My Thoughts Driving a 2019 GT

ColoradoDriver

2014 CX-5 Touring AWD - 132k miles
Contributor
:
Denver, CO
Non-Turbo.

So while my 2014 is getting looked at, they gave me a loaner in the form of a machine grey 2019 GT. Here are some of my observations for both pros and cons.

Pros:
- Lots of little details and features Mazda got right. I was impressed with the trunk area, the wheel wells are carpeted now, they had little coverings for the corners, etc. Loved it. Auto up-down on all windows is fantastic. Vents are much easier to aim than mine, and all having a knob to adjust or flip off is great.
- AC was much, muuuch stronger than mine in my 2014.
- Leather on the steering wheel is much softer and feels better in hand than my 2014 wheel.
- The commander knob is great, but I have some cons with the overall infotainment experience.
- The car does overall feel "solid". No vibrating hood, mirrors, etc. (Though I thought some Gen 2 folks still had some vibrating mirrors, but haven't notice that on this one).
- Padding on the center armrest was much more comfortable than mine, but I think it's overall smaller in capacity than mine.
- Happy to see an actual gauge for the engine temp.
- Definitely a quieter cabin.

Cons:
- These leather seats are awful. I now see why people are complaining about bolsters hitting into the bottom of their legs. I was not comfortable in this seat at all. By comparison, even though my cloth seats in my 2014 has visibly more aggressive bolstering, it never affected my legs in an uncomfortable way the leather seats do.
- While the commander knob is great, it at the same time pisses me off because it took me one click on the touchscreen to switch to a different audio source or between AM/FM on my 2014. By comparison, you have to click a few buttons, scroll to what you want, etc. It just takes longer to do anything. Same sort of complaints I had going from Windows 7 to 8 back in the day.
- Butt dyno says this 2019 is VERY noticeably more sluggish to accelerate vs. my 2014 with the same 2.5L engine. The 2 or 3 hp they added for the gen 2, clearly did not offset the added weight enough.
- Could be seen as a pro or con, but the redesigns to dimensions from Gen 1 made this CX-5 feel way bigger and wider than my CX-5 is, even if it technically isn't that different. If maybe not a con, it's at least throwing me off enough to not even want to try pulling into my very narrow garage.
- Not at all a fan of the glossy black material they used around the windows exterior and some of the interior pieces. Absolute fingerprint magnet, and the exterior pieces will get swirl marks for sure. Bad design choice in my opinion.
- Still hate the chrome around the windows and the front end.

Overall, it's definitely a quieter, smoother, and more refined ride no doubt. But the whole time, I missed my 2014 that felt more raw and to use Mazda's own marketing..."alive". I'm sure the turbo remedies this somewhat, but I don't know. All the little nice feature additions were great, but not at all anything I'd feel a need to upgrade to. I guess it boils down to what matters to you in a car. I like the raw feeling of driving. I don't care about tech and stuff. I like to feel the road and with the Gen 2 I did not feel that connection as well as I do with mine.
 
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I dont see the issues with the seats but thats probably very individual.

For the power if its not the turbo to me its slow either way. So slow vs slightly less slow[emoji2371].
 
Agree with the seats being more uncomfortable in the 2019s. Especially notice pressure under my right thigh that I never noticed in my 2106 GT. Also agree about the a/c being more powerful, but I assumed that it might have been that my 4 year old a/c was old and maybe had lost some freon. The same temperature setting was noticeably colder on the 2019. The infotainment seems pretty much the same as on my 2016, so it doesn*t bother me.
 
The seats break in nicely. If they were comfy from the start, they'd be mushy in a year or two. Haven't used the touchscreen since the first week. Perhaps it's how I trained it but I have no lack of power for any driving condition encountered so far; occasionally use Manual but don't bother with Sport.
 
I agree with a lot of your comments. But despite not having had my 2016 GT for 2 years now, I didnt think a gen 2 felt much slower, probably due to the more sensitive throttle mapping. Maybe more time behind the wheel would change that... but so far Id consider them a relative wash (via butt Dyno).

Now the turbo is a different animal... so linear feeling and much more reassuring when passing at 70 and above.
 
I agree with COmtn on the seats. The leather seats in my 2019 GT-Reserve bugged me for the first few weeks. The seats at the bottom front seemed too hard and were putting pressure on my thighs just above the knees. But they seems to have broken in or softened up a little now that I have had the car for about 6 weeks and the discomfort on a recent 100 mile non stop drive was barely noticeable.
 
Guess to add and clarify, the 2019 was very laggy and sluggish when accelerating from a stop unless I put it in sport mode. By comparison, my 2014 is instantaneous with no perceived sluggishness.

Willing to concede might be because the 2019 is newer (had 3300 miles on it) and the 2014 is obviously adjusted to my driving habits.
 
I think your car is adjusted to your driving and that one wasnt. The actual difference is pretty small.
 
Guess to add and clarify, the 2019 was very laggy and sluggish when accelerating from a stop unless I put it in sport mode. By comparison, my 2014 is instantaneous with no perceived sluggishness.

Willing to concede might be because the 2019 is newer (had 3300 miles on it) and the 2014 is obviously adjusted to my driving habits.

OR something's wrong with it!
Mine's best performance is off the line, after the initial split second slushbox wakeup call. Passing is when it's most noticeably slow. Sport mode doesn't make it faster, it just shifts later.

Glad it 's not your tranny!
 
Non-Turbo.

So while my 2014 is getting looked at, they gave me a loaner in the form of a machine grey 2019 GT. Here are some of my observations for both pros and cons.

Pros:
- Lots of little details and features Mazda got right. I was impressed with the trunk area, the wheel wells are carpeted now, they had little coverings for the corners, etc. Loved it. Auto up-down on all windows is fantastic. Vents are much easier to aim than mine, and all having a knob to adjust or flip off is great.
- AC was much, muuuch stronger than mine in my 2014.
- Leather on the steering wheel is much softer and feels better in hand than my 2014 wheel.
- The commander knob is great, but I have some cons with the overall infotainment experience.
- The car does overall feel "solid". No vibrating hood, mirrors, etc. (Though I thought some Gen 2 folks still had some vibrating mirrors, but haven't notice that on this one).
- Padding on the center armrest was much more comfortable than mine, but I think it's overall smaller in capacity than mine.
- Happy to see an actual gauge for the engine temp.
- Definitely a quieter cabin.

Cons:
- These leather seats are awful. I now see why people are complaining about bolsters hitting into the bottom of their legs. I was not comfortable in this seat at all. By comparison, even though my cloth seats in my 2014 has visibly more aggressive bolstering, it never affected my legs in an uncomfortable way the leather seats do.
- While the commander knob is great, it at the same time pisses me off because it took me one click on the touchscreen to switch to a different audio source or between AM/FM on my 2014. By comparison, you have to click a few buttons, scroll to what you want, etc. It just takes longer to do anything. Same sort of complaints I had going from Windows 7 to 8 back in the day.
- Butt dyno says this 2019 is VERY noticeably more sluggish to accelerate vs. my 2014 with the same 2.5L engine. The 2 or 3 hp they added for the gen 2, clearly did not offset the added weight enough.
- Could be seen as a pro or con, but the redesigns to dimensions from Gen 1 made this CX-5 feel way bigger and wider than my CX-5 is, even if it technically isn't that different. If maybe not a con, it's at least throwing me off enough to not even want to try pulling into my very narrow garage.
- Not at all a fan of the glossy black material they used around the windows exterior and some of the interior pieces. Absolute fingerprint magnet, and the exterior pieces will get swirl marks for sure. Bad design choice in my opinion.
- Still hate the chrome around the windows and the front end.

Overall, it's definitely a quieter, smoother, and more refined ride no doubt. But the whole time, I missed my 2014 that felt more raw and to use Mazda's own marketing..."alive". I'm sure the turbo remedies this somewhat, but I don't know. All the little nice feature additions were great, but not at all anything I'd feel a need to upgrade to. I guess it boils down to what matters to you in a car. I like the raw feeling of driving. I don't care about tech and stuff. I like to feel the road and with the Gen 2 I did not feel that connection as well as I do with mine.

I think the suspension is different on GTR/SIG and regular CX5's, as I too felt disconnected from the road in a 2018 GT, vs. my 2019 GT-R.
 
I think the performance improves with mileage. My diesel certainly did. Somebody said they are programmed to be restricted until after break in, I don*t know if it is true. The command control is something you get used to. I can work it without thinking now. The fabric seats are a similar shape in the new model but much more compliant. I*d choose them any day if you could get them heated and cooled.
 
I think most cars performance improves once theyre broken in. And not just the 1k miles.

Look at C&D long term reviews. They do the instrumented tests at the beginning and end and they almost always improve.
 
I think most cars performance improves once they*re broken in. And not just the 1k miles.

Look at C&D long term reviews. They do the instrumented tests at the beginning and end and they almost always improve.

Yeah, like I said, I'm willing to bet the newness is within a margin of error for what I perceive the pickup should be on WOT, but I got my car back today and confirmed it was a very stark and shocking difference. No way in hell would I give up my gen 1 for a gen 2 non-turbo.
 
I believe turbos are going to be in every trim level but the base in few MY.

I personally don't like turbos and always loved the NA engines. I do think that regular maintenance and long-term ownership costs will rise with the use of turbos.
 
I believe turbos are going to be in every trim level but the base in few MY.

I personally don't like turbos and always loved the NA engines. I do think that regular maintenance and long-term ownership costs will rise with the use of turbos.

When you factor in the fuel savings for some of us though, it offsets it a bit, as well as the "added bonus" of having a much more capable vehicle.
 
When you factor in the fuel savings for some of us though, it offsets it a bit, as well as the "added bonus" of having a much more capable vehicle.

I think that turbos are meant (or at least portrayed as) to replace the NA V6 engines. And when compared to V6s, the gains are very minor in both the fuel economy and capabilities.

Maybe you're right that turbos provide a better capabilities in the smaller Crossovers but how much of those additional capabilities "regular" drivers use on a day to day basis?

So I like the current Mazda set up of having the option of both engines unlike other manufacturers who have completely switched to turbos. One of the reasons I bought the CX5.
 
Have you driven a GTR or Sig? The power difference is significant and there is no other indication that there's a turbo under the hood. No lag, no turbo whine. I cannot imagine having a CX-5 without one...........

I believe turbos are going to be in every trim level but the base in few MY.

I personally don't like turbos and always loved the NA engines. I do think that regular maintenance and long-term ownership costs will rise with the use of turbos.
 
Have you driven a GTR or Sig? The power difference is significant and there is no other indication that there's a turbo under the hood. No lag, no turbo whine. I cannot imagine having a CX-5 without one...........

I have not driven one but I don't doubt that turbos provide an improved driving experience specially when paired with Mazda's driving dynamics.

I just think that turbos will result in higher overall maintenance and ownership costs over time.

Just for example, turbos are recommended to have spark plugs replaced at 40k miles compared to 75k for non-turbos. That's 35k miles earlier which can be 2 or 3 years based on normal driving behavior. And I have mechanic friends who have seen many issues in longevity of turbos.

Now I know some people will argue the cost of changing spark plugs is cheap (if done by one self) but I am talking about regular people who can't do it themselves and this was just 1 example of how smaller costs can add up over time.

Also, at least Mazda turbo requires high octane gas to get the max out of the engine for towing and HP etc. So the cost of gas will add up to.

I am not here to bash the performance of the turbos and I think it's great that Mazda is providing the option unlike other manufacturers. I just like having the option to chose between the NA and Turbo engines.
 
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