Test drove a '19 GT-R and Signature today

Seriously, who has time to go to the dealers. I rather use my time doing something else. When I had the Tacoma new which came with free oil change, I never once stepped into the dealership for the free work.

I go to the dealer, get a loaner, and go do those other things while the vehicle is being worked on. What do you do?
 
I would argue that enthusiast forums are not representative of the car. God knows what people would think about Mazda after reading these forums!

To be fair, this forum mainly has dumb threads about infotainment knobs and petty complaints about sound deadening and 0-60 oddities. Id conclude that most buyers arent having busted vehicles or they'd complain about THAT, and deduce that the cx5 is pretty solid, go drive it, and if i liked it buy one. In fact, i kindof did do that exact thing.
 
Wacky that the RDX has so much torque down low but you still feel all that turbo lag. I am convinced that BMW under states their true HP.

Nothing ive ever seen from BMW leads me to think that. The last vehicle with truly understated power that i can think of was the 2004 Mustang Cobra. The last car with truly overstated power was the Mazda RX8.
 
To be fair, this forum mainly has dumb threads about infotainment knobs and petty complaints about sound deadening and 0-60 oddities. Id conclude that most buyers arent having busted vehicles or they'd complain about THAT, and deduce that the cx5 is pretty solid, go drive it, and if i liked it buy one. In fact, i kindof did do that exact thing.

Pretty much...
 
The last Mazda (Familia) GTR (also available as GTS)
4WD, 1.8L Turbo 210 HP, 185 ft/lb 5 Speed manual with LSD, Rally car descended

Now back as a CUV.. kind of like Mitsubishi Eclipse (burnout)
FamiliaGTR.jpg

That thing is cool.
 
The normal Mazda CX-5 add fuel light comes on with 2-3 gallons in reserve. So with a 15.3 gallon tank, you are getting that light with 12 gallons uses. 240-260 miles before fill up while driving around in the city. That is not a lot and only 300 on the highway.

Good luck with your car search!

I was going to say this. On my CX-5 I'm getting between 270-300 per tank. That is not a lot and with the amount of miles I drive I'm going to the gas station at least twice a week. It's pretty annoying.
 
The normal Mazda CX-5 add fuel light comes on with 2-3 gallons in reserve. So with a 15.3 gallon tank, you are getting that light with 12 gallons uses. 240-260 miles before fill up while driving around in the city. That is not a lot and only 300 on the highway.
I was going to say this. On my CX-5 I'm getting between 270-300 per tank. That is not a lot and with the amount of miles I drive I'm going to the gas station at least twice a week. It's pretty annoying.
Yeah a 15.3-gal gas tank is pretty small for a vehicle with 22/27/24 city/highway/combined EPA MPGs. I hope Mazda can squeeze some more space for bigger gas tank, like CX-5 AWD has 0.5-gal bigger gas tank than FWD CX-5 even though theres more plumbing in the area!
 
A couple days ago I said "no" and walked away from a '19 Signature purchase negotiation. Last night the dealer called and made one last chance to sweeten the deal and we agreed. They'll find me my first color choice (Sonic Silver) and make sure the port doesn't add those silly $400 roof rails. They gave me a modest MSRP discount and finally gave me what I wanted on my '16 Touring trade in. Mazda will give me $1250 in Trade in and Loyalty incentives.

After test driving an RDX and looking at Q5's it's a no brainer to go with the Signature. The 2.5T's seamless acceleration is so much nicer then the RDX and the quality and features of the Signature interior is at least as good and maybe even better then the highest trim levels from Acura and Audi. (Acura is way too cluttered and Audi's top trim adds too much $'s just to match Mazda's features.) BMW's are too tired/fugly looking IMHO. I test drove a 707 HP GC Trackhawk and it's wicked fast at 3.5 0-60 but close to $100k and 13 MPG and it's still just a Jeep. I skipped over Mercedes and not fond of Porche styling. Anything with a CVT rubber band tranny was off the table.

My conclusion is the Signature adds a healthy dose of 2.5T driving fun, comes fully loaded with all the latest driving aids/features, has cleaner styling and competes head on in the luxury SUV segment but at a kindler/gentler price tag. I also think Mazda's reliability will be better in the long run. (my '16 has been perfect). I think Mazda will do quite well with this trim. It's expensive for a Mazda but better value then it's competition.
 
...and make sure the port doesn't add those silly $400 roof rails.
this.
the vast majority of 19's showing up around here have these damn roof rails on them. Its' annoying because I'd have zero use for them.

congrats on coming to terms on the vehicle. make sure you post pics when you get it
 
A couple days ago I said "no" and walked away from a '19 Signature purchase negotiation. Last night the dealer called and made one last chance to sweeten the deal and we agreed. They'll find me my first color choice (Sonic Silver) and make sure the port doesn't add those silly $400 roof rails. They gave me a modest MSRP discount and finally gave me what I wanted on my '16 Touring trade in. Mazda will give me $1250 in Trade in and Loyalty incentives.

After test driving an RDX and looking at Q5's it's a no brainer to go with the Signature. The 2.5T's seamless acceleration is so much nicer then the RDX and the quality and features of the Signature interior is at least as good and maybe even better then the highest trim levels from Acura and Audi. (Acura is way too cluttered and Audi's top trim adds too much $'s just to match Mazda's features.) BMW's are too tired/fugly looking IMHO. I test drove a 707 HP GC Trackhawk and it's wicked fast at 3.5 0-60 but close to $100k and 13 MPG and it's still just a Jeep. I skipped over Mercedes and not fond of Porche styling. Anything with a CVT rubber band tranny was off the table.

My conclusion is the Signature adds a healthy dose of 2.5T driving fun, comes fully loaded with all the latest driving aids/features, has cleaner styling and competes head on in the luxury SUV segment but at a kindler/gentler price tag. I also think Mazda's reliability will be better in the long run. (my '16 has been perfect). I think Mazda will do quite well with this trim. It's expensive for a Mazda but better value then it's competition.

Congrats. I have been searching the Socal dealership to test drive one but nobody seems to have it on the lot yet.
 
Congrats. I have been searching the Socal dealership to test drive one but nobody seems to have it on the lot yet.
I saw a few pop up in HB, Tustin, and Irvine over the weekend.
when using the Mazda Inventory Search, just search for all 2019's as the results omit some cars when you filter by trim. Then just sort by distance or $$$ and you'll be good to go.
which trim are you looking for?
 
I saw a few pop up in HB, Tustin, and Irvine over the weekend.
when using the Mazda Inventory Search, just search for all 2019's as the results omit some cars when you filter by trim. Then just sort by distance or $$$ and you'll be good to go.
which trim are you looking for?

I did that and actually chatted with the dealership. They are expecting.. I might be interested in the Reserve.
 
Just my opinion...while I wouldn't rule out an RDX as I cross-shopped a '15 RDX when I bought my CX-5 I don't entertain the European brands as I am long term owner. Call me stubborn if you will but I still don't believe their overall reliability issues have been addressed. Can you find a reliable one? Sure.... statistically..there are probably many who have good luck but overall it seems there will be issues long term. I've noticed as well when someone claims great luck with a European brand it isn't a fully loaded model but a base model lacking the problem areas. Nothing you haven't heard before but if I only bought or leased vehicles under warranty.. no problem with any brand assuming it isn't parked at the dealer every other week. That isn't me though but I don't look down on those that often turnover their vehicles. That is their choice.

I agree. Consumer Reports just recently rated car manufacturers by their overall reliability. Lexus was first, Toyota, second, Mazda, third, and Subaru, fourth. Audi was 6th, I think but the BMW and Mercedes were mid-pack at best. I still advise those who are thinking about buying German to sell before the warranty runs out, or stask away $10,000 for repairs if keepng it longer.

Alfa Romeo is near or at the bottom with Tesla being third to the bottom - not very promising.
 
A couple days ago I said "no" and walked away from a '19 Signature purchase negotiation. Last night the dealer called and made one last chance to sweeten the deal and we agreed. They'll find me my first color choice (Sonic Silver) and make sure the port doesn't add those silly $400 roof rails. They gave me a modest MSRP discount and finally gave me what I wanted on my '16 Touring trade in. Mazda will give me $1250 in Trade in and Loyalty incentives.

After test driving an RDX and looking at Q5's it's a no brainer to go with the Signature. The 2.5T's seamless acceleration is so much nicer then the RDX and the quality and features of the Signature interior is at least as good and maybe even better then the highest trim levels from Acura and Audi. (Acura is way too cluttered and Audi's top trim adds too much $'s just to match Mazda's features.) BMW's are too tired/fugly looking IMHO. I test drove a 707 HP GC Trackhawk and it's wicked fast at 3.5 0-60 but close to $100k and 13 MPG and it's still just a Jeep. I skipped over Mercedes and not fond of Porche styling. Anything with a CVT rubber band tranny was off the table.

My conclusion is the Signature adds a healthy dose of 2.5T driving fun, comes fully loaded with all the latest driving aids/features, has cleaner styling and competes head on in the luxury SUV segment but at a kindler/gentler price tag. I also think Mazda's reliability will be better in the long run. (my '16 has been perfect). I think Mazda will do quite well with this trim. It's expensive for a Mazda but better value then it's competition.

Congratulations! Interesting that they came back to you and budged. That is the color I want as well. When do you expect the car?
 
Congratulations! Interesting that they came back to you and budged. That is the color I want as well. When do you expect the car?

Thanks! It could be as early as a week if they can divert one already on the ground. Otherwise they'll tag one on the next boat load which might be a couple weeks.
 
I was also at the dealer today and drove a GTR (in Canada they aren't calling it a GTR far as I can tell), sat in a Signature and drove a regular GT back to back with the GTR. The regular GT is laughably slow compared to the GTR - it's fine as a daily driver but any enthusiast or anyone who likes gusto will want to the turbo. It was my first time driving the 2G CX-5 and it's an impressively quiet car and the interior is very nice - definitely in the realm of a luxury car. The Signature trim is nice but not actually significantly nicer than the GTR - in Canada it's $1,500 more and it's really just the nicer leather and more LED lights and I think I'd get the GTR instead.

OTOH I then went over to the Acura dealer and gave an RDX the gears. That thing is definitely a better car than the CX-5 - the A-Spec trim is about $10K more after taxes than a Signature and I'd say people who have the money should spring for it. Great backseat, great motor - the motor is a class ahead of the GTR.

The RDX has an estimated 0-60 of 6s and easily felt like it while I'd say the CX-5 is a mid/high 6 car.

All that said, can't go wrong with either car at their respective price points. I think Mazda will sell these at a good clip.

Guys
Tomorrow first review 2019 mazda cx5 turbo .😁😁
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJla13cU_l6Itg8yEtOiAqQ
 
The first boatload arrived in the middle of the night on the 25th into San Diego, and the next boat should arrive on 12/11 (Amethyst Ace if you're wondering). So the first of the Signatures and GT-R should be getting to So Cal dealerships soon.
 
Will the 2019 Signature have parking assist? This is where the display shows how close objects are to the front and rear of the vehicle?
 
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