I've driven a few CX5s over the years but I just realized they've all had the 17" wheels on them. I kinda started looking at a Carbon Edition online and realized I need to test drive one of those with their 19" ones. I've read the 17s are a little more comfortable soaking up more of the jitters in the road. I'm probably going to open a whole can of worms asking this but what do you guys prefer? Is either better for longevity? Prices of tires? Performance? (Eventually I may need snow tires also.)

 

19" tyres will give a firmer ride and cost more to replace.

For snow tyres, you can pick up a cheap set of 17" steel rims and buy 17"snow tyres.

 

What he said.
Also - if it matters, the 19" tires/wheels look nicer. When I ran snow tires, I always went smaller.

 

I agree with Grim. The 19s will give you a slightly sportier ride and winter wheels and tires are a great investment.

I would, however, go with a better looking wheel than the steel. For $100 to 200 more total, you can have a wheel that will look great on your Mazda.

 

Thanks guys. What you said is pretty much what I figured. I'm going to take a Carbon or Grand Touring for a spin one of these days and get a feel for them.

I do think the 19s look better. I probably would have gone with those in my younger days but I think I'm turning into my dad. "Why not get the ones that are quieter and more comfortable to ride on?"

I've never put snow tires on any of my cars before but I started thinking hey if I'm getting an AWD, maybe I should and make the most of it. I'm not planning on buying anything til this spring but maybe I'll be able to get a good deal on a set then. If not I've got plenty of time to look for some and some nice looking wheels too. If I get nicer wheels I'd probably put the summer tires on them and keep the standard ones for the snow tires. Of course it may all be a moot point. My office isn't 22 miles away anymore only a mile up the road so it's not like I'd have far to go in the winter and that's assuming they actually have us back working in the office any time soon vs working from home where we've been for the last 9 months.

 

Well, you may not have a choice of tire size depending on the car you buy. My Carbon Turbo came with 19" tires, BUT I immediately swapped those TOYO's out for a set of Vredestein ALL WEATHER tires. The TOYO's did not provide confidence during the one snow storm I drove them in. Regarding noise and comfort - the Vredesteins are much quieter as well as better rated in every type of driving situation over the TOYO's, which helps mitigate the nose/comfort of a larger size tire.

I used to run AS tires and Blizzaks in the winter, but this time, since I don't have to drive as much as before as well as the relatively scant amount of snow we have had here in NE NJ the last few winters, I decided to forgo the snow tires and see how these ALL WEATHER tires do this winter. If things change weather wise and/or I feed these tires are not up to snuff, I'll get a set of snow tires and wheels. I would also not get steel wheels - heavy and ugly. And not much of a difference in price over the years of ownership.

You mention about summer tires. You live in IL, my thoughts are that summer tires are so soft that they harden into hockey pucks when temps are lower than 45 F. And in your area, that could be as early as October until April. Unless I was living in the sun belt, I would not consider summer tires.

 

Oops by "Summer" tires I meant all season as opposed to dedicated snow tires.

And yeah what size I go with will depend on which model I get. I had been leaning towards the Touring with the Preferred SV package but then I started looking at the Carbon one. I'm still kinda leaning towards the Touring though with its 17s.

 

Ok, gotcha. But I would not let tire size be a determining factor in model choice. Get the car that you want with the features that are important that is in your budget. Now, I'm coming out of a fully loaded Audi A4 Allroad, so it's not a fair comparison, but if I were to step back a few weeks, I might have gotten a higher trim level CX-5 instead of the Carbon Turbo. It was that deep red leather seats that got me though - very classy.

 

Yeah I have to just decide which model I like best. Tires are a secondary concern. I agree those red seats on the carbon are pretty classy looking! I'm going to be coming from a loaded 2018 Sonata. I had to get all the bells and whistles for that to get the nav system and to be honest I don't need or use most of the stuff it's got. I do wish Mazda wouldn't have gotten rid of the XM radio in the Touring edition. That's about the only upgrade in the Grand Touring that I'd miss.

 

Agree, I don't have it either and only found out when I called Sirius to move it over from my Audi yo the Mazda. I do miss it. Terrestrial radio is horrible with commercials filling up half the air time, not to mention, the playlists are so very, very limited. And what makes it worse is that there is no longer a CD player to help fill the void. Oh well, that's progress - or not.