I have a 6000 lb loaded camping trailer for example, I should've bought a tow vehicle but I hate daily driving half ton pickups so I just rent it from UHaul. I might also want to look at hybrids or EVs in the future. The 5's not bad on gas though and gas is a relatively "affordable" $1.15 a litre ($3.34 US per gallon) right now.
Haha, I figured I should try to breathe life back into this forum. We're seeing the same shift towards AWD CUVs in Canada. 10 years ago, compact sedans dominated the passenger vehicle sales charts while now it's half compact sedans and half compact CUVs. In terms of all vehicles, full size pickup trucks are king.potownrob wrote: ↑Sun Jul 05, 2020 12:46 am wow, unholy blast from the past!! glad you're doing well and still rocking the mazdas. everytime eye consider a mazda, something happens to take me away. someday, i shall finally have one!! it's funny (and possibly telling) how a lot of canadians rock the FWD cars, while wee muricans are afraid to not have AWD or 4WD. of course, some of you guys up there (in certain provinces) are required to rock the winter tires in the winter, while we don't have any such rules, at least knot here in the northeast. been looking into early cx-5s to replace my 07 altima, but prices on the AWD models are too high, at least in my general region. also have my eye on earlier 2nd gen cr-vs with the Manuel, but they are rare apparently...
Yea I have dedicated winter tires for both vehicles. My wife pondered getting a compact CUV at some point but after I got her brand new MIchelin X-Ice for her 3, she doesn't want the CUV anymore. The 3 has been well maintained mechanically and we know it'll serve us well for years to come.
AWD CX-5 never came with manual, you'd have to look at Subaru and Jeep for that. The FWD with winter tires should be fine but I know that for example Californian roads up to the mountains require AWD/4WD with no exceptions for winter tires.