Thanks, was it the Outback you test drove? For me I think any of the vehicles will be more upscale then my current vehicle a 2012 Honda Fit. As far as road noise I can not image any of them being more noisy. The one thing though is the complaints on the heater of all three where my Fit I do not have any problems.
The one question I had, is paying the extra to get the Bi-Xenon HID headlamps with auto leveling and auto on/off worth it?
Thanks, was it the Outback you test drove? For me I think any of the vehicles will be more upscale then my current vehicle a 2012 Honda Fit. As far as road noise I can not image any of them being more noisy.
The HID headlights and auto-leveling with adaptive front lighting are worth every penny. I love them.
Thanks I notice on the touring edition you have to purchase the moon roof to get these so I will see if that changes with the 2015 model.
Original poster, be wary of the 2010+ Outback as its had steering wheel shake problem, and they have tried numerous fixes. Due to fixes the steering wheel feels hard to turn.
Thanks I notice on the touring edition you have to purchase the moon roof to get these so I will see if that changes with the 2015 model.
You get the HID lights with Tech Package, not the Bose/moonroof package.
As I understand it, that was only an issue with 2010 models.
It is good to read everyone's thoughts and opinions in this thread. About a year ago I bought a slightly used 2010 Mazda5 after test driving a friend/coworker's 2012 Outback (2.5/CVT) a few times. While the CVT took some getting used to, but I like it. In the end, I wanted the extra seat that the Mazda5 gave over the Outback. Since then we have learned that just because the Mazda felt more eager to accelerate, full throttle efforts are a dead heat.
I am starting to research our next purchase, which will likely be a Subaru or Mazda product.
My wife is big on the Subaru Forester and Outback. Downside on the Outback if you want performance have to get the 3.6l then will be taking a big hit on fuel mileage. The 2.5l does not seem adequate for performance plus from my reading the steering is not that easy. Her big worry is the CX-5 will not perform that good in the snowy conditions as a Subaru.
Of course you will never know how a vehicle will perform in those conditions until you actually have to drive in them. While my feeling is snow tires will be needed no matter what AWD vehicle you buy there is three other seasons of driving.
honestly, if a subaru and an AWD cx-5 had the same winter tires, it would be safe to say that yes, the subaru would perform better in the snow.
maybe you won't ever notice the difference, or maybe it might be the difference between being stuck in the snow or not.
Honestly, you are splitting hairs here.
Yes, snow tires are 99% of the game. With both AWD vehicles equipped with snow tires, neither one of them is going to get stuck in the snow unless you do something really, really stupid.
So it comes down to driving dynamics at speeds above 35 mph. I haven't driven any Subaru newer than 2012 but the ones I have driven were more than a little numb in driving feel, something I find very important on very low traction (or variable traction) surfaces. Unless the new Subaru's have much improved feel/dynamics, I would rather be in a CX-5 on treacherous roads.
If you are going winter off-roading maybe the Subaru is your car. And good luck with the winter off-roading.
The 2.5l does not seem adequate for performance plus from my reading the steering is not that easy. Her big worry is the CX-5 will not perform that good in the snowy conditions as a Subaru.