I like my new CX-5, but have some questions.

The acceleration from 0 to about 40 is great, but when on highway cruising at speed, acceleration for lane changes is downright terrible. Can anything be done to improve this?

What is the verdict on premium gas in this vehicle? At the dealership they said I'd get a little more horsepower with premium, but online it seems there are mixed opinions on this.

Lastly, is it just me or is visibility terrible? That little window in the back corner is non-functional since the interior upholstery occluded its view field.

 

I'm not familiar with the 2017, but premium gas will not give you more horsepower. Higher octane prevents pre-ignition or knocking. If you run the level of gas recommended and don't hear knock, premium is just a waste of money. You might be able to run a lower level octane than recommended and that might cause a loss of power as the computer will adjust the timing to attempt to prevent problems and that will result in a slight power loss, but probably not enough to be noticeable.

Visibility seems to be something lacking in most of the small crossovers and it's why the rear cameras are a must. My 2014 does not have the best rear visibility, but the rear camera makes up for most of that weakness.

 

We had our first rain so it was my first time to use my wipers. I have the '17 Touring without auto sensors. The wipers worked, fortunately, while I was on the freeway in the rain, but then stopped and wouldn't restart no matter where I set the dial. At that point I was out of the rain and the windshield had no water on it, but since I don't have sensors it shouldn't have stopped and should start whether there's water or not, right? I have an appt for service tomorrow, but wondering if anyone here has any ideas. I notice my rearview mirror also autodims though I'm not supposed to have that feature.

 

Are you sure your car doesn't have the Preferred Equipment Package which includes:
Auto dimming rearview mirror with HomeLink
Automatic On/Off Headlights
Rain-sensing variable-intermittent windshield wipers
Bose 10-speaker audio system with Centerpoint2 Surround Sound with AudioPilot®
Mazda Navigation System
Power sliding-glass moonroof with one-touch-open feature and interior sunshade
Power liftgate

 

It doesn't have most of those features. I stopped in at the dealer service counter and the guy looked at it and said my car has the auto sensor box in the middle of the windshield. He thinks auto sense wipers may be standard now but said to look at the Mulroney (the window sticker) and see if auto sense is on there. But there's no Auto setting on the ****. Will check when I get home.

 

Well the Grand Select has some of those features including the two you mentioned, but you'd know if you had that because it has the 19" wheels. BTW, it Monroney.

 

No 19" wheels. Checked the Monroney and auto sense wipers aren't on there, just variable intermittent, so will take it in tomorrow.

 

I took the car to the dealer. They couldn't reproduce the problem (no rain here til Sunday) so just redownloaded the Body Control Module (BCM) software, which they said could have had a corruption in it. Service guy said that, even if I had auto sensing, I should be able to override it manually to turn the wipers back on.

 

In researching my wiper issue, I found there are a lot of 2016 CX-5 owners reporting spontaneous cracks in the windshield, many of them with multiple windshield failures. These cost $1000 apiece and Mazda isn't covering them. Has anyone had this problem with their 2017 CX-5? Sounds like a nightmare. Many start near the sensor box at the center top of the windshield and, for unknown reasons, appear after the car has been sitting unused for a while or with temperature changes though that's not universal.

 

I believe the '17 windscreen is a new design (thicker glass).