As a former BMW, Porsche, Lexus and now Toyota owner (Young Family) I purchased my first Mazda CX5 yesterday in the hopes of passing it on to my 13 year old daughter to drive to school in a few years. I am very impressed with the feel and build quality. I have heard of the potential for carbon build up in the engine and that this car is not designed for shorter trips.

I see 87 fuel is recommended, however I defer to higher octane also any suggestions on a 3000 mile oil change instead of the 5000. I am sure these questions are redundant and have beeb asked and answered quite often.

Looking forward to engaging in this forum.

 

Welcome! My opinion is to follow the manufacturer recommendations, for both fuel and oil changes. Many others have a variety of opinions on those topics. It's rare to see those opinions supported by evidence.

 

Thank you

 

The owner's manual says 7500 miles (or once per year) for oil/filter changes.
As kahelin said everyone has their opinion on this but Mazda's is the only one that really counts, at least when it comes to warranty.
Good quality fully synthetic oils are generally good up to 10,000 miles or 12 months.
Unless you have the turbo or have remapped the ECU in the naturally aspirated engine, you will see no difference in higher octane levels except in the cost.
My 2020 N/A is stock, I did the first oil change at 5000 miles the rest have been at 7500 miles, plus I use injector cleaner at each oil change.
I only use 87 octane, on mostly under 55mph roads (except the occasional paddle shifter spirted back road drives) and I have had no issues so far.

 

Thank you

 

In terms of oil I go every 7.5k miles on the naturally aspirated and every 5k miles on the turbo. I only run 93 octane in my turbo because I want the most power out of the motor (Mazda says running regular gas cuts 24-30 horsepower and 10 foot pounds of torque depending on what year turbo you have). With the naturally aspirated motor 87 is fine, but the manual suggests 91+ octane when towing or moving heavy loads. I've thrown in 93 octane in the naturally aspirated motor and it felt smoother and a little happier with a little more power in the butt dyno, but it was very minimal so I'd suggest sticking to 87 octane gas. The best thing is to get gas from top rated places like Shell, Mobil, Chevron, etc.

 

Got it