Buying advice needed: 2015 GT or 2015 Touring + aftermarket wheels & navi?

marcusx123

Member
:
2015 CX-5
Hi everyone, new too the forum here. Been reading a lot of the threads and I must say I've learned a lot!

I'll be buying my new CX-5 in the next few days and I need help deciding.

I have the budget for a CX-5 GT but I was just wondering if I should just buy the touring and upgrade the wheels and the head unit with the money I save (if I'm not mistaken around $4000).

What do you guys think?

Thanks!
 
I used to upgrade all of my vehicles. It was fun because I got to choose what I wanted and I did my own installs. That being said, there was never a complete unity between the aftermarket products and my rides. Getting things from the manufacture is the easiest way to make sure everything works together and you don't have to worry about voiding the warranty or buying extra parts just to make sure what you already bought fits into the car.
I got the Bose system and Navi along with the other things in those packages. I'm actually REALLY happy and satisfied with my 5 and glad I don't have to do the aftermarket thing. Now, if there's a problem, I bring it back to Mazda and they fix it.
 
Purchased gt 3 weeks ago after much deliberation. Never owned a vehicle with 19"s and rated tires. Worried about rimming a tire or sidewall due to expense of tires. Shopping for 17"s for a winter tire setup as the oem19"s are apparently worthless in snow. Added expense due to GT setup.
The 8 way seats cost you some legroom and im 6'4" and that sux a little.
if you can get a smokin deal on a touring I'd go that way.
 
I purchased my 2015 GS (canada) a little over a week ago, I selected the GS because it shared many of the features of the GT without the 19" tires which are very expensive to replace and limited availability due to few manufacturers vs 17" tires. I had 19's on my previous vehicle and vowed not again. I then added nav and homelink mirror to complete the package and will add the 17" winter tire and rim package come fall. So far love the car, and more importantly my wife loves the car...happy wife happy life!
 
We had a similar dilemma but after driving the Touring and GT back to back decided to purchase the Touring. Our take was that the 17" wheel/tire package tracked better and had a much smoother ride. We also preferred the comfort of the cloth upholstery. Had the Touring been offered in the US with heated seats and mirrors, like the GS is in Canada, it would have been a no-brainer. We've already had aftermarket heated seats installed and will install the heated mirrors in the not too distant future. We negotiated a set of factory take-off 16" alloys at purchase for our winter tires.
 
The only thing I miss from the GT is the Automatic Climate Control and Mazda Advanced Keyless Entry (2014 model), but since 2015 Touring comes with Mazda Advanced Keyless Entry, that's great. It depends if you want leather, moonroof, and bigger wheels.
 
I got the GT mainly for:

- the advanced keyless entry (witch is now available on touring if I'm not mistaking, but was not when I purchased)
- Bose sound system
- leather seats
- climate control
- the beautiful 19 inch wheels (tire replacement is not an issue for 2 reasons 1- those tires last long, 2-going 235 or 245 gives lots more tire options and are still good for fitment.

Out of all these features, the only ones easy to add with aftermarket are sound system and wheels (but will end up being expensive)
 
I used to upgrade all of my vehicles. It was fun because I got to choose what I wanted and I did my own installs. That being said, there was never a complete unity between the aftermarket products and my rides. Getting things from the manufacture is the easiest way to make sure everything works together and you don't have to worry about voiding the warranty or buying extra parts just to make sure what you already bought fits into the car.
I got the Bose system and Navi along with the other things in those packages. I'm actually REALLY happy and satisfied with my 5 and glad I don't have to do the aftermarket thing. Now, if there's a problem, I bring it back to Mazda and they fix it.

This is exactly why i went all in on a GT + Tech pkg and like speedbegone said because all the cool stuff was in the GT before 2015.
Had a 2013 GS before and the clothed bucket seat are not that great. The quality aint bad but could be a lot better. Leather is, IMO, the way to go.

I'm 6'4" and there is no difference between manual, 6 or 8 way bucketseat on a 2013, 2014 and 2014.5

Maznoob check the seat rails, a rock or something is blocking the movement. It happen to me on my 2013.
 
Hi everyone, new too the forum here. Been reading a lot of the threads and I must say I've learned a lot!

I'll be buying my new CX-5 in the next few days and I need help deciding.

I have the budget for a CX-5 GT but I was just wondering if I should just buy the touring and upgrade the wheels and the head unit with the money I save (if I'm not mistaken around $4000).

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

I thought about the exact scenario you laid out, as I liked the Touring but wanted the bigger wheels (17" just looked too chintzy in the CX-5 wheelwells). I don't think the cost savings are $4k though - they should be less than that for similar content (I was looking at the Touring with the Bose/Moonroof package), more like $1k-$1500. The cost of decent 19" wheels/tires, though, was far more than that, so ended up getting the GT.

I will say that the Touring model with the 17" wheels rode and tracked better than my GT (without Tech but with navi) does. But ultimately I think the resale value will also be better with the GT.
 
Thanks for the input guys, I ended up buying a touring because I got a pretty good deal on it. I'm planning on getting new rims soon and upgrade the head unit. I'm pretty happy with my decision and I saved well over $1000-$2000 (including the aftermarket parts that I'll be adding)!

There is one thing that I feel like I'm missing out on from the GT though.. The leather seats. The cloth seats aren't terrible but I'm not a big fan of the little pattern Mazda decided to put on the fabric. But overall, considering how much money I saved and the freedom I get to actually pick the parts i like and not settling on the subpar stock items like the buggy headunit + slow tomtom navigation, leather was a small sacrifice.

One thing that I would have also done is to get GT minus tech package, but where I live (socal) for some reason that type of car was so hard to find.. Most of the GT had tech or at least navigation. And even though a lot of people say that the navigation isn't all that bad, I absolutely do not like it.
 
Find a GT at a junk yard and swapping the seats might be an option.

More like $750 and up before installation. The quality is phenomenal and the end result can be better than OEM.

Honestly, I don't see a huge difference in replacement tire costs comparing the 17 inch wheels to the 19s. Sure, there are more options for the 17s, but you can get a great set of Contis 19 inch for under $800. I've done the research and believe that both sized tires can be bought for around the same price.
 
I did want to get GT after having the Touring for a year. I test drove it getting familiar with all of its aspects and ended up getting another Touring.

1. 19" ride felt rough, unballanced and just worse than 17" Tourning. Checked pressure to make sure it was not a factor.
2. It reminded me how much I don't like the leather. Personal opinion, I know, but hey that's what test drives are for.
3. It had this home link / large mirror system installed which made the front very, very crowded. Wife and I dropped the idea quickly.

Touring's cloth is very nice. I got the sand one this time and like it a lot.
I got the Bose version since they did not have non-bose one and it is fine. Replaced the AC knobs as my only mod to the Touring. 5K saved.

YMMV
 
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