2013 Mazda CX-5 long-term SUV review

 

Our Mazda CX-5 small SUV gets comfy in quarter three

After a couple of wild quarters with a mix of driver- and product-induced troubles, our long-term Mazda CX-5 settled into something a little more routine. It also welcomed a bundle of joy.

At the tail end of the third quarter, the CX-5 provided hospital-to- home transport for the latest addition to the Autoweek family: a little one who arrived three weeks early and hadn’t even been named, officially. A baby could do worse for a first-ever car ride.

 The CX-5 is adequate for infant transport, but not optimal. LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children) systems for car seats are available only on its outboard rear seats, so if you want to use the preferred middle position, you’ll have to secure baby seats the old-fashioned way: with the seatbelt.
The reach-in through the rear door with an infant seat is a back-tweaking stretch. Yet, there isn’t adequate space for Mommy or Daddy to slip into the outboard seat, then slide baby and carrier over the lap and into the center spot, so the lean-in is the least cumbersome way to get baby on board.

Dynamically, our most recent quarter was a mix of good and bad. The positives include a solid unibody and athletic chassis, with good steering feel, grippy brakes and excellent reflexes that don’t take too big a toll on ride comfort. The negatives? We still haven’t adjusted to the balky, eco-tuned automatic. It takes a deep stab at the gas pedal to find a downshift, and there’s no sport mode to make it kick down more eagerly. The six-speed does little to help harness 150 lb-ft of peak torque. The only way to keep the engine working in its high-rev sweet range is to shift manually.

After five nights out of circulation during the first two quarters, the CX-5 missed none in the third and required only routine maintenance: a 25,000-mile service, including oil change and tire rotation ($76.21). Average fuel economy dropped to 25.9 mpg for the third quarter; the average for nine months remains just a tick under 28 mpg.
I
f they could just up the thrill quotient slightly, car-bred babies could have a truly satisfying ride home.

2013 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring

As-Tested Price: $30,615
Miles Driven (Quarter/To-Date): 7,089/27,411
Fuel Economy (Quarter/To-Date): 25.9/27.4 mpg
Fuel Cost (Quarter/To-Date): $955.43/$3,742.43
Days Out of Service (Quarter/To-Date): None/Five
Maintenance: 25,000-mile service including oil change and tire rotation ($76.21)


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