Miles to kilometers

If I want to change the odometer from miles to kilometers, what are my choices?
Can that be done programmatically, or does it require special parts or is it possible at all. I have a US model 2006 Mazda 5.

Flipped thought the manual, didn't see anything on it. Might have to take it to a dealership. I had to do that with my truck, change it from KM to Miles.

So I got the response from Mazda USA (as shown below). That is the equivalent of "We don't support that" response from the IT support guy.
I am confident that this is not an impossible operation. I bet that the answer
was not found in their manual, and they wanted to close the ticket without asking the manufacturer. Too bad. I'll ask this question in Europe and see what they say.


"Thank you for contacting Mazda.

The Mazda5 designed for the US market does not have a function that
will allow the mileage meter to read in kilometers. The only feature that
you can change would be the temperature reading from Fahrenheit to
Celsius.

Again, thank you for contacting Mazda.

Regards,

Chris
Specialist, Customer Assistance E-Business"

If you were to change the odometer manually (ie, the hard way), without a built in function specifically made to just display the different measurement built-in, when you sell the car down the road you would have to declare mileage as "True Mileage Unknown", or else you could potentially accused of Odometer Fraud if the buyer somehow found out and wanted to press the issue. Also declaring your car as "True Mileage Unknown" will take a serious hit to the vehicle's value. Just my $.02 on this issue, sorry (dunno)

Good luck figuring this one out and be sure to let us know!

Did you figure this out?

Hi, were you able to convert the Odometer from miles to km? I need to know...

Thanks in advance!

With what Jandree said in mind, learn to think like a runner. I've been converting kilometer splits to mile splits in my head for the last 25 years. But seriously, I think it would cause problems down the road if you weren't able to find an electronic fix. So, a) calculator to do the conversion on the fly, or maybe b) Dash Hawk for instantaneous numbers.

Just realized this was a resurrected thread. How did it turn out?

mn55347 said:

If I want to change the odometer from miles to kilometers, what are my choices?
Can that be done programmatically, or does it require special parts or is it possible at all. I have a US model 2006 Mazda 5.

Click to expand...

You can't.

That's what it boils down to is that you're not legally allowed to change the odometer from miles to kilometers. I'm going to assume that you're a Canadian (like me) looking to take advantage of our strong dollar (like me). I'll also assume that what I know is true, which may or may not be the case.

I was looking at buying a used US 2007 Mazda5 GT and having it imported to Canada. (We found a brand new Canadian 2007 GT for just $1000 more, and then I get $500 MIR from Mazda!) (I haven't introduced myself yet as I don't get the car until tomorrow.) Bear in mind that anything (i.e. Mazdas) made outside of NA (i.e. made in Japan) isn't subject to NAFTA, so you'll have to pay duty along with the GST and PST.

Anyway, you have to keep the speedometer with miles on the outer ring and the odometer in miles so that the next owner can clearly see that the car is an import and used to be an American car. You'll have to get used to doing quick calculations in your head, I'm afraid.

The Registrar of Imported Vehicles (riv.ca) has some details, or you can call your local Canadian Tire. (They are the one contracted with RIV for modifying and inspecting imported vehicles.) If the modifications aren't done correctly, then you could be forced to return the vehicle to the US.

You would also have to claim that the car was registered outside of the province. That's a big hit when selling as well, so if you've got an import with a wonky odo, you're going to end up driving it until you sell it for scrap.