jeffbrig

Leased a Mazda CX 5 this weekend to be our third car. Wanted something with a dose of practicality. Something that can more easily go to Costco, Home Depot, Ikea - yes, I'm a homeowner, lol... Something where we can throw our bikes in the back when we head out of town for the weekend. Something where you can actually pick someone up at the airport AND put their suitcase in the car too.

We were originally thinking Mazda 3 hatch, and thought we'd compare it to a CX 3 and make a decision. The CX 3 actually has slightly less interior volume than the 3 hatch. I'm not entirely sure how that's possible. We ruled the CX 3 out immediately. We then drifted over to the larger CX 5, and the decision was between that and the 3 hatch. The extra space in the CX 5 made for a pretty easy decision.

I was a little surprised with how car like the CX 5 drives. You're up high (relatively speaking), but they've done a REALLY good job with roll control. The 2.5L feels adequate for the weight (3400lbs). It's not fast, but if I want to go fast, I'll drive one of the other cars. I need utility, not fast utility.

The base model is decently appointed, you still get the touchscreen radio, bluetooth integration, trip computer, cruise control, tilt/telescoping wheel, rear wiper/defroster, etc. Everything that you really need to have is there. It even has a sport mode. What you don't get is a power seat. Or any pretense of leather. Again, not a deal breaker for a 3rd vehicle.

We eventually agreed to $500 down, $244/month for a base Sport model for 2 years. 6 speed auto in Blue Reflex Mica.

Here's the picture of what really sold me on the CX 5:



Not mine, but here's the color we picked:

Nerd-Vol

Good deal. My girlfriend is looking at a CX-5 as well.

About the CX-3. That is on the Mazda 2 platform, which is why you get less space than a Mazda 3. I wish the CX-3 had more space, the HR-V Has a good amount more space than the Mazda, and it seems to be selling a lot stronger.

WolfpackS2k

Yeah, the CX-3 uses the Mazda2 platform. The CX-5 uses the Mazda3 platform.

It's definitely convoluted.

Seems like those are very solid cars - congrats on the purchase!

QUIKAG

Solid small SUV. I really like them personally and $6,500 or so for two years of use seems like a really good deal.

vader1

Nice color. I like it.

Marioshi

Coolio! Weird fact: Your automatic sport has the 2.5 but the manual sport (hard to find) only has a 2.0. Weird thinking on Mazda's part IMO. I would have potentially scooped up a CX-5 if the 2.5 could be had with a stick shift (and while I am at it, why not make it a grand touring with a manual!)

Oh well, probably for the best that it didn't. Super hard for me to drive anything that tall, even if body roll is well controlled, it still feels like it wants to tip over compared to anything else I have ever owned...

Is yours AWD of FWD? The one we drove was AWD and exhibited very strange off the line behavior.

jeffbrig

Yeah, well I can be a very difficult at the dealership when I have no real need to close the deal. I'm up front about it too. "Look, I'm considering adding a third car. If the deal is great, I am willing to sign and drive one home today. If not...that's ok too." I wasn't married to the CX-5, so I wasn't the typical buyer who is emotionally invested in taking home a car they've absolutely fallen in love with. The CX-5 has the utility I was after, but the car wasn't a "must-have". That's the best negotiating position you can put yourself in. I had to tell the sales guy multiple times that we were just too far apart to make a deal happen.

You know the game, he wanted me to offer up a number at which I'd do the deal. Well, I was quite firm that I wasn't putting big money down, and wouldn't go over $250/mo. We were initially negotiating over a Grand Touring (mid-level, which I think is their volume trim level), and after much back and forth his manager simply wouldn't do the deal for my price. I knew we'd found rock bottom when he came back and suggested maybe he could put me in a 6 instead for that price. However good the 6 might be, I just have no need for a sedan. So I suggested we go down a trim level, and that's how we ended up at $244. When we finally did the credit app and disclosed our household income, the salesman was just speechless.

No doubt that was intended to be the budget-budget-budget model, not a sporty option.

We went with FWD. AWD is completely unnecessary for us, adds cost, and hurts mpg.

gospeedgo1

Congrats. Does your FWD model exhibit lack of acceleration or kicking down a gear when flooring the pedal from a stop or when rolling? My wife and I test drove a 2016 AWD model that was doing that.

jeffbrig

Can you describe that in any more detail? Are you saying the AWD you drove wouldn't kick down a gear when flooring the pedal? On the roll, ours does downshift when you ask it to. It seems like a reasonable amount of pep for the ~185hp it's supposed to have. But yeah, it does lack acceleration when compared to my other cars . I haven't tried flooring the throttle from a stop, as we've been getting slammed with rain from that tropical depression that passed through the Florida straits this weekend. Once we dry out, I'm happy to try it out for you and let you know.

QUIKAG

Yep, definitely the best position to be in from a negotiating standpoint. What was the miles/yr on the 2 year lease? My fiancé's Mom needs a new SUV as her 4-year old Escape has over 120k miles on it (she drives a ton), so leasing isn't an option. She wanted another Escape and I was steering her the CX-5 as I think it's the best mid-size SUV on the market.

I always sandbag my income whenever I do a credit app as it's none of their business really. Last credit app I did was on the '12 CTS-V several years ago. I'm debt averse so I prefer to pay cash even if the interest rate is super low. Just hate payments. Obviously, that's not an option with a lease, unless you do the front-load cash pay up front deal. But then I think you can get screwed if it's not set-up right if the car is wrecked early into the lease as it may be hard to recover all/most of the large upfront cash payment.