Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. After six months of car shopping, my wife has decided on the 2021 Mazda CX-5 (non-turbo, FWD). This will be our first Mazda. I will be maintaining the vehicle, and I'd appreciate if you folks can tell me anything I need to know about the car.

What I'm most interested in are things like common maintenance and/or repair issues associated with the model, unusual component locations, and any tips or tricks unique to the CX-5.

Thanks!

 

Mazda makes extremely reliable vehicles. Do the basic maintenance and it will last many years.

We had a 15 Mazda3 with 100,000 miles and a 14 Subaru Forester with 85,000 miles. We took the Mazda to our mechanic and said do everything possible to make it perfect before passing down to my son. He said it needed nothing but the basics. We spent $2,000 on the Subaru in the prior 6 months and held our breath as we traded it in. My experience with both is typical.

The Mazda3 had the same engine and transmission as the non-turbo CX-5. They develop a technology and improve it over the years to perfection.

I would avoid the red paint and confirm that the seats are comfortable for you. There have been complaints about both. Otherwise they are great, trouble free vehicles.

 

My wife love the red paint so I had PPF applied liberally to the car to minimize the risk of paint chips. Also adding side molding strips for that reason. Chipping is the only downside with the red. We found the seats to be comfortable on a 450 mile trip, but, as mentioned some people find them uncomfortable so do several test drives to compare to other makes. Ours has the parchment leather seats, so leather treatment will be applied regularly. My neighbor sells Mazdas and told me they have very few mechanical issues, just stay on top of maintenance, change fluids (oil, coolant, brake fluid) per schedules, or maybe a little earlier on the oil depending on how you drive.

 

As you may know, and particularly if you take a look at SubaruForester.com, there are two primary issues with Subarus that generate ongoing discussion: (1) the CVT transmission; and, (2) the head gasket problems that occurred in certain model years.

People don't trust the long-term reliability of the CVT transmission, particularly in view of the lousy CVTs that Nissan put in its Cars for years (made by Jayco?). When a CVT goes, the belts explode like a fragmentation grenade and the transmission is completely destroyed, end of story. Whether Subaru's CVTs are vastly superior to Nissan's remains to be seen, or, at least, is still being argued. In view of that dispute, I would not want a CVT. Thankfully, the CX-5 does not use the CVT.

The head gasket issues on the Subarus went on for years and there have been fixes. But people still believe that you are not going to go 200K-300K on a Subie without the head gasket failing. I don't know if true or not. But Subaru did a lot of damage to their reputation with the head gasket issues. Nevertheless, Subie enthusiasts don't care! They love their Subies even if they have to replace a head gasket at 50K miles. They just blow right past it. I would never buy a car again where I needed to replace the head gasket, in ordinary circumstances, during the life of the car.

Just another two cents thrown in. So, I think you avoided two possible bullets by staying away from Subaru, despite the cultish love of the vehicle. And I have driven a 2017 Subie Forester owned by my Brother In Law. It drives very nice and he has neither a CVT nor a head gasket issue in 4+ years of ownership.

 

My daughter's outback lost the head gasket at around 120k miles. Her husband's legacy had the engine oil issue and had the engine replaced at 70k miles She now drives a Honda Passport.

 

There you go. There are a number of explanations for the head gasket issue. I could give you three or four I have read or heard. Subaru did change the head gasket material and maybe went from an open-deck design to a different design on the engine (I am sure on the head gasket change, not absolutely sure on the change in head design). So, the head gasket issue should be solved unless your daughter had a Subie from the model years with the open deck design and the sh_tty head gasket material. Or maybe the issue goes on and on. As I said, Subie lovers just consider it a cost of owning their cult vehicles and just get new head gaskets done whenever it happens.

 

What was the engine oil issue? Not the CVT issue I was talking about.... correct?

 

Certain model years of the Legacy have an issue with excessive oil consumption, not related to the transmission, his is manual. I don't recall the cause but it's something that can be Googled. His is a 2016 I believe, but don't quote me. Big post warranty deal with Subi. They replaced the engine for no charge. But he wasn't happy he had to go thru all the red tape to get it taken care of. But loves his Legacy.

That's why we bought a Mazda and not a Subi.

 

I had both a 99 and an 01 Outback (the 01 was the VDC with the H6 engine). Both went about 200,000 miles without any serious engine problems. The 99 was using a bit of oil at the end, but the 01 failed from rust, not mechanical issues and used no oil.

 

Thank you both for the information - AZCX5 and Schmieg. Thanks very much. Reuben