We love our NA CX50. I guess the type of driving you do and where are you live may influence your decision on what engine is best.
We live in a rural area with not a lot of expressways or freeways. We have yet to have a problem merging onto any highway or passing a vehicle with this engine. Nor have we ever needed to “floor it” to do so. With just a minimum amount of advanced planning, you can easily drive in heavy traffic. Mind you, if I was driving on a 6 or 8 lane expressway all the time, I may have a different opinion?
The other consideration for us was that we drive in snow several months of the year. As most of us already know, rapid acceleration and snow (or wet highways) do not mix well. Each year I tow several vehicles out of the ditch with my 4x4, from those who accelerated or drove way too fast for the road conditions.
As you know, there is an increased towing ability with the turbo engine, however, we have already have our truck to address that. This extra towing capacity may be important to some, but remember there’s so much more to towing than just the GCWR of the tow vehicle.
Seldom if ever, do you want to tow something at your vehicle’s maximum towing capacity and remember to add several hundred pounds of “wet weight” to the “dry weight” of any trailer you might tow.
We were also concerned over the reported valve seal failures/oil consumption on the turbo models. I understand there currently is a class action lawsuit in the USA in regards to this. I am not sure if that concern has yet to be corrected or not?
The last consideration we had is that we usually keep our vehicle for 10 to 15 years. That is likely approaching or beyond the life expectancy of a turbo engine before expensive repairs are required. We did not want to put several thousand dollars into repairing our engine just prior to getting rid of the vehicle.
While the NA model will not be a “rocket ship”, but most drivers will discover it performs very well. Be comfortable with your decision. These are amazing vehicles and I suspect you’ll thoroughly enjoy yours.
Happy New Year to everyone on this forum.