Mine is not as loud as a 2016 CR-V EX. A big reason I did not buy the Honda.
How Much Sound-Deadening Material in CX-5? - Noise Level
- Thread starter yrwei52
- Start date
Mine is not as loud as a 2016 CR-V EX. A big reason I did not buy the Honda.
I tested noise levels in the 2010 3GT and the 2015 CX-5 yesterday. Same stretch of road, same speed, same uncalibrated iPhone app. Big surprise! The CX-5 was ~ 76 dbA; the 3GT was ~82 dbA. I think it's mostly road noise. Despite my subjective opinion that the engine is noisier in the CX-5, the 3 GT is also noisier on acceleration. Note: I was observing this alone, and the location where I could prop up the iPhone to see the reading differed, and it may have influenced the readings. This was not a well conducted test. Surprising nonetheless.
The 3 GT has the standard issue (original) 17" all season tires. They have approximately 30,000 miles on them.
The CX-5 has 19" Continental TrueContacts with approximately 2,000 miles on them.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
This is definitely unfair comparison as your 3 GT has older and worn 30,000-mile tires but CX5 has almost new 2,000-mile tires. Not to mention Continental TrueContact has rated as one of the standard touring all-season tires with the lowest noise level at TireRack.com.
I will add my parents have a '10 3 5-door and without me saying anything they did comment that my CX-5 is noticeably quieter than their 3. This has always been their only complaint about the vehicle... I always found odd as it didn't seem too bad while I was in vehicle and half the time my dad doesn't wear his hearing aids anyway.
ColtX-5 said:
yeah, forget that. Honda's are packaged well though, Almost all of my co-worker are CRV owners. ya know their target family. I guess when you go older you have $$$ to buy a car with racing intention, not racing a CUV.
calling Mike the genius again.. (naughty)
My '16 CX-5 is still way quieter inside than my '10 Mazda3. At least in the CX-5, I can use the bluetooth to make phone calls while driving and the person at the other end can actually hear me. When I'm driving the Mazda3, everyone always complains that they can't understand me because it sounds like I'm in a wind tunnel and I have to yell when talking to them. My father-in-law also has the same model/year Mazda3 and says the same thing about his. Aside from that one issue, I love my Mazda3. Disclaimer: I did replace the stock tires at 70K miles and the sound was a little quieter inside, but not by much.
The road/engine noise in CX-5 is starting to bother me as I end up joining conference calls almost daily on my 1 hour drive to work. As someone here said, I end up speaking much louder than i normally would to make myself audible over the noise. I haven't started researching the sound deadening installs, but have few questions before going down that route.
(1) Will installing sound deadening void warranty? My car is less than an year old and i dont want to void the warranty in any way.
(2) How much difference (in decibels) will the sound deadening install make in real life? Is it something very noticeable? I know this is subjective, but wanted to hear from folks who have done this.
(3) I live in South Texas where summers are brutal and lasts 6-8 months. I heard some sound deadening materials melt in the heat. Is this true? If so, what are some good reliable products that would withstand the heat well over time?
(4) Will installing this make a noticeable difference in the way the car drives? I really love how the CX-5 drives and don't want to compromise on the drivability too much.
(5) Most of the roads here are concrete. Will adding sound deadening reduce the road noise much in this scenario?
Appreciate your inputs.
(1) Will installing sound deadening void warranty? My car is less than an year old and i dont want to void the warranty in any way.
(2) How much difference (in decibels) will the sound deadening install make in real life? Is it something very noticeable? I know this is subjective, but wanted to hear from folks who have done this.
(3) I live in South Texas where summers are brutal and lasts 6-8 months. I heard some sound deadening materials melt in the heat. Is this true? If so, what are some good reliable products that would withstand the heat well over time?
(4) Will installing this make a noticeable difference in the way the car drives? I really love how the CX-5 drives and don't want to compromise on the drivability too much.
(5) Most of the roads here are concrete. Will adding sound deadening reduce the road noise much in this scenario?
Appreciate your inputs.
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It is a lot of work to add extra, and there are a lot of audio shops I have seen advertise the product.
Just looking at a few videos it looks like the 2 options are a mat, either self adhesive or have to add spray, or a spray on like Lizard Skin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA_Gen-b7PE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWEtrHOsV1s
I would be interested in getting a price quote on having the lizard skin installed in my CX-5
Just looking at a few videos it looks like the 2 options are a mat, either self adhesive or have to add spray, or a spray on like Lizard Skin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA_Gen-b7PE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWEtrHOsV1s
I would be interested in getting a price quote on having the lizard skin installed in my CX-5
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- Plano, Texas, USA
If I were you I wouldn't bother trying to quiet down the cabin on CX-5. I think it takes too much effort with minimum result. There're different ways to reduce noise from different sources. Different tires can also make difference too. If you read how Mazda engineers making new CX-9 quieter, including 53 pounds of sound-deadening material in the floor to reduce road noise and acoustic glass in the windshield and front side windows to reduce wind noise, all of these efforts reduced highway noise by claimed 12%. I agree with Unobtanium. No, I don't think additional 50 pounds will cause any performance issue on CX-5. The problem is this process should be done during design and assembly in the factory, not a patch job afterwards.
I did some searching and found numerous references to the CX-5 is a race car. All of them by Unobtanium. I think he is race bating us.
I think it is a very good handling car, and enjoy driving it.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
The best advice for arunka007! It's cheap and easy to do...
This is my third CX-5 and the 2013/14 had the same noise level. Tried a 2015, same thing, 2016 is much more quieter. Crosswind is still an issue if you dont have the OEM side window deflector.
It could be better but if you had to much material you will lose the motor sound connection thing that make you zoum zoum happy.
Tires might impact the experience. Somes ppl say the toyo's are noisy. To ME they are okish. IMO, it depend of the pavement type and it wear level/age.
It could be better but if you had to much material you will lose the motor sound connection thing that make you zoum zoum happy.
Tires might impact the experience. Somes ppl say the toyo's are noisy. To ME they are okish. IMO, it depend of the pavement type and it wear level/age.
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- Plano, Texas, USA
I think it's cost issue more than anything. Adding 53 pounds of sound-deadening material in the floor and acoustic glass like new CX-9 won't hurt any performance, but hurt Mazda's pocket!
Yep, it will cost more to build the car, but the point of adding sound deadening material isn't really that big deal in the car noise level control. Yes, it will help reduce vibration and noise, even resistant of heat, but the noise level are really depend on the car material they used(thinness)and the sound insulation paint they put on the car before they put pieces all together, window glasses, and even the floor mat material could affect the result. The high end car manufacture, they cost more to build so they choose more high quality materials and they do more paint and prime than other cars. They have bigger budget for the car, so easy for them to do things like focus on comfortable and performance. Mazda is a small car manufacture and you can't blame them to have lower budget, since the CX-5 is only a 20k rage car. Also, the Sky-active engine has different design than other car (I think something is close the passenger compartment, so noise is easy to going into the car), that is why the engine noise is so loud. (I used Royal purple ow-20, it really quieter than OEM oil, so when the car is warm the engine will be quieter)
C
CX5_Pete
It's the Internet dude, take everything with a grain of salt.
