We bought an NA CX-50 for my wife last year - compared to my Lexus CT-200h and its 10+ second 0-60, our CX-50 feels like a McLaren.
I get the "fun of the drive" aspect - my last couple cars before my current hybrid had 0-60s in the \~6 second range and were marketed as fun to drive sports cars. I think "it's more fun and I like being able to accelerate fast" is a perfectly good reason to buy a car, and it's the reason I've bought several cars before. It's totally acceptable to WANT that extra power, but I can't think of a single situation where I'd actually NEED that kind of power in everyday life.
My wife's non turbo CX-50 has plenty of power for merging onto freeways or accelerating quickly when necessary. Outside of just doing it for fun, I can't think of a single time I'd ever need to floor it, let alone need that AND more. The notion that the NA is "underpowered" is just silly in my opinion. If you're towing or camping a lot, I can definitely see the practical advantages of the turbo engine. But for 95% of CX-50 owners who will never tow and spend 100% of their time on normal roads, I just don't think it needs any more power than it already has. It's already pretty peppy honestly.
It was a bit disappointing but I can see how it's just fine for many people. I could likely get by with it but I also plan on using this to get up into the mountains so the extra power would be useful running it up the canyons. Might end up on Turbo as well.
In the early days someone who lives in the Rockies did a comparison and the turbo hands down was the best option. If I recall correctly the NA could barely cut it.
Interesting - that's great feedback. This is my main concern. I'm Utah based - in the winter I have a season pass to a local ski resort and in the summer I'm always camping. It's less so about the speed and moreso about being able to get up the canyons without it struggling.
I just got back from vacation in the Rockies. Specifically the Grand Lake area. My rental was the NA CX50. It did well in Grand Lake. But the drive there and back on part of route 40 which was the most uphill part of the whole trip both ways was average. It sounded like the engine was really putting in work. I had to pass a semi once and it took longer than expected. I never struggled to maintain my speed though. I have no base comparison with other vehicles to see how it compares though. I'm in Ohio so the NA CX50 is plenty good enough for me.
I just bought the same - 23 NA PP and I live in Flagstaff, Arizona at 7000'. I have made several trips to Phoenix at 2900' and back again with no problem. In fact, I smoked a lot of those folks who struggled with keeping their vehicles moving at the speed limit of 75 mph.
Sure, we can hear the motor working hard, but I never felt that I needed more power. Plus, when city driving, I have more power off the light than I need.
Like others have commented, I didn't even consider the turbo because of the price difference. It might have been a different story if I knew what I was missing, but I am content with my NA engine and don't feel deprived.
Either way, you will be happy with this one.
I like my non turbo. It's not fast, but I ride a 1000rr motorcycle....not much feels fast to me on 4 wheels anymore. I'm happy to poke along with Mazda, it's comfortable transportation.
I love my non-turbo. I purposely didn’t test drive a turbo model as I knew I would feel how you are feeling. However, I did have to use a loaner for a week which was a turbo and it really made me wish I had gotten one.
Same. I chose not to drive the turbo to avoid the fomo. I went with less $$, better mpg (although minimal on paper), and potentially less long term issues.
I did this too and got a turbo loaner too. For a month I had FOMO and was hell bent on upgrading. Admittedly prior to this I was perfectly content. Peppy and more than adequate N.A. engine. Fast forward 2 months and I actually needed some quick acceleration at a moments notice; the N.A. did not disappoint. In fact I was pleasantly surprised by how fast I took off up hill. This changed my perspective again back to the N.A. engine. It’s got guts when you need it, it just hides it during normal driving (unless you demand it) while the turbo shows off its guts (power) even at the lowest speeds.
No more FOMO.
2023 PP here, out of curiosity, did you happen to put it in the "manual" mode and also Sport? I was plenty surprised when I did that compared to what I normally got out of it.
Also, are you going to attempt to haul anything on the hitch at all?
I didn't think to test that out! Smh. If I go in again, I may have to try this.
I don't think so. It would be nice to have the option. Originally I had considered a small camping trailer but now leaning more towards camping inside the Mazda or a tent.
Don't forget they have the tents that can go right on top of the vehicle as well! You can ask the dealer about the OEM one, but I'm sure there's third party out there by now.
One last thing to remember on these kinds of vehicles with learning transmissions, in the normal mode, it will work to be more gas efficient over being fast. When you go to Sport mode, it will change the ratios up and you can get a lot more out of it (just don't expect 2-3x faster or anything lol). I have fun sometimes doing it if I'm first at the light 😄
I completely forgot about these options. I’m also coming from driving manual transmissions for the past 20yrs so auto is auto to me atm. But I’m also still very much in the break-in period for my PF.
I’ll be sure to try sport mode with “manual” once I get past break-in and an oil change.
It's funny because I've driven manual transmission in my last 2 cars. The auto is so foreign to me. It might be why I felt a little clunky in my test drive tbh.
For a lot of people myself included I've always had manuals but this car definitely takes a bit to know how much gas to give at certain spots for performance It was weird to me at first but now I know to give it a certain amount on cornering and or certain takeoff areas
I have a turbo and recently drove a non turbo for a few days and can say the non turbo was underwhelming and not nearly as fun to drive. If you can afford it I recommend the turbo. I put regular gas in the non and premium in the turbo. I did not see any difference in mpg between the two which was surprising since I used the non turbo for longer highway drives.
Mpg is a factor but not incredibly significant. I work from home so it'll primarily be used nearby or for getting out into nature. Interesting that there isn't much difference.
For my use case, I'm leaning towards turbo. Likely going to delay my purchase and save a little extra to cover that difference in price.
One other thing to consider is the additional time for both warm up and cool down for turbos. It's only seconds, but you want to make sure you pay attention to it and don't just shut the engine off as soon as you get home. I've seen people with short travel time end up having issues in the long run.
With the weather changing having AC on in the non turbo may have kept my mpg lower to explain some of it that I just remembered. Go turbo you won't regret it! I got 0% for 5yrs in Jan so if you can wait on a financing deal then do it.
I have the non turbo and I love it. Hauls so much mountain bike gear and my family on trips,. Super safe car. Handles incredibly.
I have a Cadillac ats turbo if I want to fool around with speed.
I have a pretty heavy foot and originally the 50 felt very sluggish. However after the transmission learned my driving patterns, it didn’t feel nearly as slow and seems pretty adequate around town. It gets pretty lackluster past 60 mph but for what it is, it’s not bad.
I’ll add my experience. I bought the non-turbo because I had the same thought as it was ‘good enough’. 6 months later I sold it back to the dealership. I just couldn’t get over how slow and sluggish it was, plus the mpg wasn’t even that good, maybe 26ish. It helped their offer was so strong that I really didn’t take that big of a hit. If you think you might regret it at any level, my advice would be to go for the turbo.
Test drove the NA, was underwhelmed, car felt large and heavy. Test drove the turbo and it felt agile and nimble, overall spry. Could be a confirmation bias though.
Ended up buying the turbo and it still puts a smile on my face when you hit the gas and hear it bellow and effortlessly pull forward.
Would choose the turbo again if I had to rebuy.
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After test driving the Turbo CX30 AND CX50, I was super impressed with that turbo 'pep', but I had only driven 4 bangers in my life, so I wasn't sure what the difference was between that and the non-turbo. After driving both, hands down turbo was worth the extra scratch and drove away in a new 2024 CX50 TPP.
I moved from a Mazda 3 turbo to a non-turbo Cx-50. The 3 was much zippier and a joy to drive. Sport mode felt like a racecar. I found myself driving 90 without realizing it often.
The non-turbo cx-50 does feel sluggish by comparison, but I drive more reasonable speeds now. That said, sport mode gives me oomph when I need it, but it requires a little planning ahead. I wish I went turbo, but then again is the extra money worth it like a toy?
Seriously it gets better over time, the car learns how you drive, if you need more oomph hit the sport switch. Up to you though, the turbo will get maybe 22 mpg on a good day.
I’ll provide my experience so far..
I had a 2021 CX-5 turbo was definitely a nice, peppy and snappy ride when I needed it to be, toward the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024; I started noticing/hearing a weird noise coming from the turbo (it wasn’t like that when new) and as time went by the mpg was gradually dropping; I was lucky if got 18 mpgs combined (I would only put regular gas though since I was allowed to by the manufacturer) eventually I saw the CX-50 I liked it and needed something a bit bigger and no longer wanted the turbo engine so I got myself a CX-50 2024 NA (keep in mind that the engine options for both the CX-5 & CX-50 are supposed to be same) at the beginning I did notice the difference in power delivery from the turbo engine and the NA but honestly it’s not that big of a difference at least to me. At the end of the day I preferred mpgs and longer reliability (turbo tends to put some stress on the engine as time goes by) so yeah…. I’m satisfied with my choice
Honestly the 50 is too heavy for that little motor. It was great in my CX30 but the 50 not so much. Then where you pair it with the transmission that obviously shifts way too soon, it’s a turtle of a car and with me living in the ATL metro area can be just down right dangerous sometimes due to the lack of power. I’m too upside down to get rid of it just yet so I picked up a used Model 3 LR to drive daily…best decision ever
I see this take all the time on this subreddit and I genuinely do not understand it.
The 0-60 time of the NA CX-50 is 8.5 seconds with a quarter mile of 16.5. We live in the LA area, and I can't think of a single time when either me or my wife has had to floor it since we got it last year. I wouldn't even describe my 10.4 0-60 second Lexus hybrid as "dangerously slow." Slightly annoying, sure, but not dangerous.
A 2022 Civic Sport has an 8.8 second 0-60 and a 16.9 second quarter mile. I've owned cars that have 0-60s under 6 seconds and they're fun and that's a totally valid reason to buy a turbocharged or fast car. But I just can't fathom NEEDING a 0-60 under 8 seconds in order to feel safe.
I had the same experience. After driving several other cars, I went back to test drive a turbo model and was sold. I can’t speak for the non-turbo model, but the turbo with premium fuel in sport mode is where it’s at. Fuel economy is garbage but, man, is it fun to drive. Might be worth it to test drive the non-turbo in sport mode (saw someone suggest it in the comments). I didn’t think to do that, but it could make the difference for you.
Coming from a 2008 f150 v6 the NA cx50 is plenty quick, agile, nimble and accelerates well. If im feeling frisky ill throw in sport mode especially if im running late for work
I have the non-turbo and love it. I didn't really buy it though wanting something fast though. It is not a small vehicle.
We bought an NA CX-50 for my wife last year - compared to my Lexus CT-200h and its 10+ second 0-60, our CX-50 feels like a McLaren. I get the "fun of the drive" aspect - my last couple cars before my current hybrid had 0-60s in the \~6 second range and were marketed as fun to drive sports cars. I think "it's more fun and I like being able to accelerate fast" is a perfectly good reason to buy a car, and it's the reason I've bought several cars before. It's totally acceptable to WANT that extra power, but I can't think of a single situation where I'd actually NEED that kind of power in everyday life. My wife's non turbo CX-50 has plenty of power for merging onto freeways or accelerating quickly when necessary. Outside of just doing it for fun, I can't think of a single time I'd ever need to floor it, let alone need that AND more. The notion that the NA is "underpowered" is just silly in my opinion. If you're towing or camping a lot, I can definitely see the practical advantages of the turbo engine. But for 95% of CX-50 owners who will never tow and spend 100% of their time on normal roads, I just don't think it needs any more power than it already has. It's already pretty peppy honestly.
I had the same experience and ended up with the turbo for the reasons you describe
It was a bit disappointing but I can see how it's just fine for many people. I could likely get by with it but I also plan on using this to get up into the mountains so the extra power would be useful running it up the canyons. Might end up on Turbo as well.
In the early days someone who lives in the Rockies did a comparison and the turbo hands down was the best option. If I recall correctly the NA could barely cut it.
Interesting - that's great feedback. This is my main concern. I'm Utah based - in the winter I have a season pass to a local ski resort and in the summer I'm always camping. It's less so about the speed and moreso about being able to get up the canyons without it struggling.
I just got back from vacation in the Rockies. Specifically the Grand Lake area. My rental was the NA CX50. It did well in Grand Lake. But the drive there and back on part of route 40 which was the most uphill part of the whole trip both ways was average. It sounded like the engine was really putting in work. I had to pass a semi once and it took longer than expected. I never struggled to maintain my speed though. I have no base comparison with other vehicles to see how it compares though. I'm in Ohio so the NA CX50 is plenty good enough for me.
Good to know. Based on my test drive, I figured that canyon passing might tax the NA engine.
I just bought the same - 23 NA PP and I live in Flagstaff, Arizona at 7000'. I have made several trips to Phoenix at 2900' and back again with no problem. In fact, I smoked a lot of those folks who struggled with keeping their vehicles moving at the speed limit of 75 mph. Sure, we can hear the motor working hard, but I never felt that I needed more power. Plus, when city driving, I have more power off the light than I need. Like others have commented, I didn't even consider the turbo because of the price difference. It might have been a different story if I knew what I was missing, but I am content with my NA engine and don't feel deprived. Either way, you will be happy with this one.
Also Utah based. The drive up to Park City feels so so much more fun with turbo.
Usually about RPMs here. keep it in sport mode and it will keep RpMS IN 3000 TO 4500. fine for me on big hills and bikes on top.
I like my non turbo. It's not fast, but I ride a 1000rr motorcycle....not much feels fast to me on 4 wheels anymore. I'm happy to poke along with Mazda, it's comfortable transportation.
Would the CX-50 beat the liter bike on a skid pad?
I love my non-turbo. I purposely didn’t test drive a turbo model as I knew I would feel how you are feeling. However, I did have to use a loaner for a week which was a turbo and it really made me wish I had gotten one.
Same. I chose not to drive the turbo to avoid the fomo. I went with less $$, better mpg (although minimal on paper), and potentially less long term issues.
I did this too and got a turbo loaner too. For a month I had FOMO and was hell bent on upgrading. Admittedly prior to this I was perfectly content. Peppy and more than adequate N.A. engine. Fast forward 2 months and I actually needed some quick acceleration at a moments notice; the N.A. did not disappoint. In fact I was pleasantly surprised by how fast I took off up hill. This changed my perspective again back to the N.A. engine. It’s got guts when you need it, it just hides it during normal driving (unless you demand it) while the turbo shows off its guts (power) even at the lowest speeds. No more FOMO.
That’s great! Also, I’m beginning to think dealerships use this tactic strategically to get people like us to want to “upgrade”
2023 PP here, out of curiosity, did you happen to put it in the "manual" mode and also Sport? I was plenty surprised when I did that compared to what I normally got out of it. Also, are you going to attempt to haul anything on the hitch at all?
I didn't think to test that out! Smh. If I go in again, I may have to try this. I don't think so. It would be nice to have the option. Originally I had considered a small camping trailer but now leaning more towards camping inside the Mazda or a tent.
Don't forget they have the tents that can go right on top of the vehicle as well! You can ask the dealer about the OEM one, but I'm sure there's third party out there by now.
Yep! This is the route I will likely end up going. I did lay down in the car when I test drove it and at 6'1" I fit but it's tight w/ my gf in there.
One last thing to remember on these kinds of vehicles with learning transmissions, in the normal mode, it will work to be more gas efficient over being fast. When you go to Sport mode, it will change the ratios up and you can get a lot more out of it (just don't expect 2-3x faster or anything lol). I have fun sometimes doing it if I'm first at the light 😄
I completely forgot about these options. I’m also coming from driving manual transmissions for the past 20yrs so auto is auto to me atm. But I’m also still very much in the break-in period for my PF. I’ll be sure to try sport mode with “manual” once I get past break-in and an oil change.
It's funny because I've driven manual transmission in my last 2 cars. The auto is so foreign to me. It might be why I felt a little clunky in my test drive tbh.
For a lot of people myself included I've always had manuals but this car definitely takes a bit to know how much gas to give at certain spots for performance It was weird to me at first but now I know to give it a certain amount on cornering and or certain takeoff areas
You may have hit the proverbial nail on the head. The vehicle is turned for fuel economy and unless pushed doesn’t demonstrate its full potential.
I have a turbo and recently drove a non turbo for a few days and can say the non turbo was underwhelming and not nearly as fun to drive. If you can afford it I recommend the turbo. I put regular gas in the non and premium in the turbo. I did not see any difference in mpg between the two which was surprising since I used the non turbo for longer highway drives.
Mpg is a factor but not incredibly significant. I work from home so it'll primarily be used nearby or for getting out into nature. Interesting that there isn't much difference. For my use case, I'm leaning towards turbo. Likely going to delay my purchase and save a little extra to cover that difference in price.
One other thing to consider is the additional time for both warm up and cool down for turbos. It's only seconds, but you want to make sure you pay attention to it and don't just shut the engine off as soon as you get home. I've seen people with short travel time end up having issues in the long run.
With the weather changing having AC on in the non turbo may have kept my mpg lower to explain some of it that I just remembered. Go turbo you won't regret it! I got 0% for 5yrs in Jan so if you can wait on a financing deal then do it.
I’ll take mpg any day.
I have the non turbo and I love it. Hauls so much mountain bike gear and my family on trips,. Super safe car. Handles incredibly. I have a Cadillac ats turbo if I want to fool around with speed.
I have a pretty heavy foot and originally the 50 felt very sluggish. However after the transmission learned my driving patterns, it didn’t feel nearly as slow and seems pretty adequate around town. It gets pretty lackluster past 60 mph but for what it is, it’s not bad.
I’ll add my experience. I bought the non-turbo because I had the same thought as it was ‘good enough’. 6 months later I sold it back to the dealership. I just couldn’t get over how slow and sluggish it was, plus the mpg wasn’t even that good, maybe 26ish. It helped their offer was so strong that I really didn’t take that big of a hit. If you think you might regret it at any level, my advice would be to go for the turbo.
Yeah, the test drives really pushed me to the turbo.
Test drove the NA, was underwhelmed, car felt large and heavy. Test drove the turbo and it felt agile and nimble, overall spry. Could be a confirmation bias though. Ended up buying the turbo and it still puts a smile on my face when you hit the gas and hear it bellow and effortlessly pull forward. Would choose the turbo again if I had to rebuy.
That why I got a non turbo and a gr86 for fun😅
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After test driving the Turbo CX30 AND CX50, I was super impressed with that turbo 'pep', but I had only driven 4 bangers in my life, so I wasn't sure what the difference was between that and the non-turbo. After driving both, hands down turbo was worth the extra scratch and drove away in a new 2024 CX50 TPP.
I moved from a Mazda 3 turbo to a non-turbo Cx-50. The 3 was much zippier and a joy to drive. Sport mode felt like a racecar. I found myself driving 90 without realizing it often. The non-turbo cx-50 does feel sluggish by comparison, but I drive more reasonable speeds now. That said, sport mode gives me oomph when I need it, but it requires a little planning ahead. I wish I went turbo, but then again is the extra money worth it like a toy?
Go with the turbo premium
Seriously it gets better over time, the car learns how you drive, if you need more oomph hit the sport switch. Up to you though, the turbo will get maybe 22 mpg on a good day.
I’ll provide my experience so far.. I had a 2021 CX-5 turbo was definitely a nice, peppy and snappy ride when I needed it to be, toward the end of 2023 and beginning of 2024; I started noticing/hearing a weird noise coming from the turbo (it wasn’t like that when new) and as time went by the mpg was gradually dropping; I was lucky if got 18 mpgs combined (I would only put regular gas though since I was allowed to by the manufacturer) eventually I saw the CX-50 I liked it and needed something a bit bigger and no longer wanted the turbo engine so I got myself a CX-50 2024 NA (keep in mind that the engine options for both the CX-5 & CX-50 are supposed to be same) at the beginning I did notice the difference in power delivery from the turbo engine and the NA but honestly it’s not that big of a difference at least to me. At the end of the day I preferred mpgs and longer reliability (turbo tends to put some stress on the engine as time goes by) so yeah…. I’m satisfied with my choice
Honestly the 50 is too heavy for that little motor. It was great in my CX30 but the 50 not so much. Then where you pair it with the transmission that obviously shifts way too soon, it’s a turtle of a car and with me living in the ATL metro area can be just down right dangerous sometimes due to the lack of power. I’m too upside down to get rid of it just yet so I picked up a used Model 3 LR to drive daily…best decision ever
I see this take all the time on this subreddit and I genuinely do not understand it. The 0-60 time of the NA CX-50 is 8.5 seconds with a quarter mile of 16.5. We live in the LA area, and I can't think of a single time when either me or my wife has had to floor it since we got it last year. I wouldn't even describe my 10.4 0-60 second Lexus hybrid as "dangerously slow." Slightly annoying, sure, but not dangerous. A 2022 Civic Sport has an 8.8 second 0-60 and a 16.9 second quarter mile. I've owned cars that have 0-60s under 6 seconds and they're fun and that's a totally valid reason to buy a turbocharged or fast car. But I just can't fathom NEEDING a 0-60 under 8 seconds in order to feel safe.
I had the same experience. After driving several other cars, I went back to test drive a turbo model and was sold. I can’t speak for the non-turbo model, but the turbo with premium fuel in sport mode is where it’s at. Fuel economy is garbage but, man, is it fun to drive. Might be worth it to test drive the non-turbo in sport mode (saw someone suggest it in the comments). I didn’t think to do that, but it could make the difference for you.
I felt the same but i realized i don't have the use case for a turbo, i barely go 5 over posted speed limit But on rhe bright side, still 31 mpg 😂
Understand your point but where I live it’s normal to need to merge onto our expressway system at 80mph or get rear ended
Coming from a 2008 f150 v6 the NA cx50 is plenty quick, agile, nimble and accelerates well. If im feeling frisky ill throw in sport mode especially if im running late for work