had a better, more precise handling overall. HOWEVER, see #1 above because my wife and I did NOT see those items being worth the extra $$

CHANGES I'D LIKE:
- That the folding mirrors would ONLY fold/unfold AFTER the engine is started (Audi) versus locking/unlocking doors!
- That the CX5 would have a Virtual Jukebox and/or another SD card slot for music given no CD player (just one of those would be ok)
- Better clarity on the cameras, especially when backing up!
- While Apple Car works fine, it does NOT when going back and forth from it to Bluetooth. That needs to be improved ASAP IMO.

We really like the CX-5 a lot so far and look forward to using it as our daily driver. Oh, it's Eternal Blue so I need to get some pictures when the sun is out and its clean. We really like the color and have had several compliments on it.

Russ
 
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CHANGES I'D LIKE:

- That the CX5 would have a Virtual Jukebox and/or another SD card slot for music given no CD player (just one of those would be ok)

...

I think you can use a USB flash drive the second USB port and play music from that?
 
Yea the controls on the RDX are just weird...... Im not sure I understand what theyre doing.
 
I just like to have multiple options. (iagree)

Glad it worked for you!

Personally I'd use my phone as well, but having limited storage depending on the model (not all phones are expandable through MicroSD) and not wanting to eat into cellular data with streaming makes a strong case for USB as a viable option.
 
So I've had the CX-5 for a few weeks now and thought I would offer my perspective so far as the other threads were of tremendous help to me when trying to decide on which vehicle to purchase. I going to "steal shamelessly" from a previous thread and then add my thoughts:

Performance - A (Agreed and it passes easily, at highway speeds, uphill, etc. without the transmission going into "limbo" trying to decide what gear it should be in!)
Handling - A-
Brakes - B (good but not as good as I'd hoped for but it is almost 2 tons)
Noise - B+ / A- (very good for a vehicle in this price range IMO)
MPG - C+ (23-24 MPG and highway driving seems to gain 2 MPG)
Overall fit and finish - A
Styling - A- (very subjective)
Fuel Range - haven't gone on any long trips yet so TBD
Instrumentation - A (well laid out, intuitive, not cluttered, excellent implementation of HUD)
Driving Aids - A- (all are good except backup camera is a D in terms of quality / clarity)
Seating comfort - B+
Front seat Legroom, headroom, comfort, etc - B+ (see below)
Exterior Lighting - A+ (headlights are indeed excellent!)
Interior Lighting - B- (it's ok but nothing special as mentioned before in other thread)
HVAC - A- (very good but heat seat comes on a little slow, steering wheel heat is nearly instant)
Infotainment - C+ at best (NOT a fan of Bose so Audio is just OK, Apple CarPlay is fickle as is Bluetooth)
Winter Driving - N/A (untested as it stays fairly nice year round in Tennessee)

LIKES:
#1 by a huge margin is Overall VALUE! Features vs price vs ongoing maintenance costs vs reliability is excellent and about $10K less than Acura RDX (my other top choice). Looked at a lot of SUV's, including VW MDX, Audi Q5, Acura RDX) I won't compare it to my Toyota Tacoma as that is a very apples to oranges comparison.

Has HUD, heated front & rear seats, heated steering wheel, nice interior, wheels, Spare Tire, and liked I could fold down middle part of rear seat while still having four passengers overall.
Also my wife and I found the controls to be very intuitive (9/10) and very similar to an Audi I had previously.

Nit Picks:
- Love touchscreen but hate that its disabled while driving (other cars I own do not do this).
- CX-5 would NOT unlock all of the other doors today. Surmised it was my wife's keyfob confusing the system (which is the 1st time this has happened).
- Wish rear seats would go flat W/O having to remove headrests
- Wish I had more room for my left foot at rest while driving and that the arm rest was higher so my arm rested on it easier AND my left leg went UNDER it vs resting on hard surface.
- Hate that my V1 radar detector shows the rear arrow ON ALWAYS due to multiple safety systems (remember I said nitpicks). :)
- Not a huge fan of Bose systems
- Adaptive Cruise is more "intrusive" than the RDX, Audio is not as good and RDX had a better, more precise handling overall. HOWEVER, see #1 above because my wife and I did NOT see those items being worth the extra $$

CHANGES I'D LIKE:
- That the folding mirrors would ONLY fold/unfold AFTER the engine is started (Audi) versus locking/unlocking doors!
- That the CX5 would have a Virtual Jukebox and/or another SD card slot for music given no CD player (just one of those would be ok)
- Better clarity on the cameras, especially when backing up!
- While Apple Car works fine, it does NOT when going back and forth from it to Bluetooth. That needs to be improved ASAP IMO.

We really like the CX-5 a lot so far and look forward to using it as our daily driver. Oh, it's Eternal Blue so I need to get some pictures when the sun is out and its clean. We really like the color and have had several compliments on it.

Russ

Alter your V1. Turn off X band and maybe even K. Run Ka 35.5/KA and Lidar. Even odds killing X band sill solve the issue, because using K is just BS for a safety system.
 
Glad it worked for you!

Personally I'd use my phone as well, but having limited storage depending on the model (not all phones are expandable through MicroSD) and not wanting to eat into cellular data with streaming makes a strong case for USB as a viable option.

Ehh..sounds more like an Apple limitation if you ask me. My old school Samsung Galaxy S freaking 3 from 2013 has expandable sd card memory. It's my virtual jukebox when set to random.

Furthermore on same phone when connected via USB and playing youtube music vids (to listen to in car), the steering wheel controls the next and previous Youtube music video. Oh and since I have T-Mobil as carrier I can stream from Youtube and Pandora unlimited without affecting my data plan.
 
Alter your V1. Turn off X band and maybe even K. Run Ka 35.5/KA and Lidar. Even odds killing X band sill solve the issue, because using K is just BS for a safety system.

Definitely will check into that but the CX-5 does throw off a LOT of radar as I was following it the other day in my other car and it lit up that V1 as well. :)
 
Another quick question / observation y'all might help me with. All of my other vehicles continue to play music after turning off the engine until you open the door. I've read the manual (and probably missed it) but is there ANY way to keep the CX-5 on ACC without turning the engine completely off and then back on? TIA
 
Right but then you have to turn it on the back off again to turn it off.... not the same as stays on then automatically turns off when I open the door to get out.
 
Right but then you have to turn it on the back off again to turn it off.... not the same as stays on then automatically turns off when I open the door to get out.

Agreed. But it's something. If that's the most we have to b**** about...
 
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