The IT Nerd

You’re looking at 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. This carries over from last year and that’s a good thing. Here’s why:

• 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.
• It sips gas thanks to Mazda’s SkyActiv technology. If you’re not sure what that comprises, check out my in depth look at SkyActiv technology here. I am currently getting 9.8 L/100 KM’s and based on past experience, I expect that to improve.

From a handling perspective 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 and park with precision. It also corners flatter than an SUV has any right to. 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. In short, it drives like a sports sedan and not an SUV.  If that’s not enough for you, click the Sport Mode switch. The CX-5 will shift quicker and the go fast pedal becomes sharper. You’ll give up some fuel economy by using it, but it makes an already great SUV even better on an open road or twisty back roads.

The all wheel drive system 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. It’s 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. One thing to note, in Sport Mode I noted that it used the all wheel drive system to move you forward more aggressively. Nice!

Last year’s CX-5 had some wind noise and some tire noise at low levels. The 2016 model has no wind noise and slightly less tire noise. That’s a big improvement that shouldn’t be overlooked. Clearly Mazda wanted to make the CX-5 more of a competitor in a crowded class of vehicles.

The next area for me to look at is the interior. Mazda pretty much blew it up and started from scratch. The net result is that they have a interior that will impress you. Check back tomorrow to see why.

This entry was posted on March 24, 2015 at 7:14 am and is filed under Products with tags Mazda. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.