Welcome to Driving Fun & Family car reviews. This will be our first review on our website as an independent outlet, the first review of man to come from our blog. This page is meant for future buyers that are interested in having fun with their daily drive and being able to haul family & friends. This week we will present the 2018 Mazda CX-5 in GT trim.
Fun Factors 4/10
Can it Family 7/10
Fuel-friendly 6/10
HWY Warrior 7/10
Comfort 6/10
Karaoke Friendly: 7
We will start with the side profile of the car, like most modern Mazda’s it has very sporty lines. Our test car has an MSRP of $37450. All vehicles from Mazda look more expensive than they are. You could easily mistake the CX-5 for a premium SUV. Especially in this GT version that drive on some huge 19inch Toyo all season tires. These are not the sportiest tires your money can buy. The driving dynamics of them are more like eco tires to gain the best fuel efficiency.
How comfortable is the CX-5, again here Mazda doesn't let you down. The leather seats are very comfortable. The leather quality might not be what you find in a premium vehicle. However, the bolstering is good enough for long drives with the family. The GT comes standard with heated seats & a heated steering wheel. You can rest assured that your little ones or friends will not freeze on the back seats, as they can enjoy heat seats too. The CX-5 rear seats split 40/20/40 a feature that is usually found in premium cars instead of the generic 60/40 folding seats.
Climate controls are easy to use, even for those that are not technically inclined. The major let down for summer driving is the small sunroof for this size of SUV.
The CX-5 uses a 6-speed automatic that quickly shifts gears and feels sporty. However, the 187hp on a heavy top trim GT seem to miss the sportier direction Mazda markets with their cars. A turbo would be more than welcome. It's not like Mazda doesn't have access to turbo engines like in the Mazda 6 or the CX-9. I can easily understand in lower trim not having the turbo makes perfect sense, not having the option on a top end trim seems to be a loss for Mazda. As for cornering the CX-5 traction control, should be renamed nanny control. It will drain the sportiness when taking a more aggressive turn at that same exact moment you can feel the cars brakes takeovers to slow you down and makes the whole turning unpleasant. Luckily it can be quickly turned off with a simple button underneath the steering wheel.
The reverse camera isn't the greatest. Mainly the quality could resemble a smartphone from 2010. It does the job nothing more. The CX-5 also has blind spot monitoring that is simple to use just a little sensitive to our tastes.
The gas consumption is rather high in the real world. We have been averaging 13.5L/100km being 70% city and 30% HWY.
For cargo, the car has plenty of space it can haul plenty of stuff for your weekend road trip or even smaller trips to the grocery to get your local beer.
