My wife wants to downsize from her 2010 Honda Odyssey Touring and has fixated on a red Mazda CX-5 as her desired replacement. (I tried to persuade her that a Mini Cooper Countryman S or JCW ALL4 would be the best choice, but she disagreed) , so here I am doing research from you experts. All of the AWD CX-5s I've seen locally (2019 models are most common) have the Cylinder Deactivation option so I am concerned because the Odysseys have something similar that has caused plug fouling and ring problems, hence the research. I found this thread in which the author says,
Both of our Odysseys have their VCMs "Muzzled" by adding an 80 ohm resister in series with the temperature sensor so their computers think the engines are not quite up to operating temperature so the VCM does not kick in. This does not affect gas mileage much if at all and their engines are happier running on 6 cylinders, so my question is are there any tricks to make a CX-5 avoid CD? Or is there not any down side to Mazda's CD that would make avoiding it desirable?

 

I had an Acura RDX and I know what you mean with the VCM. It was terrible on those cars. However, I can say that on Mazdas they're super smooth and you can't feel it at all (other than the cylinders kicking back on for a quick second if you floor it suddenly on the highway). You can still find these cars without cylinder deactivation, but I wouldn't be worried about a car that does have it. Just make sure to be religious with maintainence and the car will thank you for it. The turbo models don't have cylinder deactivation or i-Stop either.

 

Phil Warner welcome to the forum

 

Welcome to the forum.
My 2020 Grand Touring AWD 2.5L N/A does not have cylinder deactivation.
There are plenty of 2018-2023 and some 2024 out there that don't.

 

And 2025s. Mine doesn't have iStop or CD. Trick is to get either the base S or Select trim levels. Mine is a Select trim. Also verified by a lack of the iStop deactivation button and an engine L code in the 8th digit of the VIN. If there was an M code, then the car has iStop and CD.

 

Thanks for all the replies. The two 2019 CX-5s locally do have the M character in the VIN. There is a 2015 Grand Touring Sport for sale by owner for $8 Grand, (about 1/2 to 1/3 the price of the 2019 models at a local used car lot), but no VIN listed. Should I consider a 2015 Grand Touring Sport with 165K miles on it? Or stay with a KF model with 100K or fewer miles? I plan to keep it for the long haul unless my wife gets another wild hair and suddenly wants something else because her friend gets something newer.

Oh yes, I gather from the replies that CD is not engine threatening in a Mazda CX-5 like it is in an Odyssey? Is that a fair assumption? And can auto stop be turned off if I end up with an "M" version?

EDIT: The 2015 is AWD and has a script "Elite" on the hatch. I asked the seller for the VIN. Is there a web site where one can get a list of the options associated with the VIN?

 

Yes. There will be an iStop deactivation button to turn it off. But you have to hit the button every time you start the engine to deactivate it again. There are other conditions that will keep iStop from kicking on such as not firmly applying the brakes when coming to a stop.

 

https://vpic.nhtsa.dot.gov/decoder

Plug in Vin/Year, it'll show trim, and google a trim spec sheet. It naturally won't show any dealer add-on stuff because a car is born with a vin before it gets to a dealer.

I would go for newest generation you can, especially since you're suggesting your wife is maybe competitive in how new a car looks. The 2015 looks dated imo, and 2021 is the ideal year for me, though 2022 will get the looks of 'current'.

 

I've found no listing of an "Elite" model or option for 2015. Perhaps a dealer's name?

 

Could just be a generic "Elite" sticker. Try looking up the license plate number + state on the My CarFax app. It'll give you the history of reported maintainence at the bare minimum for free without having to buy an entire CarFax report. You may even be able to see a generated window sticker too.