Might buy a 2016 CX5 Touring....what should I know?

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2016.5 CX5 Touring
My wife has a rather old Rav 4. We now have over 215k miles on it. Pretty soon it is going to need quite a few repairs to keep it going. Off the top of my head it will need:

Tires, Rotors, Brakes, Battery, New Arm rest in the car, driver visor, starter(purchased already), shocks and struts. It could also use a valve cover gasket and a timing chain gasket.

With us wanting to sell it, we do not want to invest over 1000 bucks in it. Some of these can be put off, others need doing. Tires are 400 alone. The car uses very little oil and has been great. With these things fixed I have no doubt it will go on to 300k miles.

We have looked at many new small Suv's. We like the 2016 mazda cx-5 touring or grand touring. The grand touring is a bit out of the budget. We want the touring with the Bose speakers, maybe the moon roof. Backup camera is a must along with navigation.

Now I read that the 2016.5 has heated seats and navigation as standard where the 2016 itself does not. However, the touring has cloth seats and I do not know of any vehicle with heated cloth seats. How is one to tell if the vehicle is a 2016.5 version? My wife does not require the heated seats but they might be nice.

Is maintenance costly on these? Do only dealers work on them? With a Toyota we have plenty of 3rd party dealers who can work on it. Cuts the cost down a lot.

Is the Window shattering issue still a thing?

The 2016 has LED headlight on the Touring correct? Or only on the grand touring?
 
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Why do people think cloth seats cannot be heated? I don't get this. My first car with heated seats was a 1994 base model Saab...with cloth. Hell yes you can get cloth seats that are heated. And they heat better then leather IMO.

GT had LED standard. Option on Touring.
16.5 had Navi as standard. Don't let this guide your decision. You can add Navi to any Touring or GT by getting a Navi card on Ebay for around $90.
I think, and someone will correct me, only the 16.5 has the electronic parking park.
 
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"Now I read that the 2016.5 has heated seats and navigation as standard where the 2016 itself does not. However, the touring has cloth seats and I do not know of any vehicle with heated cloth seats. How is one to tell if the vehicle is a 2016.5 version? My wife does not require the heated seats but they might be nice."


Under the AC controls you will have heater button for front two seats. It has 3 levels and works nice. Doesnt matter if its cloth seats - still works great.
Also in the info unit - navigate to Navigation and it should work.

I have 16.5 touring with 16K miles on it. 28 mpg combined, same model you are trying to buy - superb driving and fits like a glove. If you switch from Toyota you will need some adjustment but it gives you more confidence to drive.
Maintenance is about 25% expensive than a Toyota, oil change lasts 8K miles or so versus 10K miles modern toyotas do - not many independents that work on it though you can search your local region.

Glass shatter - i have not seen a TSB on it, so we dont have a VIN range, though for Touring it should be cheaper to fix. IF you buy one with 15-20K miles chances are it will be fine.

Another chain of thought is Mazda moly oil (and possibly other brands) can last upto 12-15k miles if you drive conservatively however since oil change is like 60-70 bucks i do at 8k.
I suggest you look for a certified and go for that. Good luck. even if its 5K miles more than used non certified model. Insist only on Mazda moly for Changes.
 
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2016: Heated seats only on GT
2016.5: Heated seats on both Touring (cloth) and GT (leather)

LED headlights only come on cars with the Tech Package (Touring or GT). In order to get Tech on the 2016 Touring, it also has to have the BOSE/Moonroof package, which is standard on the GT.

You probably can't tell the difference between a 2016 and 2016.5 GT. But with a Touring, the noticeable visual difference would be the heated seats as noted by Kaps.
 
Pretty sure Bose / Moonroof package wasn't standard in 16 GT in the US.
 
My wife has a rather old Rav 4. We now have over 215k miles on it. Pretty soon it is going to need quite a few repairs to keep it going. Off the top of my head it will need:

Tires, Rotors, Brakes, Battery, New Arm rest in the car, driver visor, starter(purchased already), shocks and struts. It could also use a valve cover gasket and a timing chain gasket.

With us wanting to sell it, we do not want to invest over 1000 bucks in it. Some of these can be put off, others need doing. Tires are 400 alone. The car uses very little oil and has been great. With these things fixed I have no doubt it will go on to 300k miles.

We have looked at many new small Suv's. We like the 2016 mazda cx-5 touring or grand touring. The grand touring is a bit out of the budget. We want the touring with the Bose speakers, maybe the moon roof. Backup camera is a must along with navigation.

Now I read that the 2016.5 has heated seats and navigation as standard where the 2016 itself does not. However, the touring has cloth seats and I do not know of any vehicle with heated cloth seats. How is one to tell if the vehicle is a 2016.5 version? My wife does not require the heated seats but they might be nice.

Is maintenance costly on these? Do only dealers work on them? With a Toyota we have plenty of 3rd party dealers who can work on it. Cuts the cost down a lot.

Is the Window shattering issue still a thing?

The 2016 has LED headlight on the Touring correct? Or only on the grand touring?

Just buy a GT with a few more miles on it or a 2016 instead of 2016.5, or wait a month. These cars drop like a rock in value. 6 months ago, my car was worth about $4K more than it is today, for example, just because I put 15K miles and 6mo time on it.
 
I can only answer some of these questions, but I will try.

Many people report that the windshields do seem to crack easily. Now personally, my 2014 factory windshield lasted 4 years before it's first crack so I can't personally say I had the same experience. Before that crack happened, I did manage to get 2 rock hits that I had filled/repaired immediately, but no cracks for 4 years which was much better than my old Jeep where I had to replace the windshield every damn year. Colorado is notorious for getting cracked windshields every winter/spring.

I'm pretty sure the 2016/2016.5's have cloth seats. I think the Leatherette seats were first on the 2017 Tourings. But I'm not for sure on this, so someone can correct me if wrong. So take it with a grain of salt. Yes, heated front seats standard on 2016.5 Tourings as is Nav.

My overall maintenance cost for 60k miles over almost 5 years now has been 1 set of tires (I did not like the stock tires), oil changes every 5k miles or so (4 years of which was free), tire rotations, 1 windshield ($100 insurance deductible), and rear brakes. The rear brakes did noticeably wear out much sooner than the fronts which to this day still have plenty of life left.

Sure anyone who knows Mazdas can work on it. No need to use the dealer (except for free TSB work) if you have a competent trusted mechanic/shop that knows Mazdas. I have a guy I trust. I have never needed to take my Mazda to him yet, but he was great/reasonably priced with my old Jeep, and I asked him if he works on Mazdas and he does. So he will be my guy if the need arises. So far though, my Mazda has been so reliable, I even forgot about him for a bit because I haven't had to take my car in for major mechanic repairs since my Jeep (so....2012/early 2013?).

As to how to tell the difference between 2016 and 2016.5's, can any 2016.5 owners confirm if their owners manual shows it as a 2016.5? Or any other identifying info? I otherwise do not know, sorry.

I'm pretty sure backup cameras are standard on all automatic models in 2016.5's. It was standard in my 2014 Touring.

Not sure on the LED headlights, sorry.
 
And the electronic parking brake was on the '16. I have one.
 
Thanks for all of the input. Looks like Mazda has a lot of happy owners.

The whole "drops like a rock in value" is a bit scary. Do these not hold their value? Crossovers are selling twice as fast as cars now days. I would hope they only lose the car average of 3-4k per YEAR. From what I see across all brands even Lexus, most newer vehicles lose 3-4k per year until they are a certain age. They lose more than 3-4k in the first year of ownership though from what I see. You might lose 20% of the value in the first year.

We are looking at the Touring because we can find them for 16k or so. A 2016 for 16k is a substantial savings over new. I think I can walk in with cash and get less. I want to be aggressive or no deal. You can get upside down on a loan fast if it loses value fast so they buy price needs to be right. Otherwise you need gap insurance.

I have never had a car with heated cloth seats nor have I sat in one. Ever heated seat I have been in has been leather or vinyl. I actually like cloth better in most cases.

The 2016 tech package came WITH the moonroof or can they be ordered separately?

Get AWD or not? I read the AWD system is pitiful. I guess its better than nothing if needed. The rav 4 does not have AWD and we have never felt we needed it but in some cases on boat ramps it might be handy.

"Mazda moly" I am going to have to look this up. I am unsure of the term. I do my own oil changes. I bought a BMW last year and the dealer oil changes are costly. I buy special German blend oil and it takes 7.2 quarts per oil change. I do 7500 miles per oil change on it. BMW says you can go longer but.....

The toyota we run synthetic walmart brand oil and change it every 10k miles. The mazda would somehow be less miles on the same synthetic?
 
on Touring, you had to have the Bose/Moonroof package in order to get the Tech Package. Bose/Moonroof was standard on GT.

The AWD system is fantastic. Never heard of it being awful anywhere.

I got $21,500 in trade on my 2016 GT w/ Tech w/ ~26k miles (sticker was $32k). That was after 2 years of ownership.

Mazda moly is just the Mazda branded oil which has a high molybdenum content.
 
Get AWD or not? I read the AWD system is pitiful. I guess its better than nothing if needed.

Who told you that? I've literally never seen anyone call it "pitiful".

My AWD is fantastic and I have nothing but good things to say about it (and I suspect other CX-5 owners here will echo that sentiment).
 
Paid $28K for my '16 GT in June of 2015 and trade in today (according to KBB) is almost $20K. Not a red flag for me.

Mazda calls for oil changes at 5K or 7.5K miles, depending on severity of service. If you use Mazda moly oil, you can use the Flexible Oil Moinitor and potentially extend your interval to 10K miles or 12 months.

One reason I went with the GT was at the time it was the only trim level that had dual climate control (drivers side and passenger side). I think that feature made it to the Touring level for 16.5. Am I remembering that correctly Kaps or am I fos?
 
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Paid $28K for my '16 GT in June of 2015 and trade in today (according to KBB) is almost $20K. Not a red flag for me.

Mazda calls for oil changes at 5K or 7.5K miles, depending on severity of service. If you use Mazda moly oil, you can use the Flexible Oil Moinitor and potentially extend your interval to 10K miles or 12 months.

One reason I went with the GT was at the time it was the only trim level that had dual climate control (drivers side and passenger side). I think that feature made it to the Touring level for 16.5. Am I remembering that correctly Kaps or am I fos?

mine KBB'd for $24k at the time... but i knew there was no way in hell i would get that much. i was cool just getting out from my loan w/out owing anything back... not bad considering i didn't put a dime down, and had rolled the loss from my early lease termination into the loan bundle as well.
 
I think the reason Unobtanium was offered such a low price was that the dealer didn't want his business.
"That dude is such a pain in the butt, I'm going to price him out..." LMAO!!! j/k

ANYWAY, OP: You are buying used, resale should be even less of a concern for you.
 
I was just watching some youtube videos and the videos said the AWD was not very good at its job. I am not sure if its any worse than the CRV. It seems quite a few used Cx5's have the AWD system. I have never paid more than 9500 for a car. This is a big purchase for us. We have a 3 month old and I want something safer. The rav 4 does not even have side curtain or side airbags. It is a bit bigger than the cx5 inside. We average 23-24mpg with it.
 
Mazda put out a bad batch of transmissions for the CX-5 model from 2015-2016. Several members here have reported complete transmission failure. Take a look:

https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123861506-2015-CX5-2-5-AWD-Transmission-took-a-dump
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...-My-CX-5-transmission-failed-and-was-replaced
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...-shifting-after-2015-transmission-replacement
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123854261-Full-Transmission-Replacement
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?123854272-2015-CX5-Transmission-Replacement
https://www.mazdas247.com/forum/sho...o-transmission-flare-changing-from-3rd-to-4th

I know some members here have been trying to track VIN numbers to see if there is connection. If you decide to get one, just hope it wasn't part of this batch. Other than that it seems like a nice vehicle. Good luck with your purchase.
 
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I was just watching some youtube videos and the videos said the AWD was not very good at its job. I am not sure if its any worse than the CRV. It seems quite a few used Cx5's have the AWD system. I have never paid more than 9500 for a car. This is a big purchase for us. We have a 3 month old and I want something safer. The rav 4 does not even have side curtain or side airbags. It is a bit bigger than the cx5 inside. We average 23-24mpg with it.

The AWD on the CX5 is far superior than that on the CRV. How do I know? We also have a 2015 CRV.

Not sure what videos you're referring to, but there are plenty that praise the Mazda's predictive system. Its now on par, or better than that of Subaru's, which for a long time was the gold standard.
 
If I buy a used 2016, do I get a warranty? Like is it transferable? Should I worry about the transmission on a 2016?

I might get the AWD if the price is right. I won't look away. :)
 
I was just watching some youtube videos and the videos said the AWD was not very good at its job. I am not sure if its any worse than the CRV. It seems quite a few used Cx5's have the AWD system. I have never paid more than 9500 for a car. This is a big purchase for us. We have a 3 month old and I want something safer. The rav 4 does not even have side curtain or side airbags. It is a bit bigger than the cx5 inside. We average 23-24mpg with it.

If you care about AWD you may want to consider a Forester, as they have the best AWD in the segment, are reliable and also hold their value extremely well.
 
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