My son just bought a 2015 Grand Touring with the Bose radio, and he asked me to take a look at it because the sound was "flat". He's been driving my wife's Ford Edge which has a pretty good sound system, and he expected the Bose to be as good.

So I brought out a few CDs that I know well to try, and I initially pronounced the subwoofer inactive. For instance, Jackson Browne's Rosie (just a piano and singer) showed no bottom end on the piano. On some other tracks (like Billy Joel), the kick drum sounded like a cardboard box. My guess is that there is nothing below 100hz or so. All bass is confined to a "one note" sound. My older Tribute has the premium audio but it's not a designer system like Bose, JBL, Infiniti etc., but does include a small sub in the rear cargo area, and it's far better than this Bose system.

So I did some on-line checking and found this is a common complaint with the CX-5, and that the 2015 CX-5 Bose audio does NOT include a sub-woofer.

I also found a 2018 Mazda CX-5 Bose subwoofer on ebay, so I assume they've added this system for later years. Looks like it fits either over the spare or in place of it.

EDIT: link Subwoofer

Is the later subwoofer adaptable to earlier years? Any aftermarket solutions without gutting the whole car?

Thanks.

John