[CX-5]
The last few weeks have been a total blur. I posted recently about our anniversary, my trip to Portland for the blogging seminar/conference and then my brother’s wedding. WHEW! It’s been so hectic that it’s nice to finally have a few moments to breathe, relax and unwind.
Oh wait, that’s not what I’ve been doing at all.
Because inevitably when you have a vacation or business trip, or special family function…life still continues on without you. Which means even though you’re gone, there are still deadlines to be met, emails to read and respond to, and of course all the obligations you put on hold while you were gone. For me, this means several weeks of playing catch up. Which is why I’m only just now getting to tell you about my trip to Portland, even though I’ve been back for a couple weeks now.
So I flew to Portland on a Thursday. I got an a-maze-ing deal on my airline ticket ($119 round trip!) but it meant a connection in Denver on the way there, and a SIX HOUR LAYOVER in Denver on the way back. When I arrived in Portland (totally jet-lagged and happy not to be hurling through the air in a cramped tin can any more) I was greeted by this stunner:
This is the 2017 Mazda CX-5. If it looks familiar to you, that’s probably because of two reasons. First of all, we test drove the 2016 Mazda CX-5 last year and I wrote about that when we lived in Oregon. Then a few months later, we wound up buying the exact same model 2016 Mazda CX-5 because we loved it that much! We like to joke that our CX-5 was our souvenir from our time living in Oregon. It’s also a bit comical to me that when I came back to Oregon for a business trip (after swearing I would never go back to Oregon in my life) that I was given a CX-5 to test drive! But I was over the moon excited because of course we love our 2016, but also because I was excited to see what had changed from the 2016 to the 2017 models. The good news is: not a lot! It’s a great vehicle, so there’s not a lot to improve on. The front end is slightly more angular. Aggressive. Dare I say…sexy?
It seems like everyone and their uncle owns a CX-5 here in Minnesota. They are great vehicles for winter driving (those heated seats sure do help on those cold winter mornings too.). We always joke about our black CX-5 because there’s so many of them, I know it’s only a matter of time before I try to get into the wrong one in the parking lot at the grocery store!
The CX-5 seats five comfortably. The cargo area has plenty of room for all your stuff, which of course is important when you travel with a ginormous suitcase like I did. I was only gone 5 days yet somehow my checked bag was overweight by 3 pounds! More important though to me anyway is the comfort in the front seats. I was trekking all over Portland from the hotel where I was staying to the hotel where the conference was held, to the airport, and running around in between for various errands. I sure appreciated it’s comfort and space after a long day being crammed at a table with 9 other bloggers and their laptops, notepads and coffee mugs.
Speaking of coffee mugs, check out the one I got at the conference…
The CX-5 is good on gas mileage for an SUV, getting 31mpg on the highway. This makes the eco-conscious Oregonians happy, but it makes the budget-savvy frugal blogger (aka: me) happy too. I also love that the CX-5 has Mazda Radar Cruise Control (MRCC) with Stop and Go. It basically adjusts the speed and braking for you in stop and go traffic. Which is the coolest thing ever because Portland has some god-awful traffic. I guess with that many mountains there’s only so much room for highways, so the roads are extremely congested, even on the weekend!
Oh and the giant sunroof and big beautiful windows let in so much light that it makes for great car selfies. While parked, of course.
A few of my fave features of the 2017 Mazda Cx-5:
- The Mazda Infotainment system (that GPS saved me from getting lost in Portland more than once!)
- Power liftgate
- Rear privacy glass
- 8 way power driver’s seat with lumbar support
- heated front seats
- rear USB charging ports (for the kiddos or other passengers)
- Dynamic Stability Control and traction control system
- Radar Cruise Control with Stop and Go (heaven sent in that horrible Oregon traffic!)
Obviously we love the CX-5 because we bought one of our own. If I could do it all over again, we would absolutely buy it again. My husband and I fight over who gets to drive it!
I confess though, I did get a bit homesick during my trip. I did not love living in Oregon so being back there brought back some difficult memories of our time there. It made me miss being home with my hubby. However, the familiarity of the Mazda CX-5 made me feel a little closer to home. Like Oregon, not a lot has changed in the new CX-5, but unlike Oregon, the CX-5 is perfect the way it is. Okay fine, maybe I’m judging Oregon a little unfairly. I just don’t love all that rain!
What do you think of the 2017 Mazda CX-5?
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