Mazda CX-5 vs Honda CR-V

moonset

Hi - I would like to hear comments from all about CX-5 v/s CR-V . I have tested driven both and i want to finalize if i should go with CX-5 or CR-V .

CR-V has a bit more power ( atleast it appears to be ) but interms of drive comfort ( noise , stability ) at higher speeds am not sure if 2012 version is better than earlier CR-V versions .

Also the fuel economy for CR-V is 2-3 miles less than CX-5 .

Am going to have lot of high way commute ( around 100 miles per day ) so am concerned in going for CR-V .

Also since Mazda company is not doing that great and CX-5 is a new design am concerned about recalls and stabilization of the new skyactiv technology .

Is it ok to buy CX-5 or be safe by compromising on fuel economy and go for CR-V ?

Appreciate your comments .

captainrod

I just traded a 2007 CX-9 for a 2012 CRV. My CX-9 was a 2007 and although I did not buy it new, I am from the camp who believes there is a risk in buying anything in the first model year. With that said, the only thing I can clearly say is better about the CR-V is the seats are far more comfortable than the Mazda. If I were buying a car I would be driving a CX-5 today but I was leasing and the Honda leases leave Mazda in the dust. If you are doing 100 miles a day go with the CX-5 as the gas prices aren't getting any lower.

moonset

I just booked an Mazda CX-5 after researching for a month . CR-V and CX-5 are the ones i short listed and i choose CX-5 . Till a month ago , CR-V was on the top list but after doing 3 test drives of CX-5 ( all together 60 miles around 20 miles in city signal traffic , 30 on highway and 10 on terrain road ) and researching the new skyactive technolgoy am convinced tht CX-5 is a better choice for me . These are my observations and i know there are lot of die hard fans of CR-V . At the end of the day it depends on what you want from your car . I had the same concerns like everyone else had about CX-5 . Am in early 30's so i prefer & recommend CX-5 for all those young people , at the least. Below is my reasoning to make the decision

1. CX-5 engine -
New technology - The 2.0 engine is actually first introduced in Mazda3 and has been a great success . So the engine as such is not new . so this is not a concern for me.
The overall combination of chasis + engine + all body structure is new combination . The body is made of high tensile steel ( see cx-5 brocher ) first of the kind . Going forward this is going to be the standard for most of the cars across manufactures ( my belief )

Though HP & tourque are slighly less , but it delivers high range of that HP & TQ at low rpm compared to CR-V . When you drive observe the RPM for each of them . The CR-V goes up to 4500 - 5500 but CX-5 stays within 3500 - 4000 . Am ok with the power . On a normal traffic road i didn't' see a big difference .

CX-5 is extremmly good on highway at 60 to 75 mph . Very less to little road noise and i really feel that am driving a sports car and hardly felt am driving 2.0 engine . The curves and exits are very good on CX-5 . The CR-V , on three of the exits , taking the exit slowing from 70 mph , i almost felt that am going to fall out of vehicle . Also it , CR-V , has high road noise and i didn't get a feeling that am driving a cuv. However nice the interior with leather i didn't feel i was driving a CUV . The ride is similar to what you feel when you drive a Hyundai ( i test drove sonata as well )

The seats in CX-5 has more cushion than the CR-V ( this is one of the reasons for the drive comfort in CX-5 ) . But one concern i had with seats that the leg support ( projection on the sides ) were troubling me . These are sports car model seats with higher leg rest support compared to most other cars so that on turns we get support front these projections . Infact all recent year Mazda cars have this ( i researched later ). Two of my friends own mazda 3 and they told they don't have any problem with those projections . Nevertheless , i switched to leather ( grand touring ) since leather seats were comfortable to me . Guess the leather had the projections tightly covered .

The combination of new chasis , suspension gives CX-5 better control of the road . One reason being , the body is high tensile i.e less weight but more strength . So in CX-5 , majority of the weight of the vehicle is below our seating unlike CR-v . This is another reason for better drive comfort at highways & turns .

For me & my wife , the interiors are more appealing in CX-5 than CR-V though CR-V seems to some nice little features . The one i liked in CR-V most is the slight reclining possibility of rear seats. Majority of the time we sit in front seats so this was not a major drawback for me in CX-5 . Again better cushion in CX-5 as well in rear seats.

I really love the blind spot alarm in CX-5 . And read a lot that CR-V body design has high blind spot . To mitigate this in CR-V they have extended the mirrors . My wife didn't like the CR-V exterior esp. in 2012 the projection on the back . Honda did that as well to improve blind spot . This also gives a +ve that Mazda didn't want to compromise on technology and roll out something with bandages like Honda did .

Throughout my drive test on CR-V , i felt , when am i going to get off the car . Am not exaggerating this , i truly felt this . To check if that was a wrong perception or a true feeling , i spoke with 3 friends who own CR-V and drove . All of them said - " Ya CRV is good . It has lot of space , good resale value but you don't enjoy the ride . The mileage won't come as listed . " Infact one of them actually rents car for his long trips because he hates the road noise ( he owns a 2009 cr-v )

Last observation , i studied the brochers in detail for both . In CX-5 brochore , they only talk about the new technology and how it helps . Whereas in CR-V , 90% of each page they have pictures of some stuff and only 10% of the space they have used to tell about the car because they , honda , don't have much to talk about the technology & car itself. Observe it and you may feel the same .

Mazda is going to base all their next cars on Syactive . This is a plus . No company will tell this openly if they are not confident about their technology.

The only thing i have to wait to check how much mpg CX-5 will give . But am confident that it will not disappoint .

I strongly feel that CX-5 will gain market share from CR-V by year end . Lot of people are liking CX-5 but they are waiting to see it fares .

I checked the option of leasing CX-5 but two dealers didn't recommend leasing now since the lease options are not good on CX-5 .

Hope this helps.

Thanks .

62vette

Just out of curiosity did the Equinox ever cross your path as an option?

pavant1

Hello,

I used to own a cr-v 2008 and had driven it for about 4years. I am now in the market again and am considering Mazda cx-5 (yet to test drive). In your experiences, is the road noise in Mazda cx-5 higher than the ones in cr-v?

Appreciate your observations.

Thanks