- :
- 16 CX-5 Tour'ngAWD
I had the privilege of driving a 2020 CX-5 Grand Touring as part of my dealer's courtesy vehicle program while my car (a Gen 1 2016 Touring) was in for service to diagnose why a new battery wouldn't hold a charge. Almost got a CX-5 Diesel loaner, but apparently the dealer doesn't want customers putting fuel into the diesel for the off chance the wrong juice goes in the tank...go figure .
Overall, the 2020 CX-5 was nice, but I did notice one thing that perturbed me to no end, and that was the fact that the Intermittent Wiper feature is also the Auto wipers setting as well. So, while driving in the rain, with the switch/stalk set to "Auto" and the dial set to the slowest speed (" - "), I kept getting wiper swipes every 1-2 seconds becase the car "thought" rain drops bad -- swipe, swipe, swipe. Sooo frustrating ....and a supporting argument to my belief that some features in cars should not have an automatic feature.
When I want Intermittent Wipers, I want intermittent wiping - one swipe every 15 seconds, or one swipe every 7 seconds. It is my choice to select the swipe frequency based on what I want for the given precip condition. But, I don't have this control with "Auto" being the intermittent setting on the 2020 GT (or higher trims). So, why even include a dial that gives the owner a +/- swipe frequency control when the owner cannot control the "Auto" feature? Dumb, I tell you; just dumb.
If there is a Mazda engineer reading this, the better thing to do is to put the "Auto" wipe feature as one of the selections on the intermittent swipe frequency dial; either before the full "-" position or after the full "+" position. That way, the driver can control the swipe frequency OR put the wipers in "Auto".
Overall the new CX-5 is nice and posh compared to my lowly 2016; however, simple features such as this auto wiper thing really appreciate my somewhat plebeian CX-5 Touring.
That about does it for this rant. I'm sure there are a few other things about the new CX-5s that would perturb me just the same, but this wiper thing is what stood out the most in my brief time with the new vehicle.
[/rant]
Overall, the 2020 CX-5 was nice, but I did notice one thing that perturbed me to no end, and that was the fact that the Intermittent Wiper feature is also the Auto wipers setting as well. So, while driving in the rain, with the switch/stalk set to "Auto" and the dial set to the slowest speed (" - "), I kept getting wiper swipes every 1-2 seconds becase the car "thought" rain drops bad -- swipe, swipe, swipe. Sooo frustrating ....and a supporting argument to my belief that some features in cars should not have an automatic feature.
When I want Intermittent Wipers, I want intermittent wiping - one swipe every 15 seconds, or one swipe every 7 seconds. It is my choice to select the swipe frequency based on what I want for the given precip condition. But, I don't have this control with "Auto" being the intermittent setting on the 2020 GT (or higher trims). So, why even include a dial that gives the owner a +/- swipe frequency control when the owner cannot control the "Auto" feature? Dumb, I tell you; just dumb.
If there is a Mazda engineer reading this, the better thing to do is to put the "Auto" wipe feature as one of the selections on the intermittent swipe frequency dial; either before the full "-" position or after the full "+" position. That way, the driver can control the swipe frequency OR put the wipers in "Auto".
Overall the new CX-5 is nice and posh compared to my lowly 2016; however, simple features such as this auto wiper thing really appreciate my somewhat plebeian CX-5 Touring.
That about does it for this rant. I'm sure there are a few other things about the new CX-5s that would perturb me just the same, but this wiper thing is what stood out the most in my brief time with the new vehicle.
[/rant]