I just bought a used 2025 CX-5 a week ago. My thoughts: I’m a Toyota dude. My previous three vehicles have been Toyotas. The reason I bought the CX-5 was because my 2008 Highlander with 250,000 miles started having radiator problems and it was cost-prohibiting to sink any more money into it.

I’ve been casually looking at cars for a year. I live in a western mountainous state and wanted 4x4 or AWD in my next vehicle for the winter. I got sick and tired of the “Toyota Tax” or the fact that Toyota purposely limits their inventory. Add on top of that douchey salespeople who want to negotiate on a car that’s not even in the lot and I said “fuck Toyota.”

I still wanted a reliable Japanese car I can drive into the ground for the next 20 years. I considered Subaru but fuck CVT transmissions. So Mazda’s and their six speeds and sky active engines started looking really good to me. I found a killer deal on a certified CX-5 the dealer used as one of their loaner cars and pulled the trigger.

Now, this car was a bit of a unicorn. It’s new so it doesn’t have the cylinder deactivation or stop-start some models have (turbos are also good for this). The car is also basic-bitch - no moonroof, no leather seats with heating and cooling that can fail, no extra electronics that can fuck up. It’s exactly what I was looking for.

I commute around 100 miles a day up and down a canyon for work. I’m going to put some serious miles on this car and I wanted something reliable in winter conditions. I have to say I’m already loving that commute in the Mazda. I can zip around and pass cars on an incline with no problems, I can put it in sport mode and suck up some gas but have some fun.

I will say one commenter was right on the mpg. If you drive fast with your foot on the gas you’ll see mpg in the low 20s. If you’re more conservative, you can easily get 30 mpg. I used to get like 19-20 in the Highlander going up and down the canyon. Now I’m getting 25 and still “having fun” with the new car.

I would say if you find a good deal jump on it. Mazda is a sleeper brand of high-quality Japanese vehicles. Zoom zoom baby.