Hi, new to forum and the CX-5 on my short list of possilbe new purchase. Waiting though to test drive the 2.5L for 2014 models since i did test drive the 2013 last Spring and found it weak on accelerating. So hoping the new engine improves that.
Anyway, one consideration though is for long trips. We had an 06 Rav4 and miss the utility first of all. But closing in on retirement plant to take a few long distant trips over next couple years. Something you can't appreciate from a short test drive etc.
Any personal experience from current owners is appreciated. Like what i read about the CX-5 (except acceleration issues) and especially the MPG. Thanks.
P.S. I had a 2001 Mazda Tribute. My wife hated the seats, comfort etc. If anyone had an earlier Tribute how's the new CX-5 compare in that catagory, trips etc.....

 

We had a 2001 Tribute also and now have the Sport version with the 6 speed manual trans. The main differences that we noticed were:

1. The fuel economy is much better. We probably go about 80-100 miles more per tank. We currently average around 27-30mpg with mostly city / short trips. On long trips with mostly freeway/highway we've averaged between 33 - 37 mpg.

2. The CX-5 is taller and wider. I noticed the height difference when washing it as I had to stretch a little to be sure I didn't miss any spot on the roof. I didn't have any problem reaching across the roof on the Tribute. We also have to be more careful when driving into our garage now as the CX-5 doesn't have as much clearance for the side mirrors when entering the garage.

3. The visibility back to the left/rear and the right/rear is more limited. It seems that older SUVs were more boxy with bigger windows. Newer ones all have a larger blindspot pillar on either side of the liftgate. I've driven a rental Nissan Rogue on vacation last year and it had the same problem and I notice that other newer SUVs have the same this larger "blind spot" due to the rear pillars now.

4. Since we have the sport version, we only have the 60/40 rear seats instead of the 40/20/40. This has come in handy though on our trips as we took our dog once and it was good to have one side down. On our old tribute DX the entire rear folded down. I'm not sure if this was different on other Tribute models. We really wanted the 40/20/40 seats with the fold down center but it wasn't an option for the sport model.

We've taken 2 road trips so far with the CX-5 and haven't had any problems with the seats or comfort. We didn't really have problems when we had our Tribute also though. There is definitely more room in the CX-5 even though the kids have gotten a little bigger.

 

Thanks for feedback. Our 2001 was a DX too. Mpg sounds great . Will be looking more seriously very soon.

 

I've only taken trips up to 3 hours in length. Comfort level was high, GT seats are not a issue. MPG's 28-30 at higher end of speed range of 70-80mph .