I'm in the market for a new car and, after doing a bit of test driving, I found that the CX-5 is pretty close to what I've been looking for. I plan on taking the car camping quite a bit, but I have not seen many comments or articles discussing driving the car in the mountains. What has everyone's experience been with this? How does the car fare when it's packed?
My experience with the 2.0L AWD is that it has plenty of power fully loaded in the mountains. But this is on twisty 50 mph Mountain passes under 5000 feet ASL. At 10,000 feet, fully loaded, on 70mph passes I'm sure it would do it but the reserve passing power is not going to be abundant by modern standards. The 2.5L would have more reserve but it's not necessary to accelerate to speed and maintain it, even in the mountains.
Where power might come into play would be if high speed passing is necessary and whether you needed sport boxes or to tow a small trailer. While I've not driven the CX-5 with outside appendages, I have enough experiences with other vehicles to know that aerodynamics are more important than weight when dealing with highway mountain passes. Personally, I would buy a larger vehicle before I would put a sport box on the roof or tow a trailer.
I am no longer the type of person who thinks I need to pass every vehicle in front of me. If you are that type, there are vehicles better suited to your personality. 150 hp might not sound like a lot by modern standards but it's more than enough for normal driving, even fully loaded. Certainly there are more powerful vehicles available but what do you really gain? And my experience is with the 2013 2.0L - the extra half liter of the new engine would be that much extra above what I've experienced.
I have a pair of very fast sporting motorcycles and I rarely hesitate to wring out their throttles in the big high passes of the Sierras and Rockies. This puts them into the triple digits in very short order. Cars, even sports cars, are blas in comparison. SUV's - laughable. Even the ones with the biggest V-8's and V-10's. That's why they are called utility vehicles (the sport is a misnomer when it comes to big SUV's). All I want in my four wheeled vehicles is the ability to maintain the flow of traffic and get me to my destination feeling safe, relaxed and comfortable. The CX-5 excels at this and allows the driver to comfortably and safely carry more corner speed than the overly heavy SUV's with big, heavy engines and poor handling chassis.
Power is all relative. Only really bad drivers "need" more.