How many Brits? Fancy a cuppa?

I am travelling to Carcassonne in France soon - my Dealer tells me that I don't need to fit headlamp deflectors because I have the Xenon headlamps which turn with the steering.
Do any of you guys know if this is true?
Also I don't have a spare wheel - Dealer wants 359 for one!!, has anyone travelled through France without a spare?

maybe theres a switch under the bonnet to change them over? - otherwise your beams would still be aiming at the wrong side of the road when driving straight ahead.

I've been down at far as Paris or as far across as the German border.
 
Yes only ever had one black car, never looked clean, same with dark blue.

To be honest my "silver" car isn't that great either, its more like grey!, a proper silver car like my last two is good for 5 weeks before cleaning.

agreed, about the silver. I think it is the best colour available in the range for looking clean for longer, a lighter silver with a blue tint I've found best for hiding the dirt but they dont do one of those.

Apart from soul red I've not been fussed on their colours. why no lighter brighter colours? - I blame the global recession on gloomy colour ranges. I think it would look good in a metallic orange.

You also see swirl marks on darker cars more. I never say never, BUT i'm never choosing black. White stays looking better at 5 years, but it does need washing more than light silver!
 
Your dealer is correct re the lights.
The space saver is robbery.

I am travelling to Carcassonne in France soon - my Dealer tells me that I don't need to fit headlamp deflectors because I have the Xenon headlamps which turn with the steering.
Do any of you guys know if this is true?
Also I don't have a spare wheel - Dealer wants 359 for one!!, has anyone travelled through France without a spare?
 
I live in the south of France and have some big mileage coming up in the next couple of months - a round trip back to North Yorkshire, followed by a holiday trip to the south of Italy. I haven't decided yet what do do about a spare. I didn't have one on my last car, a BMW X1, and survived OK on several foreign trips although I did get a puncture once - fortunately close to a service station where I was able to put enough air in to get me to a repairer. The worry with the Mazda is the availability of replacement 19" tyres in the event of a blow-out. In France you need to bear in mind that everything is closed at the weekend - if you have a problem on a Friday evening it would probably be Monday morning before you could even talk to a tyre supplier, and then the chance of him having a replacement tyre available would be remote (I haven't seen many other CX-5s around where I live). In addition to the cost, there are limitations with the space saver on 4wd, and the full size wheel won't fit in the boot . Any advice based on experience would be much appreciated!
On the plus side, at least you get a jack with Mazda - not so with BMW!
 
Just checked my oil level, surprised to see its risen, now just over the full level.
Three months to service so should be good till then.

Around 6K miles with very little motorway.
 
Latest on Tyre Puncture

Jonno21,


I've had about 5 punctures in the last 12 years. 3 were repaired of which 1 was in an 'unrepairable location'. I took the wheel elsewhere and It was satisfactorily repaired.

The other 2 , 1 really was unrepairable across the edge of tyre and sidewall. The last one I just had new tyres. They were due for replacement prior for a holiday abroad so i brought the purchase forward a month.

here's a handy print out to take along with you......

http://www.etyres.co.uk/repairable-area-gauge

or this...

http://www.btmauk.com/data/files/Minor_repairs_to_passenger_car_and_light_van_tyres_31_May_2011.pdf

I think I paid a tenner all in the last time I had one done.

enjoy your IOW holiday. House of Chilli on the IOW do a very strong (hot) chilli beer. It's awesomely hot, well worth a punt.

Hi Dad of Jon and Alex1706 (Sorry, don't know how to quote 2 postings)

Tyre now sorted and repaired for 18 at Nottingham Alignment Centre. Thanks both for your help and advice.

Dad of Jon - I think I might steer clear of the Chilli Beer. A few years ago I bought some garlic fudge from the Garlic Farm and it was so vile I had to throw it away which is so unlike me! I can remember when it used to be Godshill Organics which was very good when it started with a large variety of produce. It seemed to decline over the years with less choice until finally it was relegated to a shed round the back. We do go for a clotted cream tea everyday in the morning at Rylstone Gardens in Shanklin. It's so peaceful with the birds singing fresh IOW air and all the flowers which are planted up by the owners parents. As National Trust members we also like Mottistone Manor gardens for the same reasons.

Cheers

Jonno21
 
Hi Dad of Jon and Alex1706 (Sorry, don't know how to quote 2 postings)

Tyre now sorted and repaired for 18 at Nottingham Alignment Centre. Thanks both for your help and advice.

Dad of Jon - I think I might steer clear of the Chilli Beer. A few years ago I bought some garlic fudge from the Garlic Farm and it was so vile I had to throw it away which is so unlike me! I can remember when it used to be Godshill Organics which was very good when it started with a large variety of produce. It seemed to decline over the years with less choice until finally it was relegated to a shed round the back. We do go for a clotted cream tea everyday in the morning at Rylstone Gardens in Shanklin. It's so peaceful with the birds singing fresh IOW air and all the flowers which are planted up by the owners parents. As National Trust members we also like Mottistone Manor gardens for the same reasons.

Cheers

Jonno21

Good to hear you were able to get the repair and save a packet. Garlic fudge! That is bizarre. I only poured 1/2 a glass of chilli beer it was too hot to drink a whole bottle, so i turned the rest into 'spice cubes' froze them and dropped them into a stout to make a xmas spiced winter warmer - awesome. Not sure how you could re-use garlic fudge though(blarf)
 
unfortunately I find the CX-5 no better than the less torquey and heavier Xtrail on the motorway, travelling at around 80mph will see the mpg dip below 40mpg, its a average motorway car in my opinion. Wind and road noise can be sometimes intrusive.

But a great A and B road car, which is 90% of my driving.

Where you live makes a huge difference to economy, while we have hills were I live, I live on one, the traffic I would say is medium.

Totally agree re: motorway.

Did the same trip to paris 2 years in a row first with my kia carens and then mazda cx-5 at easter time. Travelled down on easter sunday to folkstone then arrived at tulip inn bussy st george on easter monday. As everything was shut on easter sunday/monday just tootled down at 60mph - kia gave 55 mpg - mazda 60. Coming home no overnight stop - foot down to get home. kia 45 - mazda 40. So yes only getting 40 at an average speed of around 75 the cx-5 is not great compared to mpv's but good for an suv or 4x4 . around town I get about 47mpg, that's unreal for something that big. (first)
 
Totally agree re: motorway.

Did the same trip to paris 2 years in a row first with my kia carens and then mazda cx-5 at easter time. Travelled down on easter sunday to folkstone then arrived at tulip inn bussy st george on easter monday. As everything was shut on easter sunday/monday just tootled down at 60mph - kia gave 55 mpg - mazda 60. Coming home no overnight stop - foot down to get home. kia 45 - mazda 40. So yes only getting 40 at an average speed of around 75 the cx-5 is not great compared to mpv's but good for an suv or 4x4 . around town I get about 47mpg, that's unreal for something that big. (first)

My mpg is very similar to yours. About 48mpg when tootling around on local A and B roads, occasionally see north of 50. However on the motorway it's a completely different story. 75mph upwards and I'm down to the low 40s.

Last weekend we went up to the E Midlands and because we weren't in a hurry I cruised at around the legal limit, result of 46mpg. I have never owned a car in 40 years of motoring which gave such variable results on the motorway. That said, a friend with a 136bhp Hyundai IX35 suggested he was only averaging 38 mpg last week so I still think the CX5 stacks up pretty well compared to its peers.

Trip to N East for the holiday weekend. Will be interesting to see what we get out of that.
 
Greetings from the North East, I've just ordered the 2WD version as my next company car to replace a VW Touran. I'm looking forward to the electric seat memory option as I'm 6'5" and the wife isn't. It's a real pain re-adjusting the position almost every day.
The car will be coming from RRG in Manchester but I don't have a delivery date yet.
Does anyone have experience of DIY fitting a towbar.?
Cheers, Gary
 
Does anyone have experience of DIY fitting a towbar.?
Cheers, Gary

Couldn't be bothered with the fuss of sorting the electrics and fiddling about with the bumper. I decided on a detachable towbar so it wouldn't interfere with the rear parking sensors. Went with a Westfalia. Quality kit circa 500 fully fitted.
 
If you fit a witter detachable you don't have a bumper cut, or have to remove the bumper.
 
The Cx-5 version has only just been made, so not on the website, available in 4 different finishers.
 
Hi xtrailman I have taken delivery of Cx5 in uk silver 2014 spec and it looks great. Are you still pleased with your Cx5 for towing caravan?
 
Yes very, only downside is the 88kg nose weight limit.

As a tow car its way better than both xtrails I've had, power is ample. Its not great on the motorway above 60mph due to the variable wind noise, and seems susceptible to side winds solo, compared to the xtrail.
 
New UK member here. Just bought a 63 plate ex demonstrator with 1000 miles on the clock in Soul red, AWD Sport Nav, manual. Impressions so far; like the engine, interior, seats, colour, wheels, handling (for an SUV), boot space, looks and ground clearance. MPG is OK - averaging 40.3 MPG. Seems easier to get MPG up to 45 with slower A/B road work. When on motorway / dual carriageway, I struggle to keep it above 40. Dislikes - the pigging USB interface, Bluetooth is clumsy to say the least. Won't pickup the wife's I-phone text messages (car is her birthday present - so this didn't go down too well). Also the gear change is, to be blunt, horrible and as people have commented on this forum, worse when cold. I don't think it's acceptable for a car made in this day & age to have a poor gear change when cold. Neither of my last 5 cars (over 15 years) had difficult gear changes when cold. And did I mention the USB thing ? Starting from same track and not remembering where it left off - if I'd had known this before buying, I wouldn't have - it's that much of an issue for me.

So far the pluses do outweigh the minus points so all round enjoying this zoom zoom thing.

Am also mighty irritated that UK customers can't order the Mazda OEM bonnet protector (the black plastic one) ... am trying to work out how to get one from the US.

Anyhow, looking forward to some good times with the CX-5 and hopefully enjoyment of these forums.
 
I believe the latest cars have resume on the USB, the 2012 cars did, search the forum, or ask your dealer, from what I've read on here it requires a new module?

I'm on 43.7mpg average at the moment slightly down on normal due to some short motorway runs to save time.

Not had any issue with the gearbox, but we garage ours, xtrails also suffer from a stiff change in ist and second when the gearbox is cold, try hanging onto the gear longer to warm the box up. What I have noticed is a higher than normal clutch biting point, but I've got use to it, only noticed after jumping into the car from a Kia.

was doing something under the car yesterday and noticed excessive rust on the entrance to the rear box, much more than I ever saw on my last xtrail, so mazda must be using a really cheap stainless steel?
 
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Good to hear that you still rate CX5 for towing. It was your positive feedback on towing with CX5 and helpful posts on caravan forums that gave we the confidence to buy CX5.
A big thank you for mentioning that the witter towbar can be fitted without removing bumper. I was sceptical but took the plunge and bought witter detatchable towbar and sure enough it was easy to fit without removing bumper . Now comes the fun part fitting the Mazda 13 pin wiring harness which is a quality comprehensive kit with fridge and battery charging power feeds and parking sensor cut-off. Thanks for all your helpful advice.
 
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