I was unable to find any. But it sounds like it's not possible with this year/model.

 

Mostly aesthetics.

 

This is my 18-month (40k miles) review of my 2021 Mazda CX-5 Carbon Edition which I purchased brand new in August of 2021 from the Mazda dealer in Orem Utah. I paid just over $33k out the door. I have owned several Mazda’s throughout my life and have always been a fan. (actually took my original driving test in a 1980 Mazda GLC)

General overview: Overall I love this car. There are certain things that I would change or dislike (and a few that drive me nuts – see the “Dislikes” section) but in general this is an excellent car that has proven to be great purchase and has given me only one issue since the purchase. I average about 30 mpg overall and have had the dealer service it at recommended intervals.

Now on to the likes and dislikes:

LIKES:

I love how the car drives. It handles well and feels tight. The all-wheel drive functions beautifully in snow (which we get a lot of in Utah)

I love the look of the car and body style both exterior and interior. I’m not normally a fan of blacked out wheels but these ones caught my eye and the particular gloss they’ve given them is really nice. The interior has a quality and feel that bely its price point. The leather is soft and comfortable. The feel of instruments, dials and dash displays is high quality and tactile feedback is excellent.

I like that the gearshift is mechanical (analog?) instead of electronic. I didn’t find much use for the sport mode as all it does is raise the rpms for each gear.

I find the engine to have a decent amount of pep, it’s not sporty per se but it’s not anemic either. There is spot where things sound and feel a little buzzy at a certain RPM during aggressive acceleration but it’s not annoying to me. Transmission is smooth and I’ve had no complaints there.

Features set is really nice. After getting past the learning curve of the Infotainment system I find I really like it. (it does take a minute to learn that it is basically 3 windows across and that you toggle between windows and you spin to navigate within each window) I like all the information the dash cluster provides and the different options for viewing. I absolutely love that it has an analog volume dial and in the perfect spot. Also functions as a mute button or pause button streaming music/podcasts.

I found that overall I do like the auto-lock feature but it does have some issues that drive me nuts and make no sense. (see dislikes)

Love being able to start the car remotely with Mazda app. (I wish it would let you turn on the seat heater remotely as well 😊 ) I have found that the Mazda app can be a little buggy. For example, when I start the car remotely 99% of the time it will report it was successful. But almost every time as well it will report that it failed 5 or 10 min later even though that is not the case. It’s nice to be able to lock and unlock the car remotely.

Rear cargo space is ample and being able to drop the back seats from the cargo area is a really nice and convenient touch. The rear seats are comfortable and have good space. The middle armrest has drink and USB charging ports is a nice touch as well.

DISLIKES:

I don’t have a ton but there are some things that either aren’t fully thought out or can be frustrating.

Starting at the front. I love the look of the front grill but it is a bitch to keep clean! LOL

It seems to be a well known joke online about how stupid heavy the engine hood is. AND IT IS! I actually installed these and they work beautifully. ( ) I think Mazda should have had these installed from the beginning.

I found the auto headlight bright/dim feature to be too sensitive to be effective. The slightest light source way up ahead would cause them to dim prematurely. So I quit using them.

The auto-lock and locking system in general I found to be so perplexing as to be almost unexplainable. For example, the car lets you unlock it with the FOB from over 20 feet away. But when using the auto-lock feature, when you exit the car and all doors are shut, you hear the beep and once you are less than 6 feet away – the car locks. In fact, you can walk around the back of the car to get to the passenger door and it will stay unlocked. But if you walk around the front of the car (sticking right next to it) the car will lock as soon as you’re in front of the hood. I realize it’s probably because they couldn’t put sensors near the engine?? But it’s frustrating as well as putting unnecessary wear and tear on the locking actuators.

Another frustration is that if you exit the driver spot, with the engine off and the driver door open, but all other doors locked, and you have the FOB in your pocket, if you walk around to the passenger door and push the unlock button on the door handle, it will not let you unlock it that way. WHY?? I have to reach into my pocket and unlock it with the FOB. And there are situations where it won’t let you unlock it either way. You have walk back around to the open driver door and unlock manually with the switch on the driver door.

Also, if you exit the car and walk away from the vehicle too quickly (not hearing that first beep) the auto-lock feature doesn’t work. And you’ll get a notice via the app some minutes later that your car is unlocked.

I also learned that if you turn off the auto-lock feature, you lose all communication between the car and the app. No more notifications or heads up.

After using the dynamic (radar) cruise control for a year and a half I find that I’m not really a fan. When I first bought the car and had less than 600 miles on it, I got really mad when at one point when it was engaged, the car had to drop speed on the freeway significantly for a moment. When the space ahead opened up again the car almost redlined the engine trying to get back to the original freeway speed. That is not good on an engine still in the break-in period. Seems like that could be fixed with a simple software tweak. There’s no need to floor the engine to regain the original speed. Also, found that there were times when in a slow banking turn on the freeway – and a car was in the next lane a little ahead of me, you could feel the radar of the cruise control getting a little confused and not knowing whether it needed to slow down or not.

I find the “lane assist” annoying and I hate that I can’t turn it off permanently without having an idiot light stare at me from the dash cluster.

Lastly as an audiophile (my last car was 2006 BMW 330xi and I knew the audio system of the CX-5 would not compare) the miserable excuse for a “subwoofer” that is positioned on the spare tire under the cargo floor is just straight up sad. And for the money I think Mazda could have done a lot better.

All of these gripes I consider minor overall and as I said at the beginning, I’m very happy with and enjoy the car. The dealer I bought if from gives a “million-mile warranty” on the powertrain and I hope to see how close I can get to that. LOL

One thing I did learn from the technician who works on my car at the dealer is about tires. I was surprised how quickly the tires started wearing out unevenly and making noise. (I replaced them at 36000 miles). The tech informed me that manufacturers will deliberately use softer tires for the initial ones because they don’t know how long a car may sit on the dealer’s lot; and the softer tires will resist getting a flat spot if it sits for some time. But softer means it doesn’t last as long and can wear out unevenly.

The only repair issue I had was around the 10,000 mile mark. One day the “Check Engine” light came on. I looked up the code with own diagnostic tool and it was emissions related. Took it to the dealer and they reset everything and said it was good to go. About 3 days later the light came back on and the code was the same. 2nd trip to the dealer and this time they said they were on the phone with Mazda for a few hours. They did full software upgrade (that was about to be released soon anyway) and I have had no issues since.

If you’re looking for a solid SUV that gets great mileage, is a super quality-built car that will last a long time. You can’t go wrong with the CX-5.

 

I agree on the tires, I had to replace the ones on my 2020 at 26000 miles.
But now I have great handling and super quit Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3.

As far as audio, I've never had a vehicle with audio to suit my taste unless it was one that I installed it myself.

 

The Toyo tires are a known weak spot on the CX-5. They have no mileage warranty from Toyo (tread wear rating is a miserable 300). 30k is about right for most users. You can improve the subs performance with the mods found in the forum (pillow stuffing inside and dynamat on the exterior). Makes it much tighter but Bose in general isn't a great brand for car stereos. Comparing it to a BMW is tough as the price for BMW's comparable model, the X3, starts at well OVER the 40k Signature level of the CX-5. I expect the base BMW stereo would probably compare well with the Mazda's Bose system, but if you add some options and get the H-K system, of course it will be better. BMW has to offer something to attract buyers when even a 2.0l Xdrive X3 can be upwards up 60k. For the price point, I would argue the CX-5's Bose system is pretty good.

 

You need to consider the outstanding value for dollar spent . I have a 2032 CX carbon edition ,and I find it to be a lot of vehicle for the price . Sure it would be nice to have a better stereo and better tires ,but Mazda got most of the important things right and did it at a great price. I wish I could have gotten the Bose system on my 2023, but it wasn't available at time due to chip shortages .I would have been glad to pay extra for a better stereo . As far as the tires ,again I would have been glad to pay extra for better tires ,but it wasn't offered. I plan the get a set of Pirelli Scorpions next year ,That's an easy fix. The stereo is what it is , It isn't great, but it's good enough. In the End the CX5 as a total package is an exceptional value ,and drives and rides better than it's competition in the same price range. If I were to nit pic ,and want to up grade the CX5 ,I would want bigger better brakes, better tires a better stereo , and hood struts . I would have been fine with being charged $1000.00 for those options. But it is what it is and in 3 years when I replace the CX5 maybe Mazda will get those issues fixed or offer those things.

 

To many wanna- be Audiophiles on this thread... (not you Lobstah)...
You cannot compare stereo system in other platforms. PERIOD. Are you kidding me there are so many reasons why I would not not know where to start... oh wait yes I do this is a MAZDA not a BMW... just shutting the door between a BMW and a MAZDA..nuff said LOL
BTW most stereo experts and true Audiophile rated BOSE and Harman Kardon some of the best stereo system in vehicles EVER !
Most of the less than expected sound system is because of not having better sound control of road noise. I really seriously doubt that if parked and engine off , blindfolded most could tell a lack of quality is a Mazda BOSE system.

But like you I've never had a vehicle with audio to suit my taste unless it was one that I installed it myself

 

As as far as Bose ,it is far from audiophile quality or sound. The Bose system in the CX5 is in fact better sounding than the standard system however. I would have bought it if it were available /offered in the Carbon edition at extra cost.

 

Based on what? They designed the system specifically for that model MAZDA. I suggest that you look into how they did it. If you still hold to your response that you are definitely tone depth to some degree!

Careful now I did to throw the credential card at ya again.... I owned a custom stereo shop and also have built several sound systems before the stereo contests ever began in the early 80's.
A single example a BLAST IN THE PAST.. about a brand new Chevy Camaro with 36 speakers of which you can only see the sub-box and 2 others in the front pillars and 2 door speakers. All separate component speakers with there own frequencies dedicate amplifiers. All other were behind custom panel resembling factory.

 

While I would love the sound of some JL audio amps and Focal speakers I plan on keeping this CX5 100% factory stock during the warrantee period . I plan on only keeping the CX5 while my drivers license and insurance rate heals itself (3 years) then I give the CX5 to my daughter and get something a bit more exhilarating.
FYI ,I have Focal Sopra speakers in my home system driven by Parasound A21+ amp with a P 6 preamp ,so I do appreciate good sound. I also play bass with a Fender Jaz base and old Ampeg amp .