I finally drove the fiance's new CX-5, how do you guys handle driving bigger vehicles?

For those that have missed the other 2 threads, our '18 Mazda 3 was totaled by hail, and we replaced it with a 2023 CX-5 Carbon Edition. 

I went to get us lunch today so I decided to take her car. Side note, the 10 speaker BOSE sounds fantastic. The thing I was most worried about was accidentally curbing those beautiful black 19" wheels. My vehicles the last decade or so have been BRZ's, NCs, 135i, the Mazda 3 she inherited from me back right before COVID (the totaled one). 

The suspension is taught and dare I say slightly sporty for a vehicle that size? The steering is great, very direct and a tight turning radius. And for the same 2.5 that was in the Mazda 3, it feels fairly punchy. The really surprising thing, if you look at the EPA ratings, it's a 3800lb AWD cute-ute that is rated 4 mpg better on the highway with 87 octane, then my 2800 lb BRZ on 91.  30 vs 26. 

But the most important thing, she really, really likes it and is very happy we decided to spend a little more than we initially planned so we could get something with low miles and the few features she really wanted. Those being sunroof, BOSE, leather and heated seats. She's more frugal than I am, so she tried to tell herself she didn't "need" those things, but I knew she really wanted them. 

My vehicles include a number of motorcycles (such as a Ducati Streetfighter) as well as a Very Large work van (NV2500 HR) and several in between, including an NB, a C7Z, a Cherokee, and a GX550. 

You just kind of get used to it.

Mazda makes a great car. The 2023 CX5 should be great fun to drive, particularly for its class. Drive it and enjoy it. If you're worried about the wheels, dip the right sideview mirror down when parking at the curb. 

...The CX5 counts as a bigger vehicle?  I ruled it out as being way too small...

wae said:

...The CX5 counts as a bigger vehicle?  I ruled it out as being way too small...

It does compared to this, the top of my car is where the windows start on her doors. 

I dailied a "cute ute"(XJ) for 6 years/85k coming from an E36. I loved every minute of it. More comfortable seating position for long trips and better visibility, while still being small enough to go and park anywhere. Does it handle like my E36? Absolutely not, but I keep my racing to the track.

z31maniac said:

wae said:

...The CX5 counts as a bigger vehicle?  I ruled it out as being way too small...

It does compared to this, the top of my car is where the windows start on her doors. 

 

I think you are confusing big with tall. I bet you will find length and width to not be all that different. 
 

This is a big vehicle versus a small one.

wae said:

...The CX5 counts as a bigger vehicle?  I ruled it out as being way too small...

Glad I'm not the only one lol. ~9 years of mostly DD'ing an expedition, I'm much more used to the big car. 

In reply to dean1484 :

Not really. It just feels so much larger, which I realize is subjective. It's only 3" wider, but it feels much more than from the driver seat, the cabin feels much more than 3" wider. It's only 12" longer, but again, subjectively feels much longer than that. 

Comparing a Fiat to that, seems like comparing an F-150 to an 18-wheeler. 

It wasn't meant to be a scientific treatise or anything. I'm just used to driving small, low to the ground vehicles, so the CX felt really alien to me. 

Variety is the spice of life. My current fleet is a fit, miata, odyssey, and Highlander. Fit and miata are small wheel base, Highlander is mid, and Odyssey is about 3 feet longer and 1 foot wided it seems. To park any 2 in the garage together and be able to load 3 toddlers into the larger requires that both be parked within about a 4 to 6 inch window. Cameras help on the larger two but you also just get a feel for it. I loved being a pool boy in high-school summers a jumping out of an E250 work van that felt like a boat and into my accord would make the honda feel like a ferrari. Sold our CX9 for the Highlander which is actually smaller. Having had a Mazda3 in the past it was only slightly bigger than the fit we have currently, I imagine a CX5 is a bit bigger but considered a compact SUV.

Turn wide

wae said:

...The CX5 counts as a bigger vehicle?  I ruled it out as being way too small...

In my lexicon 3800 pounds is big. My current vehicles are an R53 MINI, an ND-RF and a 4800 pound Canyon. It's big.

I grew up driving square body GM pickups, malaise era sedans and wagons, and GMT400 pickups (RCLB). Also had a stint of driving a square body and later GMT400 with a 13' slide in camper regularly (sometimes with a 21' boat behind it). That was balanced with s10 pickups, rangers, and b2200 all mixed in from 1989 to the early 2000s.

After having that assortment makes the adjustment to different size vehicles a subconscious activity. 

The current R56 seems downright tiny, and I now get the appeal of a car that is at the low end of the size scale, but there are times I miss the utility of a truck/suv as a DD.

I think you will get used to it. I thought my 3/4 ton Suburban was huge when I got it, now it feels normal. I routinely jump between that and the 924 or an E30, which are dramatically smaller than even a BRZ. By the time I've left my neighborhood, my brain has usually reset itself to whatever vehicle I'm in. 

My wife comments about how she doesn't like driving my XJ because it's so big. Her MK6 Jetta Sport Wagon is longer, wider and heavier than my XJ.

You think a CX-5 is a big car?

By having a 2nd car. My big car is my brain off, big cupholder, nice stereo, npc car. Its comfy and I don't need to worry about road quality or steep parking lot enterances, etc. Its nicer when I'm just stuck in traffic trying to get places. When I get the itch for fun, I just use the other car, even if it means DD it once in awhile.

Due to sharing the garage with my workshop, we looked for a small compact SUV and ended up with a CX-30, which I believe is the shorted model Mazda sells. The 2013 F150 lives outside and is reserved for messy or smelly "man stuff."

gearheadE30 said:

I think you will get used to it. I thought my 3/4 ton Suburban was huge when I got it, now it feels normal. I routinely jump between that and the 924 or an E30, which are dramatically smaller than even a BRZ. By the time I've left my neighborhood, my brain has usually reset itself to whatever vehicle I'm in. 

E30 is actually a few inches longer than a BRZ, but a few inches narrower. 

It's not like I'll be driving it all the time. I just wanted to drive it since I hadn't yet. 

Dropping it off with my detail guy the Monday before Turkey Day, then drop off the BRZ for the yearly ceramic coating refresh. 

The only time I ever really noticed the size difference between two different vehicles was after one of the first times I drove the company van, a Ford Transit, for more than just a few miles.

After getting out of the van and back into my Honda Fit, I felt like I was dragging my butt on the ground.

(P.S. That van made cool turbo noises and was pretty quick on its feet when empty.)

It's funny, I considered a CX-5, CX-3 (when they made them), and a Mazda6. I'm not a fan of buying brand-new to the market cars, so the CX-3 was ruled out. I bought the CX-5 over the Mazda6 because it was smaller in length, but had a bigger interior capacity.

IMHO a CX5 is simply a taller boxier small car. As all of the currently hot "cute utes" are. 

So like most things it really is a perception thing. 

They are  - designed -to look bigger than they are. 

Used to sell Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave at the same place. People SWORE that they were different sizes. They were not. But to argue the truth was a no win so i didn't. 

I went to the plant and observed them all being built on the same floorpan, wheelbase, powertrain...

And yup, they looked different.

As for size if you really want to be humbled, watch a busy suburban housewife place a LARGE suv into a tight parking spot at like 80MPH. As my 5'2" wife used to do. 

In reply to SPG123 :

Yeah, I think it's a combination of interior volume and much higher seating position. 

It is much easier to get in and out of vs my lowered BRZ though.

My daily is a 2007 CX9, which I drive like I stole it.  Fantastic handling, for what it is.  Close to 200K miles.  Owes me nothing.

Now on its fifth set of tires.  Used to be the wife's daily with side gig towing the race cars.  Now retired to tire hauler, engine hauler, etc.

It just won't die.

My wife would DD her H2. You can get used to driving anything.