We had some of the lowest temps ever recorded in this state this past weekend, with windchill they were -37 to -50.
Mount Washington in NH recorded a -108.
First time in 46 years my pipes have frozen in my house and that was with the with heat on 72 degrees.
I drove my 2020 CX-5 with no issues, other than nearly freezing getting to and from it dressed in my full winter survival gear.
It started fine and it was outdoors not in the garage and the heater & defroster worked flawlessly once the engine warmed up.

 

i was in cx5 2021.5 with only minus 4 degrees, and the windshield iced over slightly. It took a long long while for both sides to defrost as vents in middle of window only. What if there was heavy snow?

 

Not saying it isn't possible but in all my years I've never seen heavy snow in temps that cold as the humidity levels start to approach the negative themselves.
As for warmer temps with heavy snow and ice I've also had no issue with that either.
I do have to manually turn up fan as the auto mode will not do a proper job.
I will note that the highest setting on the fan, in my model/year, is a significant increase in the volume of air being moved.
I also change out my cabin filter every fall, usually the first of November after the leaves have gone.

 

It is sort of useless trying to help members unless they do a temperature reading of the air vent/defrost? That air should be close to the water/coolant temperatures. It also takes a few minutes to warm the ventilation hoses. After which it is mere physics to have the warm air clear a "lamented glass" windshield! The lamination can and does act as a temperature insulator.
The MAZDA blower was designed for a quiet operation, and I have noted that the CFM is less than a couple of aftermarket replacements. But those are noticeably louder.

I think you can agree that when you look at all the MAZDA forums overall and cancel out at least 30% of the responses because of member forum hoping with their problems it is not a universal problem with any specific Mazda model!

Hey Lobstah for sheets and giggles remove your cabin filter while the fan is on high setting and see what you learn? If I post it ya know what will happen. LOL

 

Last time I tried that with a vehicle I got mouse poop all over the dash...

 

Well, I wouldn't state my reputation but the cabin filter when comparing 6 different other brands that has the least amount of restrictive CFM reduction is the K&N Cabin Filter. This was an observation based on sound of listening to the blower moter and feeling the air flow out the top center vent on the driver's side. .
I repeat this was only an observation that I noticed when I was doing a HVAC cleaning and left the air filter out, I noticed a distinctive difference in air flow volume. So, I then "PLAYED" around with different filters. NO DAT to back what I said and was VERY DIY!!! This DIY testing led me to order 4 different aftermarket blowers and did a flow testing on each one to find the highest CFM unit. This test was once again for my own information, and I never posted the actual results or method steps to testing. So, DIY only!! I have to keep saying DIY so the hamsters won't start turning the wheels of thoughts ready to respond to my post... LOL

 

please put the mouse back in. It is used to spin the wheel. LOL

 

No joke, I actually shot a mouse out the exhaust on my BMW K1200GT sport touring bike.
I start my motorcycle once a month in cold non-riding weather here.
I heard ding, ding, ding and then splat against my garage door.
It was sunflower seeds and a field mouse which had built a nest in my bike exhaust.
From that point on my motorcycles had beer cans over the exhaust while being stored.

 

 

Perfect.
The Mazda has the greatest separation of volume velocity from the mid to top settings of any vehicle defrost I've ever used.
Your video clearly shows a big difference in just the last two settings.