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- TBD
Impressions After A month with my 2019 GT - What's with the "Leather" Seats?
Coming from a 2010 Acura MDX... Driving Feel, Technology, Looks, and Value were the four main criteria that I used in my new vehicle selection.
Still extremely happy with...
- Driving feel (I usually purchase Luxury Sport Sedans or SUVs)
- Technology (Had some hiccups with Android Auto but overall very happy with it)
- Adaptive headlights (move side to side when you turn - only had self leveling on previous vehicles)
- Radar cruise control. I use cruise control whenever possible, just makes for a more relaxed driving experience and maximizes mileage - love the RADAR! (Wish a lot more of the idiots on the road used their cruise control but now the radar makes it less frustrating with drivers out there that can't drive a steady speed.)
- Interior noise. This has luxury segment level interior noise levels (and lower than my 2010 MDX but that was notorious for high road noise.)
- Overall value (compared to CR-V, Santa Fe, RAV-4, Escape, can't believe I got all this in for right about $30K - and I don't look like everyone and their Mom who's driving a CR-V around.)
A little disappointed or wishing...
- Better seats. Seats are the biggest disappointment. Mazda needs to take a seat out of a Volvo and just copy it. Seats could be a tad bigger with longer leg support and ability to tilt front edge up higher (or back down lower) - seems these were designed for not very big people (I'm 6' and average build and seat feels barely big enough for me.) Could use bigger bolsters, but I guess this is a mid-range SUV, not a sports car. Most of all, are these seats REALLY leather? The seat surface you sit on sure feels like vinyl to me but coming from Volvo and Acura I guess I became acustom to a higher quliaty leather but these sure don't even feel like a low quality leather! But they DO feel more "tough" than the softer leather so maybe a plus in the long run.
- Infotainment / Android Auto system can be a little finicky at times (but 90% of it is due to the Android App and nothing to do with the car.) The backup camera stopped displaying all the sudden and I found out how to "reboot" the system and that fixed it.
- Wish it had a panoramic sunroof, but considering all the other features, at $30K, I guess that's a little unrealistic to expect at that price point.
- Back seats a little cramped compared to a lot of the competition but I rarely have passengers for long hauls back there.
- 6-speed is pretty "old" by today's standards. 7 or 8-speed would be more "up to date." But again, not surprising at the price point.
- Car won't make significant more horsepower by putting premium gas in it (conservative ECU Programming by Mazda) - but I think I found a tuner that will remap the timing map on the ECU for $500 to get me about 20-25 more HP when using premium and improve fuel economy when I'm not a lead foot. (Additional HP is nice for freeway passing or trailering a motorcycle.) Will follow up with my experience on that later.
Coming from a 2010 Acura MDX... Driving Feel, Technology, Looks, and Value were the four main criteria that I used in my new vehicle selection.
Still extremely happy with...
- Driving feel (I usually purchase Luxury Sport Sedans or SUVs)
- Technology (Had some hiccups with Android Auto but overall very happy with it)
- Adaptive headlights (move side to side when you turn - only had self leveling on previous vehicles)
- Radar cruise control. I use cruise control whenever possible, just makes for a more relaxed driving experience and maximizes mileage - love the RADAR! (Wish a lot more of the idiots on the road used their cruise control but now the radar makes it less frustrating with drivers out there that can't drive a steady speed.)
- Interior noise. This has luxury segment level interior noise levels (and lower than my 2010 MDX but that was notorious for high road noise.)
- Overall value (compared to CR-V, Santa Fe, RAV-4, Escape, can't believe I got all this in for right about $30K - and I don't look like everyone and their Mom who's driving a CR-V around.)
A little disappointed or wishing...
- Better seats. Seats are the biggest disappointment. Mazda needs to take a seat out of a Volvo and just copy it. Seats could be a tad bigger with longer leg support and ability to tilt front edge up higher (or back down lower) - seems these were designed for not very big people (I'm 6' and average build and seat feels barely big enough for me.) Could use bigger bolsters, but I guess this is a mid-range SUV, not a sports car. Most of all, are these seats REALLY leather? The seat surface you sit on sure feels like vinyl to me but coming from Volvo and Acura I guess I became acustom to a higher quliaty leather but these sure don't even feel like a low quality leather! But they DO feel more "tough" than the softer leather so maybe a plus in the long run.
- Infotainment / Android Auto system can be a little finicky at times (but 90% of it is due to the Android App and nothing to do with the car.) The backup camera stopped displaying all the sudden and I found out how to "reboot" the system and that fixed it.
- Wish it had a panoramic sunroof, but considering all the other features, at $30K, I guess that's a little unrealistic to expect at that price point.
- Back seats a little cramped compared to a lot of the competition but I rarely have passengers for long hauls back there.
- 6-speed is pretty "old" by today's standards. 7 or 8-speed would be more "up to date." But again, not surprising at the price point.
- Car won't make significant more horsepower by putting premium gas in it (conservative ECU Programming by Mazda) - but I think I found a tuner that will remap the timing map on the ECU for $500 to get me about 20-25 more HP when using premium and improve fuel economy when I'm not a lead foot. (Additional HP is nice for freeway passing or trailering a motorcycle.) Will follow up with my experience on that later.
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