My Dad's Mazda- Quick Update

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Nov 4, 2012
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I swapped cars with my Dad today so that I could install the Android Auto/Apple Carplay Upgrade on his 2016 Mazda CX-5. He bought it as a CPO back in July, here is a posting I made on it at the time-

Thought I'd share the final verdict-

I went to look at a '15 Honda CR-V EX last night with Dad (brought mom along too since she is "the boss"), and it was at a Mazda dealership. He drove the CR-V, looked it over, thought it was okay and was ready to make an offer on it. But before he made an offer on it and with mom's help, I convinced him to just try driving a slightly more expensive CX-5. So we went for a ride in a 2016 CX-5 and he loved it. So this morning dad and I went and turned his lease in and then went back to the Mazda dealership and he bought the CX-5.

It's a 2016 Mazda CX-5 Touring, white on black interior. It's got 25,000 miles and its CPO so it's got a factory backed 7 year 100k mile powertrain warranty, plus 12 month 12k mile comprehensive warranty. It's got all kinds of bells and whistles that his Camry didn't have so there will be plenty of gadgets to keep my dad busy for a while. It came with four brand new tires which was nice. It's a Car and Driver 10 Best and has the highest earning from the IIHS, so I feel good about that. Plus it is very easy for him to get in and out of with his hips and shoulders which was a priority, and has lots of head and legroom (my dad is 6'2" and 230 lbs) so he should be quite comfortable in it.

Thanks for all the replies and opinions, they are much appreciated as always. Dad bought this car instead of leasing, so hopefully he'll have it for a while.

Zoom Zoom

View attachment 92064

Well the car is now at about 34000 miles and I've driven it a fair bit, but today after installing the Android Auto, I took it for a real spin. I'll be completely honest- it's fun to drive. It really doesn't feel like a crossover at all, it feels very much like a small sedan. The direct injected 4 banger revs fast and the 6 speed shifts really nicely. It has a sport mode that is super aggressive and raises the shift points substantially. The steering is well weighted and more importantly, it isn't numb like a lot of new cars with electric power steering. It handles well, I was able to throw it pretty hard into curves before any understeer occurred. If it had some actual summer tires on it instead of all seasons, I bet it would be even more fun. It is AWD but I certainly wouldn't try to off road with it, the ground clearance just isn't there. I think of it more as a hunchbacked sedan with AWD rather than a small SUV. As for any issues my dad has had with it since buying- the only thing that was an issue was the rear brakes were making noise shortly he bought it. He took it back to the dealer, and they put new rotors and pads on it, still had a noise. Took it back again, the dealer saw that there was a TSB addressing the issue, and replaced the caliper brackets. Still made noise. Did some research myself, found out there was a very recent revision to that same TSB that called for also replacing the rear calipers themselves. Printed the TSB out, brought it to the dealer, talked to the service manager, he was very apologetic, ordered the parts in right away (they had to come from Japan), offered a loaner while the car was being repaired as well as a coupon for a free oil change and $50 gift card for parts or service. So the dealership took care of it made good on having to bring it back multiple times. Anyways just wanted to do sort of a quick update now that the car has been around for a while. General consensus, in a world of bleh-meh-ugh crossovers, this one is actually pretty fun. Mazda really isn't lying with their Zoom-Zoom marketing.
 
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CaliWagon83

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The 2.5 was a big improvement over the 2.0, and now there’s a 2.5 turbo option which is supposedly a real rocket. If my wife hadn’t bought her ‘13 Escape off her grandfather, that’s what she probably would have bought. Although her Escape is a 2.0 turbo with 240 hp/270 lb-ft, so it’s no slouch either.
 
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Injectedcutty

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The 2.5 was a big improvement over the 2.0, and now there’s a 2.5 turbo option which is supposedly a real rocket. If my wife hadn’t bought her ‘13 Escape off her grandfather, that’s what she probably would have bought. Although her Escape is a 2.0 turbo with 240 hp/270 lb-ft, so it’s no slouch either.
Tbh, Ford caught the market so off guard that the Escape reigned supreme for a few years. I live about 10 miles from the plant that makes Escapes(go by it almost daily), and you should see all the parking lots Ford is leasing to park those suckers!
The other companies caught up with the boosted crossover platform and Escape sells have dwindled to the point LAP (Louisville Assembly Plant) is getting rid of their "C" crew shift, as well as voluntary shutdowns to slow production while the units move out.
I like the Mazda's, I have a 6S sedan with a 3.0 that will get up and boogy, but it's wearing down with almost 180K on the clock. Mine is actually a Ford spawn from the Fusion(half of my engine has FoMoCo parts on it!). Ford screwed up that deal and Mazda went back to their roots as a Japanese company in 2009ish? and are making nicers rides.
Rant over.
 
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Tbh, Ford caught the market so off guard that the Escape reigned supreme for a few years. I live about 10 miles from the plant that makes Escapes(go by it almost daily), and you should see all the parking lots Ford is leasing to park those suckers!
The other companies caught up with the boosted crossover platform and Escape sells have dwindled to the point LAP (Louisville Assembly Plant) is getting rid of their "C" crew shift, as well as voluntary shutdowns to slow production while the units move out.
I like the Mazda's, I have a 6S sedan with a 3.0 that will get up and boogy, but it's wearing down with almost 180K on the clock. Mine is actually a Ford spawn from the Fusion(half of my engine has FoMoCo parts on it!). Ford screwed up that deal and Mazda went back to their roots as a Japanese company in 2009ish? and are making nicers rides.
Rant over.

Yeah I think Mazda has done extremely well for themselves since they split from Ford, but there were some good products to come out of the Ford/Mazda partnership. I've always liked Mazdas, as a kid I had a poster of an FC RX-7 on my wall. I really like this CX-5 my dad has and I'd love to have a current 3 or 6 with a stick shift in it. I even had a Mazda 5 as a rental car a few years ago and I actually kinda liked it. I just hope Mazda doesn't try to go too upmarket.
 
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CaliWagon83

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There's supposedly an all-new Escape coming for 2020. That's probably why they're cutting the third shift, maybe to re-tool for the new model. I think the CR-V is the top-selling CUV now, but the Escape is solidly in the top 5. Two cars ago, I had a Protege 5. Loved that car, but it was gutless (not quite as gutless as the Regal, but no fireball). Other than the lack of power, loved everything about it.
 
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DRIVEN

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I always liked the Protege5. Underappreciated car, in my opinion.
 
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I would own and love any of these :cool:

Mazda5a.jpg
101190554_1995.mazda.rx7.6891-E1.jpg
20MAGEE1.jpg
mazda-rx-8-automatic_key_17.jpg
2006_mazda_mpv_passenger-minivan_lx_fq_oem_1_500.jpg

2003-mazda-mx-5 miata-rearside_mamx5033.jpg
 

xylorex

Master Mechanic
Aug 2, 2018
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Minivan, FD RX-7, Hatchback.... how in the world can you throw and FD RX-7 in the middle of this???

RX-7 isn't even close to being in the same category of any of the cars in this post!!! I am a huge fan of RX-7s, they are one of my favorite cars.

i will say that i'm currently driving my wife's old mazda 3 with the 2.3L 5 speed, and i enjoy the heck out of it..... 0-60 in 7.3 seconds ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda3 )
 
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