Long-Term Road Test Update
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Our small Mazda crossover continues to win fans—except in Montana.
Months in Fleet: 12 months
Current Mileage: 32,808 miles
Average Fuel Economy: 28 mpg
Average Range: 428 miles
Service: $428
Normal Wear: $0
Repair: $0
Our long-term Mazda CX-5 has covered some 14,000 miles since our last update, the majority of which were accumulated under the watchful eye of Montana deskman John Phillips. Here, a list of vehicles that he prefers to the Mazda CX-5, composed using pasted letters, ransom-note style, and jammed in the car’s tailpipe: Nissan Pathfinder; leaky canoe; drunk, bareback moose.
This is notable, as here is a list of vehicles in its segment that other staffers prefer to the Mazda CX-5: 
. Keen readers will notice that this list is blank, and therefore isn’t really a list at all. That’s because the CX-5 has thus far bested all comers in notching two comparison-test wins, the latest using its more powerful, new-for-2014 2.5-liter engine.
But Phillips’s objection to the Mazda is reasonable given what he asks of vehicles in his care, including climbing icy high-altitude passes, plowing down snowy two-tracks, and shouldering several hundred pounds of exotic jerkies. Our CX-5’s 2.0-liter engine (now only available in the base model) makes just 155 horsepower. That fact, and the thrift-minded transmission mapping, meant that Phillips was constantly using the gearbox’s manumatic mode to keep the four at a froth, necessary, he says, to traverse even simple obstacles without bogging down, including the short, steep climb to his house.
He did have praise for the speed of the manumatic gearchanges—as did other staff members—but quickly tired of listening to the engine at full whine. And unless there was fresh powder on the road (“the CX-5 was a slow-motion joy—easy, slow drifts . . . and strong winter grip”), Phillips found the Mazda an unreliable-enough off-roader that he left it parked on the muckiest winter days, opting to take his wife’s older RAV4 to tackle “roads [that] really represent a hazard and a challenge.”
So this crossover isn’t a backwoods brawler. The CX-5 is more at home in Ann Arbor, being asked to cruise to and from the office on the freeway, boogie down rolling Midwestern two-lanes, or to ferry a couple of jerky kids—who sometimes smell exotic—to school. And with C/D HQ situated some 3000 feet lower in altitude than John Phillips’s Darby base, the 2.0-liter’s lack of power is less of an issue, although no logbook comment fails to bitch about it. Still.
The Mazda has undergone two scheduled services since our last update, the first at 22,500 miles (oil change, tire rotation, inspection, and cabin air filter; $125.22), the second at 30,000 miles (same as previous, plus engine air filter, transfer (PTO) oil, differential oil; $245.10). That brings our service-stop number to four, and the cost for them to just shy of $500. Overall mileage has held steady at 28 mpg.
Inside, the stuff you see and touch regularly has worn well, but the furry carpet in the cargo bay looks haggard and traps debris with the tenacity of a falcon clutching its prey. Also, the plastic shrouds covering each side of the transmission tunnel fell off several times while the vehicle was in Montana. We also wish the blind-spot monitoring system was less sensitive—it beeps warnings if a vehicle is two lanes away, or if there’s a parked car in a driveway while you’re changing lanes.
But most everybody still loves the CX-5’s precise steering, comfortable seats, well-controlled body motions, and responsive brakes, and those attributes keep it at the top of the heap when it comes time to sign out a vehicle for a long trip. We doubt that will change over the final 7000 miles of its stay, but we run our long-termers through a 40,000-mile gauntlet for a reason—and it ain’t over ’til it’s over.
Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 5-door wagon
PRICE AS TESTED: $28,445 (base price: $25,940)
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 16-valve inline-4, aluminum block and head, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 122 cu in, 1998 cc
Power: 155 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 150 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manual shifting mode
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 106.3 in
Length: 178.7 in
Width: 72.4 in Height: 65.7 in
Curb weight: 3438 lb
PERFORMANCE: NEW
Zero to 60 mph: 9.2 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 30.0 sec
Zero to 110 mph: 42.1 sec
Rolling start, 560 mph: 9.6 sec
Top gear, 3050 mph: 4.7 sec
Top gear, 5070 mph: 6.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 17.1 sec @ 81 mph
Top speed (redline limited): 115 mph
Braking, 700 mph: 172 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.84 g
FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 25/31 mpg
C/D observed: 28 mpg
Unscheduled oil additions: 0 qt
WARRANTY:
3 years/36,000 miles bumper to bumper;
5 years/60,000 miles powertrain;
5 years/unlimited miles corrosion protection;
3 years/36,000 miles roadside assistance
Continued…