The wife and I loaded up the CX-5 and headed to Asheville, NC in the Appalachian mountains. As far as the Mazda was concerned, this trip highlighted the CX-5's strengths and weaknesses.

First, for the negatives. Any time we encountered a long incline, the Mazda really struggled. Maintaining the speed limit was a real struggle for the Mazda.

On the positive side of the coin, the Mazda really shined on some of the back roads that were winding through the mountains. On these roads, the lack of power wasn't a concern because no car could have reached the speed limit before the next switchback. On these roads the CX-5 left the other vehicles behind as they had to brake to 5 or 10 mph for each turn while we were able to take most curves at 30 to 40.

As an added bonus, my wife who frequently gets motion sickness, was asking for more curves.

 

Thanks for reporting in on mountain driving in the CX-5. I'm intending to take mine up to high altitude this summer (6000-7000 feet above sea level, Lake Tahoe area).

How was your gas mileage on this trip?

 

Milage took a big dip going up the mountain. Once we were at the top, though, things returned to normal. In Asheville, we were getting 25. Round trip (700 miles) we averaged 32.7 mpg.

Of course, we weren't nearly as high as you'll be.

 

Let's face it, the CX-5 has very little zoom-zoom. I traded my excellent 2010 MX-5 for the CX-5, primarily due to knee problems (ingress and egress from the Miata was a problem.) I am liking the CX-5 more and more as I put miles on it. BUT!, if you are used to quickly merging into traffic, you need a much longer interval between oncoming vehicles to safely enter traffic. (compared to my 2008 RAV-4 V-6.)

I have an AWD and have averaged 30.5 MPG for the first 2000 miles, very nice!

 

The amount of load in the vehicle changes how it behaves in mountains, it was very noticeable when we added 500lbs of vacation gear (including bikes on the back). We had to increase cruise control from 65MPH to 70MPH to keep from downshifting on moderate inclines. The vehicle is that fine-tuned for MPG (we got 34.8 MPG on complete tankfuls of all-highway driving with all that weight, FWD Auto). Would disagree on the zoom-zoom, from a stop it has plenty of pep it is just the ultra-high 6th gear that they designed for high gas mileage instead.

 

Wow CurylyBrian, that's some real testing with 500 pounds of gear. Thanks for report.

 

The newer models should have a bit larger engine with more Zoom Zoom. If you can get a Diesel it may be worth it because of the extra torque making cruising hills easier.
My first successful multi-quote! LOL.

 

I took ours up to Tahoe last summer and while we didn't have it loaded with much it didn't struggle on the hills as much as I thought it would.

Coming from a P5 and a 2.4l tiny Tacoma the CX5 did much better at the high altitude. There were hills that my old Tacoma would decelerate on even with my foot to the floor. I was passing all sorts of 'more powerful' vehicles on the up hills.

Granted a bit more top end power would have been nice for the short uphill passing lanes as some of those were a little too short. But I guess a lot of the impression of the CX5 depends on what you are used to. Our 2.5 Mazda3 does pull a lot stronger in the high end but compared with our other prior cars the CX5 does quite well.

I think the biggest factor leading it to feel underpowered is that it just handles so freaking well.

This was a fun stretch of road we found ourselves on going back to the lake from Sparks, NV:

went from Sparks at about 4500 ft to the top of Mt Rose which was around 9,000 ft.
According to the computer we averaged over 36 mpg on the entire trip, including all the uphill driving to the lake from the Sacramento area.

Trevor

 

What, your wife is asking for more curves? You are lucky!!!!!

 

SR431 (Mt. Rose Highway) is one of my favorite roads to cruise up, my Mustang loved it, my truck smokes it (literally) and the Rover I had never made it to the top.....ran out of power. If you were able to pass people you were doing good, there are some steep climbs and some switchbacks but that adds to the fun. Great little scenic drive when I wanted to get out of town (used to live in Sparks, then moved to Washoe Valley now in Austria LOL). Drove up there one night to get snow from the mountain to have a snowball fight at home, backed the truck into the bank with the gate down and drove home LOL. Did you have any temperature issues or was all cool? AC on or off?