It's rated number 2 in US News Best Cars:
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Mazda_CX-5/Interior/
But comments from Five-Guns-West are pretty passionate. It can be subjective but there may be some truth to what he says........ He's definitely tried out a lot of cars and I have taken his thoughts into consideration.
Though your input is also appreciated as well.
When I evaluate a car's interior, I really go through it.
I look at all the seams and look for gaps that seem a bit too wide, because this is a sign of bad workmanship that could be the signal of things falling apart elsewhere or later.
I check the fabrics and look for pilling. In the new CX5 I was looking at, looking at the seat backs and headrest backs, the felt-like cloth seemed thin and was already a bit too fuzzy. It was sewn to make seams with the leather to cover the seats and the thread intervals were long and large - a sign of an economy job.
I check each vent and anything else that has a plastic (or sometimes metal) insert. I put my fingernail into where the insert meets the hole, for example, at the vents and I try to see if there's any wiggle. On the CX5 it was relatively tight. On the X1 it was tight, so in comparison the X1 was superior to the CX5. The CX5 was more like the CRV. The Hyundai and Kia were better, so in comparison, the CX5 and Honda were at the bottom of the pack in this criteria and virtually all other interior criterias. One car I did not mention in my review, because it was not an SUV, was a brand new Lincoln MKZ. Using just my fingernail, I managed to pry off each vent insert. I showed the salesman this and he was shocked and embarrased, then he took me to the door jam to show the build number of the car and it was in the thousands. That's a bad sign, and if I were to spend $40K of my hard earned dollars, I better not see that kind of crap.
I check the center stack that runs from the dash down to between the seats. Does it move when I put my hands on either side of it and try to wiggle it? On the CX5 it moved easily. On the drive it would vibrate visibly. The fact the engine was buzzy did not help in that regard. This matters to me because I like to know a car is well put together and I don't consider evidence of this well put together.
I grab the interior door handles and pull after the door is shut - do the interior door panels seem to move off the door? Is there any give? These things are only hung on with plastic tabs. If the tabs are cheap, the interior of the door risks loosening over time. I had a 99 volvo where the interior door panel sunk off the door itself because the tabs got brittle and eventually broke.
I check for the kind of plastics on the dash top, bottom, and on the door ledges front and back. Are they hard plastics? These days more and more cars are doing away with the hard plastics of the 90's and 80's and use soft-touch rigid plastic materials. Compare cars and you will see the difference. The CX5 had a lot of hard plastics, as did the CRV. The Subaru was horrible in that regard, being that it has quite an aged interior. The other SUV's were not like this. However I do think the CX5 interior design is attractive in the way it looks, but that's about the only good thing about it.
At stop lights I listen carefully to passing traffic. I am checking for noise levels. I want a car that is good at traffic noise isolation. The CX5 and CRV were terrible, and only the X1 was worse. These two were the bottom of the pack in that regard.
During drives I listen to engine buzz and road noise of the tires. The CX5 and CRV were bad at speeds over 40km/hr. Under full throttle the CX5 was horrible. Under full throttle the CRV was so annoyingly slow it didn't matter to me at all the engine buzz or road noise. Only the X1 under full throttle was even worse than the CX5. Together these cars were at the bottom of the pack on this criteria.
Having owned many many cars, my experience has been that over time interior parts getting loose gets worse not better. Noises also get worse over time. So if things start off bad, that's not good for a new car.
I found you cannot properly evaluate a car if you only drive one or two to compare. It really pays to take the time to go through many cars and check things in detail to get a proper perspective on what is good quality and how they rank among each other. Most people who get excited by the first or second new car they test drive and pretty much just buy that without checking out the competition. Doing so really opens your eyes. I encourage people to really check them all out and see for yourself.
. It's a shame cuz they make some nice cars.
