About to buy, some questions and comments

prhac · Mar 21, 2012

Great forum - been reading it for a few weeks. Main problem is the spec in the USA and Australia and UK are different, so comparisons and evaluation are difficult. The Australian spec is the most similar to the UK. The CX5 has not had a proper comparison test here (I have a Tiguan diesel at the moment) so I have been reading many from different countries - thanks to Google Translate. SOme countries have the Tiguan just beating the CX and others have it reversed - again different countries have different spec.
Some comments on various points made in various threads:

Pricing: US is much cheaper than Aus and UK. Aus seems slightly pricier than UK (when trying to compare like for like)

The diesel (often said Euro 4 compliant) is actually Euro 6 compliant

UK uses mpg (yet we buy the fuel in pence/litre. There is discussion of going from mpg to miles per litre

The CX5 isn't coming to the UK for a few weeks and I will be choosing the higher power diesel - manual. We get a choice of manual or auto with the diesels.

Now to my questions, thanks

(1) In another thread the 0 - 62 mph is stated for the higher power diesel at 9.4s. Was that the Mazda brochure value or actually tested by the Car Advice people? (http://www.caradvice.com.au/164145/mazda-cx-5-diesel-review/)

Our quoted values for the AWD are: 150 ps diesel = 9.4s (manual) and auto = 10.2s

For the 175 ps diesel... 8.8 s and auto 9.4s

Petrol version (manual) of power 165ps = 9.2s for 2WD.

Fuel octane seems to be different in the countries.

(2) No brochures out yet but my problem will be what colour with the leather seats. I realise colour is a personal taste but some may have seen various cars and noticed some colours do not suit certain interiors. There are 2 choices of leather in the UK - stone and black. The choices of paint and leather are shown in the configurator, here:
http://www.mazda.co.uk/car-configurator/?homepage_cta=cx-5#/configurator/cx5

Computer screen give various colour interpretations. White paint is the 'in' colour in the UK at the moment but the chrome bits on the front may seem to be lost (though I do like the picture of the white in another thread). And what about the white with all the plastic black under the doors and front(?).

I have been offered a good trade in and at the moment you get the sat nav free.
Thanks for any informed advice.

inodes · Mar 21, 2012

Okay.... taking a deep breath. Here goes....

prhac said:
Pricing: US is much cheaper than Aus and UK. Aus seems slightly pricier than UK (when trying to compare like for like)

Our currency should count for more, our population counts for less. The UK pricing is spot on, the Australian pricing is close to spot on and the US pricing is just plain ridiculously cheap.
That said, the UK has the most comprehensive options list. Where Mazda US said no, no, no to options.... Mazda UK seems to have said compulsory, standard and yes please.
Pricing in the UK for what you're getting is fairly competitive.

prhac said:
The diesel (often said Euro 4 compliant) is actually Euro 6 compliant

Completely correct. But of course, being Euro 6 compliant means it's also everything less.
It's either that they don't read the facts, or worse still.... get the roman numerals mixed up.

The emissions are decent enough that they would have got congestion charge excemptions... had the congestion charge not been decreased to 100g.
Bugger! In my opinion, the licence grade is tight. The bottom diesel CX-5 though gets it cheap!

prhac said:
UK uses mpg (yet we buy the fuel in pence/litre. There is discussion of going from mpg to miles per litre

Good luck! We went through the British bin of parts, and threw out pence and gallons in 1966. We gladly kept the Queen. What's one more, when Sydney has so many.
When are you going to go the whole hog and get rid of miles? You know if you convert, the US might follow one day.

prhac said:
The CX5 isn't coming to the UK for a few weeks and I will be choosing the higher power diesel - manual. We get a choice of manual or auto with the diesels.

It's compulsory for the only country that realises that there is a massive benefit to having a manual transmission. It's the only country I travel to know that I won't have to do an online search for an available hire car with MT - because they practically all have them.
Consider yourself lucky. As far as I know, the UK is the only country that is getting MT across the board.

prhac said:
(1) In another thread the 0 - 62 mph is stated for the higher power diesel at 9.4s. Was that the Mazda brochure value or actually tested by the Car Advice people? (http://www.caradvice.com.au/164145/mazda-cx-5-diesel-review/)

No published figures by Mazda Australia yet in any form of brochure. But as far as I know, Mazda have stated this figure to media and staff in an effort to offset the bashing the petrol has been receiving. Anyone who has driven the diesel here reckons the figure is incorrect.
We only get the top diesel here though.

prhac said:
Our quoted values for the AWD are: 150 ps diesel = 9.4s (manual) and auto = 10.2s

We don't sell that model. We sell the 175ps.

prhac said:
For the 175 ps diesel... 8.8 s and auto 9.4s

Sounds about right. Damn lucky getting MT there..... *cry*

prhac said:
Fuel octane seems to be different in the countries.

US/Canada/Australia comparable. The 87 in US is AKI Octane which is 91 Octane in Australia/UK (RON). Australian market demands 91 mainly because on remote country roads, you're lucky to get 95, let alone 91. But a lot of cars in cities these days are coming out with 98 only (e.g. Golf).
Problem is, when Golf drivers go for country drives (Sydney to Brisbane for example is 1000km) - they require at least one tank of 95. Warranties have been invalidated from a few destroyed engines and VW for example, does fuel tests, notes the 95 left in tank and doesn't replace engine.
To use the 91 RON, the compression ratio is decreased from 14:1 to 13:1. The 4-2-1 exhaust header is kept. Slight changes to timing.

Your UK cars should get the 14:1 compression, require the higher RON fuel and should also gain fuel economy and power/torque in the process.
Keep us living in countries with crap fuel... informed

prhac said:
(2) No brochures out yet but my problem will be what colour with the leather seats. I realise colour is a personal taste but some may have seen various cars and noticed some colours do not suit certain interiors. There are 2 choices of leather in the UK - stone and black. The choices of paint and leather are shown in the configurator, here:
http://www.mazda.co.uk/car-configurator/?homepage_cta=cx-5#/configurator/cx5

Goes to show you the differences. Japan gets 6 colours (an extra red compared to others), UK gets 7 colours (an extra white compared to others), US gets 7 colours (missing UK white, gaining a red), Australia gets 8 colours (missing only the extra UK white).
Thanks for link... UK must like white.

prhac said:
Computer screen give various colour interpretations. White paint is the 'in' colour in the UK at the moment but the chrome bits on the front may seem to be lost (though I do like the picture of the white in another thread). And what about the white with all the plastic black under the doors and front(?).

Okay... the UK LOVES white.
The Crystal White Pearl is the best automotive white I've seen anywhere. I dislike white cars, but on the CX-5 under the bright white Australian sun, I nearly changed my order. It was amazing.
The white will be UK bound... leaving Hiroshima by the boatload!

prhac said:
I have been offered a good trade in and at the moment you get the sat nav free.
Thanks for any informed advice.

Certainly go for the sat-nav. The TomTom in the CX-5 is the easiest in-car GPS I've ever used. Being a European product, you'll get fantastic support. Furthermore, the UK English accents are very clear. We're yet to receive our Australian accent additions (that can read street names anyway), so we have to use British accents in the Australian vehicles. Naturally given Australian English is basically British English spoken after a couple of pints, the British accent pronunciation is the closest we're going to get to correct for now.

Any further questions?

prhac · Mar 21, 2012

Thanks for the detailed reply. My sister and brother-in-law live near Sydney.

The Caradvice site's 0-62 of 9.4s now makes sense. As you are only getting the auto, they seem to have used the Mazda quoted value of 9.4s (as mentioned). We will have to wait for a magazine to test the acceleration in real life conditions
I tend to buy diesels for the high torque which is useful when overtaking, say between 40 to 70 mph
UK does actually get red. I missed it in the configurator at first... there is an arrow to the right for teh eighth colour.

Sat Nav. Yes, agree TomTom is good. I've had a portable one for many years. What is also good is the new maps are downloadable from TT's site. This will make updates cheaper. I asked VW about their sat nav. Their's is the more 'sophisticated' type, DVD, maybe) but to update costs about 200! The new TT maps I occasionally buy at the moment are more like 40 or often less.

One Qn. Are there any figures for servicing costs yet? Perhaps compared to a Mazda3. The reason for asking is I may try to negotiate a 3 year service deal.

CodyZoom · Mar 21, 2012

Couple of opinions from a chap in the states. I lived near London for 2 years and fell in love with the UK's passion for sporty and functional diesel manuals. I drive a 5-speed in the Washington, D.C. and it's starting to get tiresome since most roads turn into parking lots on my commute, but it'll be hard to let go of rowing my own boat. In about a week I pick up the Grand Touring w/ Tech package (Sky Blue w/ Black int.) which is only available in auto here. (I'll post pictures as well as a review after a few days of driving). Some of the niche markets here will finally start phasing in quality diesels like VW and Mazda. Merc, BMW, and some others offer diesel, but not many "affordable" manufacturers do. Mazda's CX-5 diesel, which is rumored to be available in 1-2 years in the states will hopefully be a huge hit (will likely be available in auto only). UK places much emphasis on learning how to drive and thoroughly understanding rules of the road as a youngster. Here, there is only 1 driver's test (UK has manual and automatic if I'm not mistaken). But, that's our culture - horsepower, quarter-mile, automatic....(deadhorse Hopefully we start seeing more 6-speed diesels!

inodes · Mar 21, 2012

prhac said:
Thanks for the detailed reply. My sister and brother-in-law live near Sydney.

Thank you. Living in Sydney... Hope she doesn't mind the terrible summer we've just had.

prhac said:
The Caradvice site's 0-62 of 9.4s now makes sense. As you are only getting the auto

s**** right? At least the write ups have been that the auto is a significant improvement over previous autos.

prhac said:
I tend to buy diesels for the high torque which is useful when overtaking, say between 40 to 70 mph

Acceleration is meant to be okay on petrol, but bloody awesome on diesel. I'll be able to tell soon...

prhac said:
UK does actually get red. I missed it in the configurator at first... there is an arrow to the right for teh eighth colour.

I was looking for that. You've got an excellent range of colours. Japan ironically gets the least selection.

prhac said:
Sat Nav. Yes, agree TomTom is good. I've had a portable one for many years. What is also good is the new maps are downloadable from TT's site. This will make updates cheaper. I asked VW about their sat nav. Their's is the more 'sophisticated' type, DVD, maybe) but to update costs about 200! The new TT maps I occasionally buy at the moment are more like 40 or often less.

The TomTom is on an SD card. I'd say it's more sophisticated because it doesn't take up the space of a music CD. Surely people like to have GPS and listen to music.
I find TomTom's updates are among the cheapest and fairest. On the iPhone for example, they've continued to update the app, update the maps, update the features - all for free. When I complained about the Traffic feature (which ended up being because I was on a developer version of iOS and I'd broken the app), they apologised and gave me a year free subscription.

prhac said:
One Qn. Are there any figures for servicing costs yet? Perhaps compared to a Mazda3. The reason for asking is I may try to negotiate a 3 year service deal.

Not sure if the UK and Australia can be compared. Japanese cars are cheap to repair here compared to their German counterparts. It might be the case everywhere, but we consider Japan practically next door so parts are cheaply delivered. Mazda is the highest selling of the full imported car companies in Australia, so parts are always well stocked.

inodes · Mar 21, 2012

CodyZoom said:
UK places much emphasis on learning how to drive and thoroughly understanding rules of the road as a youngster. Here, there is only 1 driver's test (UK has manual and automatic if I'm not mistaken). But, that's our culture - horsepower, quarter-mile, automatic....(deadhorse Hopefully we start seeing more 6-speed diesels!

Too right! Australia is not too dissimilar from the US. We care about size, horsepower and rear wheel drive. We barely care about road rules and learning to drive properly (although it's a three year affair in my state, with too many hoops to jump through - doesn't make for a better driver though). We must choose auto or manual here (as does Japan). Then you're restricted to driving that transmission (manual drivers can drive both).

I learned manual, I love manual - lets hope the auto does me justice.

prhac · Mar 21, 2012

CodyZoom said:
Couple of opinions from a chap in the states. I lived near London for 2 years and fell in love with the UK's passion for sporty and functional diesel manuals. I drive a 5-speed in the Washington, D.C. and it's starting to get tiresome since most roads turn into parking lots on my commute, but it'll be hard to let go of rowing my own boat. In about a week I pick up the Grand Touring w/ Tech package (Sky Blue w/ Black int.) which is only available in auto here. (I'll post pictures as well as a review after a few days of driving). Some of the niche markets here will finally start phasing in quality diesels like VW and Mazda. Merc, BMW, and some others offer diesel, but not many "affordable" manufacturers do. Mazda's CX-5 diesel, which is rumored to be available in 1-2 years in the states will hopefully be a huge hit (will likely be available in auto only). UK places much emphasis on learning how to drive and thoroughly understanding rules of the road as a youngster. Here, there is only 1 driver's test (UK has manual and automatic if I'm not mistaken). But, that's our culture - horsepower, quarter-mile, automatic....(deadhorse Hopefully we start seeing more 6-speed diesels!

Thanks CodyZoom. Much of the UK is becoming 'gridlocked'. Fortunately, I'm in a rural area so no traffic jams (except for a line of traffic following a tractor). Our test is like inodes in Australia.

Also, inodes, thanks for your reply.

About to buy, some questions and comments

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