Hi,

I need some advice from actual owners. We did a road test not so long ago, but it was in the city only. From what i read, it could be really frustrating on the highway or up hills.

I currently own a Honda Civic 2008, should i expect a major difference in those circumstances?

Thank you

 

Bearing in mind that I have no idea what a 2008 Honda Civic (??? Trim/Options??) feels like to drive:

The base manual transmission Sport trim is fine going up hills, and I also have zero issue on highways. (My research shows that the manual CX-5 does 0-60 and quarter mile faster than some Civic configurations from 2008.)

The caveat being that what an auto transmission might do is unknown to me, as I control the gear I am in.

So, I have no idea what you read, but I've personally done 90 in the CX-5 (and it absolutely had more to give) and have kept up just behind (as in, within a single car length of) a Mitsubishi Eclipse from a stop light up to 50MPH when I eased off given that the speed limit was 45 and I didn't really want to chance a ticket, or worse, a citation for racing.

It's a sufficiently powerful engine in my eyes.

 

The only advice you should care about is your own advice; said another way, take a CX-5 (or maybe two CX-5s, one Manual, one Automatic) out for a drive and then advise yourself. I'm not trying to come off as a smart *** or anything, it's just that too many times I've read complaints from folks who took advice from others on any given car, bought it without a comprehensive test-drive, and then ended up wishing they had bought something else.

 

I realize the difficulty in actually having a test drive that resembles how your vehicle will be used throughout a typical year.

IMO (after 2000 miles of ownership and in contrast to 2 much more powerful V6's sedans in garage), the CX-5 power is adequate. Just keep in mind (like the Civic) that to access near peak power you will have to run at high revs. The sophisticated auto tranny is helpful at getting performance and economy from engine (works well in auto mode as well as very well in manual mode complete w/rev matching on downshifts). Last Sunday I drove CX 150 miles on freeways with some hills, one passenger, no luggage and maintained 75-80 mph, no prob.

 

I have a 2007 Civic LX automatic as well as the new CX. I have to say power wise the feel about the same. Sometimes I feel I have to wind the civic up more to get it going over the CX. And On another note, I'm averaging about 27 MPGs in town with the Civic and it has 39,xxx miles on it and am averaging 29 MPGs in the CX. We haven't done a big trip in the CX yet to see how it compares to the roughly 38-40 MPGs highway with the civic. I do have to say that I enjoy driving the CX over Civic too.

 

Thank you very much guys, much appreciated..

i did take a road test, but testing a car for 15 mins and use one for 4 years is a whole different story.

I wanted more advices and i got my answers here. Of course, keep 'em coming

 

freederixx - Let us know you have more questions, owners are racking up enough miles and experience now. Also please note none of us have reported on driving at high altitude, expect normally aspirated engines to have more severe power loss than turbo engines.

 

The Skyactiv engine in the CX5 has a 13-1 compression ratio which means its going to make more low end torque than the civics 1.8 liter engine and that will make it feel quicker in everyday normal driving. The Skyactiv 6 speed automatic is actually a sophisticated transmission that uses a torque converter for the first 5 mph and then uses a clutch after that just like a manual transmission. It even down shifts and uses engine braking just like a manual when I brake, which is an awesome feature. I can merge onto a long freeway on ramp up hill to 70 mph and keep the revs under 2500 RPM in a decent time and the CX5 holds overdrive on the highway even up hills at 70 mph. I just came from a V8 Tundra that went 0-60 mph in 6.88 seconds on my G-tech consistently yet I feel the power of the 2.0 liter gas engine in the CX5 is plenty powerful enough especially given the awesome gas mileage and utility of this vehicle.

 

I know that a couple of us have been over 4000 feet. I experienced no issues with the vehicle at that point. (That's only a moderate altitude, but it had no noticeable effect. There's a good chance we'll do some higher altitudes later this year. *shrug*)

 

Don't forget the CX-5 will not have as good of aerodynamics and you may feel that on the highway (have to step on gas pedal more). The CX-5 will be heavier as well.