My CX-5 purchase

I started researching for a new car in January when I knew I needed a new car come April when I was scheduled to move away from my current location. I have owned VWs for 15 years until I sold my Passat 3 years ago and decided to rely on public transportation instead. But due to life changes I now needed a new car.

Naturally, I was gravitating toward a VW. My must-have requirements were AWD, cold weather package, combined mpg above 30, blue tooth, fun to drive, reliability, and a budget of 25k. After considering Hyundai, Kia, VW, Mazda, Nissan and Subaru, the 2012 Impreza and the CX-5 were my final 2 choices. The Impreza seemed to be the one that met most of my needs while I had to compromise on the CX-5, the biggest compromise being not having the cold-weather features like heated seats and mirrors in order to stay under budget.

All the CX-5 early impressions and reviews were quite impressive and I really liked the aesthetics, but I also felt like I was getting the best bang for my buck with the Impreza. I have been visiting forums for both cars and towards mid-March I noticed a trend of more positive press and user reviews for the CX-5 while the Impreza was being dragged down by reports of real world MPG not even being close to the EPA estimates ( I didn't research this too much beyond the forum postings, as the disgruntled owners mostly swayed me away from the Impreza and I might have just needed an excuse due to the love affair that had developed between the CX-5 and I) . The CX-5 real world MPG reported seemed much closer to the estimates.

I test drove the CX-5 last weekend and I was really blown away by it. I'm not going to repeat the details as it has been said in these forums many times. I felt like all the test drive impressions reported on this forum were quite accurate. Once I mentioned my employer, the sales rep also said that I qualified for the S-plan pricing which brought the Touring AWD just a few bucks above my budget. (btw, if you qualify for Ford x-plan you automatically qualify for the S-plan, at least for now, not sure if and when this policy will change.) The test drive and the pricing pretty much sealed the deal for me. I put down a deposit and ordered a White AWD Touring.

My sales rep called me yesterday and I went in to see the car that had just arrived, and I took care of all the financing and paperwork, and I had become an official owner. Now comes the torture of having to wait to pick up the car in 3 weeks, which is actually by my own request because I don't have a place to park the car until I move. I didn't get to take any pictures either because it was pouring yesterday. Can't wait to start driving.

I have learned so much from this forum and it's no exaggeration to say my decision had a lot to do with this forum and some passionate and dedicated posters, so thanks. Sorry if it's a bit long, just wanted to share for anyone who might benefit from my experience.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Just one drive is all it takes to show you the attention Mazda had made to the driving feel and experience.

You will enjoy it! Sorry that you have to wait a few weeks though...

yeah... low end Subarus never had a wow factor, but after driving newest Froester i was just dissapointed with overall interior quality...imo they just went a bit too far with cost cutting there.

blackhairredsox said:

Now comes the torture of having to wait to pick up the car in 3 weeks, which is actually by my own request because I don't have a place to park the car until I move. I didn't get to take any pictures either because it was pouring yesterday. Can't wait to start driving.

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Congratulations.

My family has had Mazda's since the 60's. We've moved away, and always moved back. I was going to move to VW, but after test drives of Tiguan, Passat and CX-7, CX-5.... the CX-5 was the immediate winner.

Look forward to hearing about your purchase once you receive it.

I too was on the verge of putting a down payment on a Subaru Imprezza Sport , however, after reading that many many owners were not evening coming close to initial MPG of 36. This swayed me from buying one. Are you NASIOC? If so, there are many disgruntled owners who felt cheated by the MPG which was the main reason why brought the car , coupled with the CVT I was glad I backed out of the deal.

Blackhairredsox - how much of a discount were you able to get with the S-plan price? My company provides the Ford X-plan, but when I tried to use the code to get a S-plan pin, it wouldn't take, so I need to find out if I can get the S-plan, but would still like to know how good the discount is.

you show great patience, nice work, post lots of pics, love the white.

mddriver said:

Blackhairredsox - how much of a discount were you able to get with the S-plan price? My company provides the Ford X-plan, but when I tried to use the code to get a S-plan pin, it wouldn't take, so I need to find out if I can get the S-plan, but would still like to know how good the discount is.

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the MSRP for the White AWD Touring was $26,140 (including destination charge) and the S-plan price was $25,480. It's not much, but better than nothing as I couldn't find a better deal due to the demand. The dealer also threw in an additional $100 as part of their Spring promotion.

You don't have to generate an S-plan pin, just go to the Ford X-plan site and generate an X-plan pin and take that printout to the dealership. They will accept the X-plan pin.

FAQ from the mazdausa site:
4. What do Fords A, X, and Z Vehicle Purchase Plans qualify for?
Participants eligible for Fords A, X, Z plans also qualify for S-plan.

http://www.mazdausa.com/MusaWeb/displayPage.action?pageParameter=ProgramGuidelineFaq

JTNY said:

I too was on the verge of putting a down payment on a Subaru Imprezza Sport , however, after reading that many many owners were not evening coming close to initial MPG of 36. This swayed me from buying one. Are you NASIOC? If so, there are many disgruntled owners who felt cheated by the MPG which was the main reason why brought the car , coupled with the CVT I was glad I backed out of the deal.

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Yes, I was very close to buying the 2012 Impreza, but the negative posts regarding MPG on NASIOC turned me off. Well that, and "eww... the Impreza is ugly" comments from family members, even though the Impreza looks didn't bother me too much, but the CX-5 is definitely better looking in my opinion. I was also in no hurry, so I was patiently waiting for reviews and impressions on the CX-5 and am very glad my purchase timing and the CX-5's release date worked out well for me.

I wanted to check out the Impreza wagon due the the hatchback and the mileage. Plus the dealership was only a couple of miles down the road. When we went to look at it, the cargo space was just too small for our dog and the rear legroom was a concern for my continually growing kids. Now it seems that the mileage is a concern as well. AWD was not a priority for me.

Thanks for the info on the S-Plan. I exchanged emails with my companys corporate person who manages things like the Ford X-Plan and her response was more or less, whats an S-Plan, and she encourged me to look for a good price with a dealer. I even sent her the link to the Mazda web site. I'll try the X-Plan approach when my time comes to buy this summer unless I can find a better price. Hopefully by then a bigger supply will mean better deals. There is a dealer in my area that is part of a big group of dealers that lists Internet prices below invoice on some vehicles, but I'll need to find out how legit the prices are and what they are adding back in.

ourlee said:

you show great patience, nice work, post lots of pics, love the white.

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So much for showing patience, I ended up renting a garage space for a couple of weeks, and picked up the vehicle today. I drove 80 miles today 50/50 highway/city and the trip computer shows 28.5 mpg average, which I'm happy about. I hope that number holds up and I'll also be tracking it in fuelly for the long term. There's so much to tinker and learn, I guess I'll be spending more time on it tomorrow. One thing I noticed the "auto" dimming feature on the touchscreen made it very dim and I couldn't read anything, so I switched it to "day" setting and it was fine, but now it's going to be bright at night. Not sure what the issue is, wondering if anyone else have seen this problem. I'll play around with it more tomorrow and see if it fixed itself.

Overall, I'm very happy with the vehicle. Here's the only pic I managed to snap today on my iPhone.

blackhairredsox said:

So much for showing patience, I ended up renting a garage space for a couple of weeks, and picked up the vehicle today. I drove 80 miles today 50/50 highway/city and the trip computer shows 28.5 mpg average, which I'm happy about. I hope that number holds up and I'll also be tracking it in fuelly for the long term. There's so much to tinker and learn, I guess I'll be spending more time on it tomorrow. One thing I noticed the "auto" dimming feature on the touchscreen made it very dim and I couldn't read anything, so I switched it to "day" setting and it was fine, but now it's going to be bright at night. Not sure what the issue is, wondering if anyone else have seen this problem. I'll play around with it more tomorrow and see if it fixed itself.

Overall, I'm very happy with the vehicle. Here's the only pic I managed to snap today on my iPhone.

View attachment 193070

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congrats!

You can adjust the night time brightness in the setup menu. I had the same problem.

enjoy

BadApple said:

congrats!

You can adjust the night time brightness in the setup menu. I had the same problem.

enjoy

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The stick that resets the trip meter also has a knob on it that adjusts the brightness. At night, you can change the brightness easily while you drive. But if for any reason, you need daylight brightness at night, turn it all the way to maximum. The maximum setting is forced day mode. When you switch into this mode, you hear a beep to let you know it's maximum day mode.

Very easy! Don't need to worry about menus.

Badapple, if the headlights or parking lights are on then the screen dims to nighttime level, turn off the lights and the screen goes bright.

Badapple... you have any front angle pics of the car yet? I'm split between getting a black or white... I confirm my order for the "black" on Monday but my wife wants me to consider the "white" ... any suggestions folks? By the way the "GS" trim (Touring).

sami1228 said:

Badapple... you have any front angle pics of the car yet? I'm split between getting a black or white... I confirm my order for the "black" on Monday but my wife wants me to consider the "white" ... any suggestions folks? By the way the "GS" trim (Touring).

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I've owned one black vehicle, and it was definitely my last. It looked fantastic the day I washed it. The chrome really stands out against the black. The next day you could see the dust collecting. By the third year, despite regular washing and waxing, the paint was beginning to lose it's luster. Minor door dings and body ripples stand out. White, on the other hand, still looks great on my 10 year old Tundra. Despite numerous dings and being left outside, it continues to shine even when overdue for a wash. That said, I will be getting Metro gray. It doesn't show the dust, and the previous metallic gray vehicle that I owned still looked good 4 years later when I sold it. And it just looks classy!

GAXIBM said:

Badapple, if the headlights or parking lights are on then the screen dims to nighttime level, turn off the lights and the screen goes bright.

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Sometimes you need headlights during the day (e.g. in Australia, most people drive with lights on when doing long distances on the highway). Some people also program the auto lights to come on early. In either of these cases, you can force the screen and instrument cluster to maximum brightness as per my previous post:

inodes said:

The stick that resets the trip meter also has a knob on it that adjusts the brightness. At night, you can change the brightness easily while you drive. But if for any reason, you need daylight brightness at night, turn it all the way to maximum. The maximum setting is forced day mode. When you switch into this mode, you hear a beep to let you know it's maximum day mode.

Very easy! Don't need to worry about menus.

Click to expand...

sami1228 said:

Badapple... you have any front angle pics of the car yet? I'm split between getting a black or white... I confirm my order for the "black" on Monday but my wife wants me to consider the "white" ... any suggestions folks? By the way the "GS" trim (Touring).

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I'd seen all the colours and ordered the black. You can see my photos in the latter parts of:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennstewart/sets/72157629532767321/ (With more being uploaded as I type this).

At the time of my order, I'd never seen a CX-5 in the flesh. I assumed from photos that black would be the best choice. I never considered white, because I dislike white cars in general. But when I saw a white CX-5 in the flesh (photos in my Flickr), I was amazed at just how good it looked.

The black is a difficult colour to keep clean. My previous vehicles were a grey and dark grey. The dark grey looked great after 7 years. The silver one still exists in the family and still looks great. I know black is going to be a lot of work. I've had the vehicle covered in 3M Venture Shield, and the FAQ says that black vehicles show any defects of the film very easily.

Seriously consider white. But I'd also recommend black if you're able to keep it clean.

I have a black Honda Accord and if you look at it funny for a second it gets dirty! Also don't get black if swirl marks bother you or you'll be polishing your car every weekend. My Accord is now banished to the driveway now that the CX-5 displaced it in the garage. Oh sad day.