About to pull the trigger on the CX-5 but worried about issues

[V8toilet]

For most people, I bet the head unit is not a huge issue. I have used the BT to stream Pandora, play my iTunes library and make and receive calls. For me, it works great. Could it be better, sure. But I bought a car, not a radio.

I agree totally here.

For those that do not like the stock head unit including me I say don't forget the fact that this is a small economy SUV, although a overall good one. My issues with the stock HU aren't because of the Bluetooth or phone connectivity problems but just overall sound quality, The fact that it comes with so many options like blind spot and a backup camera and that it doesn't have a cheap looking interior is a major milestone, especially for the $24,600 I paid out the door. There is also the aftermarket head units out there that are far superior to the stock unit for under $500.

 

[zorobg]

Hey all,

I'm not concerned with most of the issues in the article, but I am concerned about the moisture/frost issue on the inside of the windshield.

- Nick

There are a lot worst things happening to CX-5's windshield. Try searching the Internets.

 

[eh9116]

I'm approaching the 1 year mark and recently passed 15,000 miles on my 2014 2.5L CX-5 Touring. I am very happy with my CX-5, I average right around 29-30 mpg in normal suburban mixed driving and bump up to 32-33 on extended stretches of freeway driving. Oil changes are very easy on this car as the filter and drain plug are right next to each other and the filter faces down. All the oil drops into the same pan, no collateral mess to clean up and the new filter can be pre-filled with oil to minimize the delay between starting and oil pressure returning.

I have 3 minor issues that I will share with the dealer the next time I have a reason to stop in. There is a tiny nick in the vinyl wrap in the shifter knob, and tiny amount "play" between the drivers door armrest/handle and door itself. And there is a slight buzz at times coming from the passenger side rear corner that I haven't tracked down. It may be related to the car, or my stuff, I haven't narrowed it down yet.

I live in the Seattle area, so it is commonly very wet, but only occasionally below freezing. I have noticed a few times that when restarting the car on very humid/rainy days that the initial blast of air from the defroster has a lot of moisture in it and it briefly fogs the windshield until the dehumidification effect catches up. If it were below freezing when this happened, I suspect it would be more annoying and take longer to clear. I don't normally see it on cold starts, most commonly on restarts after being parked for a while.

The main thing I use in the Infotainment system is the Bluetooth integration and Pandora, both of which work very well for me with my iPhone.

I expect minor issues, as with any car. That's the exact info I was looking for in regards to the Infotainment system! All I need is Bluetooth integration for music, phone and Pandora. Do you charge your phone via USB in the car? I always have my phone charging in my car, but will that automatically trigger the music to play over USB?? Or does the music only start to read when you select USB from the infotainment menu?

Some of the comments on that site is like reading reviews from Amazon or Yelp:

"-doors open weird."
"- there is a plastic something on the bottom of every door which my son will break off as soon as he will be able to get out of the car by himself."
"- Snapping the sun visor our of its holder is difficult and sounds like I’m about to break it. I didn’t. Yet."

(bang)

Haha I love the "doors open weird" comment. Priceless.

I actually tested the XV and the Outback. The XV is ugly and slow. The AWD system (on the Manual) is fantastic but the car just felt cheap. The Outback only costs a little bit more money and is a better car. It feels much bigger than the CX-5 but drives very nicely. I personally just liked the feel of the Mazda more. Everything just felt better.

Good to hear. I think the XV is hit or miss in the looks department. It totally depends on the color. I saw a dark grey one with dark grey rims that was pretty awesome, but the other colors I've seen we're kinda weird (where the exterior plastic parts become very noticeable).

But honestly, when you look at Toyota or GM, where there problems were KILLING people, they ignored it!

For most people, I bet the head unit is not a huge issue. I have used the BT to stream Pandora, play my iTunes library and make and receive calls. For me, it works great. Could it be better, sure. But I bought a car, not a radio.

That's all I want to use it for! So BT streaming of music is fine? What if you plug in your iphone to charge over USB? Will it try to read the music on the phone automatically? or only when you select USB on the infotainment screen?

 

[eh9116]

Ok guys - new problem. I've set the date to go and lease my 2014 CX-5 Touring. I'm headed to the dealership (Sansone Auto) next Thursday, March 27th, but I was just checking the dealer's stock and they have at least 5 2015 CX-5's! Is there much difference in the 2015 CX-5 that's worth upgrading to? Or should I stick with the 2014 and try to get a better deal?

Ahhhh, I want this car already!

 

[Lucky_Shot]

Ok guys - new problem. I've set the date to go and lease my 2014 CX-5 Touring. I'm headed to the dealership (Sansone Auto) next Thursday, March 27th, but I was just checking the dealer's stock and they have at least 5 2015 CX-5's! Is there much difference in the 2015 CX-5 that's worth upgrading to? Or should I stick with the 2014 and try to get a better deal?

Ahhhh, I want this car already!

Per dealers I've chatted with, the only difference is the Advanced Keyless Entry is now standard on Touring and Grand Touring trims.

 

[djsiva]

Ok guys - new problem. I've set the date to go and lease my 2014 CX-5 Touring. I'm headed to the dealership (Sansone Auto) next Thursday, March 27th, but I was just checking the dealer's stock and they have at least 5 2015 CX-5's! Is there much difference in the 2015 CX-5 that's worth upgrading to? Or should I stick with the 2014 and try to get a better deal?

Ahhhh, I want this car already!

There are only minimal differences, like the addition of keyless entry for lower models. You could really go either way though; hammer them for a lower price on a 2014.5 because the 2015s are here, or go with 2015 because the additional model year will be better for resale/trade-in. It just depends on what is important to you, money now or money later.

 

[dougal]

I expect minor issues, as with any car. That's the exact info I was looking for in regards to the Infotainment system! All I need is Bluetooth integration for music, phone and Pandora. Do you charge your phone via USB in the car? I always have my phone charging in my car, but will that automatically trigger the music to play over USB?? Or does the music only start to read when you select USB from the infotainment menu?






Haha I love the "doors open weird" comment. Priceless.



Good to hear. I think the XV is hit or miss in the looks department. It totally depends on the color. I saw a dark grey one with dark grey rims that was pretty awesome, but the other colors I've seen we're kinda weird (where the exterior plastic parts become very noticeable).



That's all I want to use it for! So BT streaming of music is fine? What if you plug in your iphone to charge over USB? Will it try to read the music on the phone automatically? or only when you select USB on the infotainment screen?

I actually charge with an adapter in the cigarette lighter in the hatch, right by the USB connector. I can stream music to the bluetooth without any problem. The one issue I do find is that it will not remember to shuffle for example. And, the shuffle button is not lighted up, so you have to use the voice command to get it to shuffle. A pain but once you get used to it, it is no big deal. iTunes radio and Pandora work well with little effort.

I would highly recommend you try it out in your test drive to sure you can live with it.

 

[eh9116]

Per dealers I've chatted with, the only difference is the Advanced Keyless Entry is now standard on Touring and Grand Touring trims.

Wow, that's silly. The 2014.5 model I've put on hold already has that anyways.

There are only minimal differences, like the addition of keyless entry for lower models. You could really go either way though; hammer them for a lower price on a 2014.5 because the 2015s are here, or go with 2015 because the additional model year will be better for resale/trade-in. It just depends on what is important to you, money now or money later.

I'll go sit in a 2015 just to feel it out, but yea, I think a new 2014 is probably the way to go. Besides, who knows what problems MIGHT arise with the 2015? At least the 2014 issues are known and tolerable!

 

[eh9116]

I actually charge with an adapter in the cigarette lighter in the hatch, right by the USB connector. I can stream music to the bluetooth without any problem. The one issue I do find is that it will not remember to shuffle for example. And, the shuffle button is not lighted up, so you have to use the voice command to get it to shuffle. A pain but once you get used to it, it is no big deal. iTunes radio and Pandora work well with little effort.

I would highly recommend you try it out in your test drive to sure you can live with it.

Oh ok so you don't charge with the USB connector. I think that's what I do when I go next Thursday, I'll bring my USB charger for my iPhone and make sure it doesn't try to connect and read all the music from my phone. I only play via Spotify and Pandora off my phone while in the car, but I don't want the CX-5 trying to read the music on my phone every time I plug it in. We'll see.

 

[bmarsh]

I actually charge with an adapter in the cigarette lighter in the hatch, right by the USB connector. I can stream music to the bluetooth without any problem. The one issue I do find is that it will not remember to shuffle for example. And, the shuffle button is not lighted up, so you have to use the voice command to get it to shuffle. A pain but once you get used to it, it is no big deal. iTunes radio and Pandora work well with little effort.

I would highly recommend you try it out in your test drive to sure you can live with it.

My wife's Mini, with the the Harmon Kardon stereo, doesn't remember shuffle every time it's turned off, even on the CD. I suppose Mazda's aren't the only cars with issues. I've also heard they have problems with bluetooth streaming of music with a lot of phones...

 

[bluefan]

I actually charge with an adapter in the cigarette lighter in the hatch, right by the USB connector. I can stream music to the bluetooth without any problem. The one issue I do find is that it will not remember to shuffle for example. And, the shuffle button is not lighted up, so you have to use the voice command to get it to shuffle. A pain but once you get used to it, it is no big deal. iTunes radio and Pandora work well with little effort.

I would highly recommend you try it out in your test drive to sure you can live with it.

If you're streaming with bluetooth, why not enable shuffle right off the device?

 

[Beefy]

If you're streaming with bluetooth, why not enable shuffle right off the device?

Indeed, much better to control Bluetooth music playlist, shuffle, etc. at the source.

 

[craigo]

Oh ok so you don't charge with the USB connector. I think that's what I do when I go next Thursday, I'll bring my USB charger for my iPhone and make sure it doesn't try to connect and read all the music from my phone. I only play via Spotify and Pandora off my phone while in the car, but I don't want the CX-5 trying to read the music on my phone every time I plug it in. We'll see.

I charge with the usb connector and stream spotify over bluetooth. The only 'trick' to it that there seems to be is start the car before plugging into the usb. If you plug into usb then start the car, it will try to read music via usb instead of bluetooth.

There are a couple of curious issues with the iphone to be aware of, and I don't believe its the car but rather the phone. One is that if you use GPS on the phone it may not necessarily charge if plugged in. It won't lose charge, but it won't gain charge. I think this might be because the phone gets warm and turns off the charging circuitry to protect the battery.

The second is that while in most cases the phone will remember where it left off music wise if you leave the car, sometimes it will forget. It seems to be the case if you do something on the phone that plays audio, or you use a lot of other apps.

 

[cwstnsko]

I believe the USB port is not designed to provide a strong charging current, it is a trickle charge at best. If I plug into the USB, I generally don't gain any battery charge if I am using either Pandora, GPS or both. I use a 12V socket adapter in the armrest pocket and get good strong charge current, even when the car is turned off. If this makes you nervous, then you can charge from the socket in the cubby below the heater controls, it turns off when the car is off. For my iPhone, I haven't found a situation where using the USB interface is an advantage. If fact, I think the Pandora function in the head unit only works through Bluetooth. I do love the way that the Bluetooth can be set to one device for music and a different device for phone calls. This allows me to stream music from my personal phone and use my work phone for calls, or allows my daughter to stream her music, while I still have hands-free use of my phone.

 

[inanimate]

If you're streaming with bluetooth, why not enable shuffle right off the device?

Because you can't.

On the 2014 models, if you hit shuffle on your phone, it will light up and then turn back off again after a moment. Rage inducing.

 

[Beefy]

On the 2014 models, if you hit shuffle on your phone, it will light up and then turn back off again after a moment. Rage inducing.

I don't understand how this is the case. When Bluetooth connects on my phone (Nexus 4, Cyanogenmod 11), it starts whatever playlist, and whatever settings, are present in my media player (Poweramp). If I have Right Said Fred playing shuffled on the phone, that is what comes through Bluetooth. If I am playing Devo's best hits unshuffled, that is what comes through Bluetooth.

 

[expo2]

No issues. Get the meteorite gray. It matches the bumper.

 

[bluefan]

Because you can't.

On the 2014 models, if you hit shuffle on your phone, it will light up and then turn back off again after a moment. Rage inducing.

That....doesn't sound right. What kind of phone do you have?

 

[Beefy]

That....doesn't sound right. What kind of phone do you have?

Looking through their post history, an iPhone. So it definitely sounds like iPhone related shenanigans.

 

[inanimate]

Looking through their post history, an iPhone. So it definitely sounds like iPhone related shenanigans.

Yeah. iPhone 5 here. I was quite surprised as I expected the bluetooth to work like all the bluetooth speakers I've used, some if which have had play controls too. Mazda managed to implement the worst of all worlds.