I can't talk you out of it. If you're worried about warranty, buy a newer one, or an extended warranty.

My wife drove one last Tuesday, and while I couldn't find any faults with it, she decided it was too small for her. She still has this dream of owning a horse, and she ended up getting a 2021 Chevy Blazer, 4500 or 5000 towing capacity. That would be enough for an aluminum horse trailer with one horse, if she had to run it to the vet or whatever.

The rust issue did come up in our search, and depending on where you live and if they salt the roads, might be an issue for you.

If you are still interested you might want to look at Miata net. There is a current thread on who owns a Miata MX5 and another Mazda simultaneously. A few responded they have CX5's. Seems to be a positive response to them.....

Mebbe do some research . I believe there were certain years with engine problems .

Hmm

TSB #SA-031-21

So, it looks like they had bad castings for the cylinder head. More prevalent on the turbo motor but looks like the n/a was part of the bad castings. No recall but known issue for this car… parts for a new oem head are a grand and 11 hrs of labor. So 3 grand which is the cost of an extended warranty…. They made 400k cx-5’s in 2019 and 2% are said to be affected...

Risk assessment says go for it and I’ll fix it IF it fails. . I’m going to talk them down and pay cash. So. We shall see.

Mazdas are great. I drive one, and am thinking about getting a CX-5.

At 11,000 miles it's just finished with its extended shake down cruise, demonstrating there is nothing wrong. That said, it is perhaps foolish to buy a car without a PPI. If it passes a PPI, then it's probably a steal.

My wife bought hers new in 2021. She loves it. CX5 non turbo motor. She’s had zero issues since new. Just oil/filter change. She had the brakes serviced last year. The car has only 35,000 km’s or just over 21,700 miles.
The only negative is it’s a little underpowered for my liking.

At my suggestion my wife has leased 2 CX-5 in a row. This last lease she switched to a CX-30. I’m impressed by all them but definitely like the CX-30 better. Good value, nice interiors.

We've owned two. Great cars. No issues.