2021 Mazda CX-5 Pricing and Specs

There’s been no recall for this model regarding oil consumption. And although there have been a handful of recalls for the CX-5, your car is not within the build-date parameters to be one of the affected ones.

It’s important to remember that often, a problem with a car sold in another market, won’t affect the same make and model in another part of the world. This can be because of vastly different operating conditions, different driving and usage habits and even the two apparently identical vehicles being built in different factories with different suppliers producing the parts.

Don’t forget, either, that all engines consume some oil. A turbocharged engine with its higher combustion chamber pressures will often sip a little more, but some oil consumption is part of the normal process of engine operation. That’s particularly true of modern cars which often use low-tension piston rings to reduce internal friction and, therefore, fuel consumption, at the cost of a little more oil consumption.

Proper maintenance is overlooked by many car owners, and it’s a real problem. Modern engines work very hard and have lots of intricate oilways and mechanical clearances that simply won’t tolerate dirty oil. On paper, the car you’re looking at hasn’t had clean oil or a filter change in 20,000km and that’s an awfully long time between drinks. In fact, it’s enough to perhaps give Mazda cause to void any new-car warranty remaining on it, should something mechanical go wrong.

Your best option would be to find another CX-5 with the options and in the colour you want, but with an up to date and complete service record. That’s the best way to prevent any major disasters down the track. The good news is the CX-5 was a popular model, so there should be lots to choose from.

The advice to always idle a hot turbocharged engine down was based on a period in time when turbochargers didn’t have the water-cooled bearings they do now. With modern turbos such as the one in your Mazda, the bearing shouldn’t get hot enough to need idling down (cooling gradually while the engine idles, pumping oil through the turbo bearing).

That said, I would imagine that the Mazda’s engine management software incorporates a line of code that will not allow the stop/start function to operate if the engine was at a high enough temperature that anything (turbo included) might be damaged by shutting the engine down suddenly. That same logic also ensures that the stop/start is disabled if the battery is low on charge, if the air-conditioner is running flat out or any other condition exists that requires the engine to be running. If you’re still concerned, you could always disable the stop/start function manually when you come to a stop after a drive and manually idle the engine for a minute or two before shutting it off. I appreciate mechanical sympathy, and so, obviously, do you, Steven.