Review: 2015 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD – Part 2
Under the hood of the CX-5 is the Mazda 2.5L SkyActiv engine. It’s a 4 cylinder engine that puts out 184 horsepower and 185 pound feet of torque and it’s mated to a six speed transmission. When compared to most vehicles in this class such as the Honda CR-V, it is completely in line. But I can say that it doesn’t drive like anything else in its class. Power was available anytime I needed it and the way it pulled, it felt like it was way more powerful than the spec sheet suggests. The six speed automatic transmission shifts gears in a smooth manner and it seemed to be always in the right gear regardless of my driving style. You can thank Mazda’s SkyActiv suite of technologies that encompasses the engine, transmission, and body to give you plenty of Mazda’s trademark “Zoom Zoom” while saving you gas. If you want to go into finer details, check out my in depth look at SkyActiv technology here. But take it from me it works. Not just in terms of getting the CX-5 going, but in saving gas. At the moment in mixed city (with stop and go traffic) and highway driving, I am getting 10 L/100 KM. Given that this a SUV, that is pretty good. Let’s see if that holds up for the rest of the week.
How about handling? For a SUV, it’s exceptional. The weight of the steering is perfect, and there’s a great amount of feel and precision that I typically don’t find in a SUV. I can just dart through traffic with ease. It also corners flatter than an SUV should. Not only that the suspension is absolutely perfectly dialled in. It filters out anything that would be jarring, but it lets the right amount of road feel through to the steering wheel. Impressive!
Another thing that’s impressive is the all-wheel-drive system. The system which is completely automatic and has no buttons to press uses real-time input data on steering angle, yaw rate, lateral G force and engine status to determine road surface and driving conditions. The active torque coupling mounted in front of the rear differential is electronically controlled accordingly, adjusting front/rear wheel torque distribution between 100:0 and 50:50 to deliver optimum drive power to each wheel. To test this, I went to my usual location which is in Belfountain just north west of Toronto. The road in question is a gravel road that has very steep uphills, downhills and sharp turns. It’s usually frequented by the pickup trucks and SUVs that are owned by the farmers in the area. The rough winter that we had really made this road rougher than normal. In the past, it was a challenge to drive this road. Now I feel it’s only recommended for vehicles designed for going off road. My plan was to tip-toe through this road and if I felt that the road was going to be too much for the CX-5, I’d bail out. Having said all of this the CX-5 actually handled this well. I had to go slower than I normally would, and I had one occasion where on one of the sharp turns I lost traction and a combination of a quick correction of the steering wheel and the traction control bailed me out. But it handled it well. I think that this AWD system is best suited for maintaining traction in slippery situations like heavy rain and snow and not for hard core off roading. That’s fine for the target audience of the vehicle.
The only thing that makes it way into the cabin in terms of sound is some wind noise at highway speeds. Tire noise seemed present at low levels which is a pleasant surprise. The exhaust note is a very pleasing growl under acceleration that sounds cool, but disappears when the CX-5 is up to speed. That’s a very nice touch. Visibility is also good from the drivers seat as there was nothing that impaired my vision in any direction.
This SUV drives way above it’s weight class. I am extremely impressed by the Mazda CX-5 thus far. And that continues with the interior, which I will cover tomorrow.
Leave a Reply