Well said, 2008GT. The angry guy who turned this post negative has insecurity issues. I tried to respond originally with humor and further logic but I guess by then it was Republicans against Democrats/ Mac guys vs PC guys.
Just to set the record straight on both sides- NONE of us are really that cool for buying a 7 seat disguised minivan. We just THINK we are cool.
If we could just get back to the real topic, and shift away from name calling, I think this thread is not finished yet and many people may still be interested in discussing further.
There seems to be 2 groups here that want the driving lights on a separate switch independent of the headlights- People who want to turn the driving lights into fog lights, (not their original intention as Mazda knows real Fogs are yellow and must go on WITHOUT HID headlights), and people who want DRLs. Now I have turned the factory driving lights on and off on a dark road, and since I have the powerful HID Xenons, the driving lights are pretty much useless and unnoticeable at night. They give me no extra night vision. So, as they are they are useless.
For the crowd that wants true fog lights like the guy from Costa Rico, this mod will improve his vision in the fog. Connecting them so they can be turned on and off when the parking lights are on is the way to go for this route.
For the crowd who wants DRLs (me included), This is not necessarily the best way to wire the driving lights. True DRLs should be independent of the parking lights, as the purpose is for approaching cars to see you from a long distance durning the day. Having all the parking lights and tail lights on all day is not needed and will burn out your bulbs faster. As I said way back on this thread, I still intend to hook mine up so that when the switch is thrown, they will always be on when the headlights are off, and when the headlights are on, the DRLs will go off automatically, just like my BMW is wired. (And then I can drive in Canada legally without all my lights on during the day)
This is going to be a tricky setup requiring 2 relays I believe, and I am going to have to think it through as I dig up my old tech-school training from 15 years ago. When I finally get this done I will post a DIY with photos, I promise.
In closing, I would like to say one more thing- I challenge Angry Kaiak Guy to explain again how I think I am cool when my set-up can't even turn on the very weak driving lights while my blinding headlights are on. And blinding they are- every sports car driver approaching a CX-9 with HIDs on a slight hill is instantly blinded. If the Driving Lights happen to be on, the driver would never even see them because the Xenons are 10x brighter. Even though I keep my lights tipped low people still flash me their brights.
So hopefully we can end the name calling from both sides and get back to the topic. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to cover everything.