Anyone bought a CX-5 when the closest dealer is 2 hrs away?

rockethead26

2019 CX-5 Reserve
:
N. Arizona @ 7000'
Hi everyone. I'm new here, but have been lurking for a few weeks since my wife and I decided our first new car in 12 years will be a CX-5. In the next month or so, we would like to buy a Signature or Reserve, but the problem is that there is no Mazda dealer in Flagstaff, AZ. It closed down about 18 months ago. Bad sign???

There is a dealer in Prescott, about 60 miles away, but customers aren't very happy there. The next dealer with good reviews is 125 miles away in the Phoenix area.

We'll be keeping our 12 year-old Prius which has been absolutely wonderful and dumping our 20 year-old Jeep Grand Cherokee which has been a super vehicle as well, but it's time for it to go.

I am about 90% of the way to accepting the occasional long drive for service, but am wondering if anyone here has done something similar. Will I regret doing this? I really do not want a Forester (great Subaru dealer here) or a CR-V (good Toyota dealer here as well) as they, well, kinda suck in the category of "driving experience".

What say you?

Thanks,
Jim
 
You said it yourself. At the 30k and below price point, nothing has the interior or exterior of the CX-5.

What's wrong with the Mazda dealer in Prescott? Googled em and seem to be OK.

You can always service the vehicle yourself or at an ASE-certified shop, and leave the dealer with major work or recall work.
 
Guess it kinda depends how much time you have on your hands and how important it is to you. Also, how much mileage do you put on it in a year. If you drive 2000+ miles a month and depend on the dealer to do all your service (oil changes, tire rotations, etc) then I would not go with a Mazda. If you don't put a lot of mileage find a local shop to do the oil changes, rotations, etc. Some people never visit the dealer unless there's a recall.
There's not much maintenance required in the first 60,000 miles. If you don't do a lot of driving you could probably get it down to visiting the dealer once every 10 months or so.
I take my car in about every 11 months since I don't put a lot of miles on it. In my case the dealer is only about 10 miles away.

ps: Phoenix is a nice town, take it in for service then have lunch.
 
Galpin is a big dealer group... Galpin Ford out of California is the largest Ford dealer in the country.
 
never went to the dealer outside of warranty work over past 30 years...ever

Well, that's a blanket statement that worked for you, but not everybody feels that way.
In my experience, and I've had 50 years of car ownership experience, it comes down to how the dealership is run.
I've been to lots of dealerships, from many makes, and have dealt with A+ dealers, and F- dealers, and everything in between.
The two Mazda dealers I negotiated with when buying my 6 were night and day as well.
I used to take my Nissans to the dealer for all my servicing because they were great, and had terrific people working there....until it (the dealership) was sold.
They went down the toilet immediately. I never go there now.
If you've had a bad experience with a dealer, then I'm sorry for you. It can leave a bad taste in your mouth.
If you're lucky and find a good honest dealer, with the right kind of people working there, then it's a blessing.
Don't paint them all with the same negative brush.
 
You said it yourself. At the 30k and below price point, nothing has the interior or exterior of the CX-5.

What's wrong with the Mazda dealer in Prescott? Googled em and seem to be OK.

You can always service the vehicle yourself or at an ASE-certified shop, and leave the dealer with major work or recall work.

Ah, you're right about the reviews. They are good on the dealer's site, but when I looked at the Yelp reviews, they were horrible. Turns out I was looking at the same owner's Ford dealership, not the Mazda. The only thing they get dinged for is the dealer recommended warranty service vs the Mazda recommended which is more expensive. As long as the customer knows that they can buy what they want. Good, I feel better already, halving the distance. Good idea on the alternate shop work. I'll see who we have here in Flagstaff. I do agree that the CX-5 is the best of the bunch anywhere near its price range.

Thanks for taking the time to respond,

Jim
 
With any luck, you won't have to visit the dealer often at all. You'll probably be happier overall with the CX-5 then anything else, making it worth a little hassle if you DO have to visit. I'd buy it from whoever gives you the best price, and don't worry about service until it becomes an issue. If the Mazda dealer in Flagstaff closed, I'll bet some independents will step up to pick up the slack for service. If I were in Flagstaff, I'd be emailing dealers in PHX, ALBQ and Vegas, too.
 
Guess it kinda depends how much time you have on your hands and how important it is to you. Also, how much mileage do you put on it in a year. If you drive 2000+ miles a month and depend on the dealer to do all your service (oil changes, tire rotations, etc) then I would not go with a Mazda. If you don't put a lot of mileage find a local shop to do the oil changes, rotations, etc. Some people never visit the dealer unless there's a recall.
There's not much maintenance required in the first 60,000 miles. If you don't do a lot of driving you could probably get it down to visiting the dealer once every 10 months or so.
I take my car in about every 11 months since I don't put a lot of miles on it. In my case the dealer is only about 10 miles away.

ps: Phoenix is a nice town, take it in for service then have lunch.

Thanks for the response. I will be retired in two years so time won't be a problem and right now my job hours are pretty flexible which is why I was considering the drive. We only put maybe 200-300 miles on each car per month, so trips will be few and far between unless I have warranty issues with the new car. You're the second to mention alternative service shops, so I'll look into that.

As far as Phoenix goes, it's a traffic nightmare more often then not, so we usually go down only once a year for the Renaissance Festival. I could tolerate 2-3 times per year, I guess. I was alerted in an earlier post about my misgivings on the closer dealer, so maybe not so bad when the drive is only an hour and it's the pretty half of the drive to Phoenix.

Cheers!

Cheers!
 
Well, that's a blanket statement that worked for you, but not everybody feels that way.
In my experience, and I've had 50 years of car ownership experience, it comes down to how the dealership is run.
I've been to lots of dealerships, from many makes, and have dealt with A+ dealers, and F- dealers, and everything in between.
The two Mazda dealers I negotiated with when buying my 6 were night and day as well.
I used to take my Nissans to the dealer for all my servicing because they were great, and had terrific people working there....until it (the dealership) was sold.
They went down the toilet immediately. I never go there now.
If you've had a bad experience with a dealer, then I'm sorry for you. It can leave a bad taste in your mouth.
If you're lucky and find a good honest dealer, with the right kind of people working there, then it's a blessing.
Don't paint them all with the same negative brush.

I've had both good and bad dealer experiences as well in my 40 years of car buying. I have yet to check out any of them, but that will start in a couple of weeks.

Cheers!
 
With any luck, you won't have to visit the dealer often at all. You'll probably be happier overall with the CX-5 then anything else, making it worth a little hassle if you DO have to visit. I'd buy it from whoever gives you the best price, and don't worry about service until it becomes an issue. If the Mazda dealer in Flagstaff closed, I'll bet some independents will step up to pick up the slack for service. If I were in Flagstaff, I'd be emailing dealers in PHX, ALBQ and Vegas, too.

Thanks for the additional good vibes! I think best prices on the Reserve and Signature aren't much more than a few hundred to a thousand below sticker, so I doubt I'd travel as far as Vegas or Albuquerque for a few hundred bucks.

Jim
 
Well, that's a blanket statement that worked for you, but not everybody feels that way.
In my experience, and I've had 50 years of car ownership experience, it comes down to how the dealership is run.
I've been to lots of dealerships, from many makes, and have dealt with A+ dealers, and F- dealers, and everything in between.
The two Mazda dealers I negotiated with when buying my 6 were night and day as well.
I used to take my Nissans to the dealer for all my servicing because they were great, and had terrific people working there....until it (the dealership) was sold.
They went down the toilet immediately. I never go there now.
If you've had a bad experience with a dealer, then I'm sorry for you. It can leave a bad taste in your mouth.
If you're lucky and find a good honest dealer, with the right kind of people working there, then it's a blessing.
Don't paint them all with the same negative brush.

Dealers overcharge for most every service. Never had a bad experience with a dealer because I refuse to go to one to be ripped off.
 
Thanks for the additional good vibes! I think best prices on the Reserve and Signature aren't much more than a few hundred to a thousand below sticker, so I doubt I'd travel as far as Vegas or Albuquerque for a few hundred bucks.

Jim
should be able to get a reserve for $33k without any rebhates
 
Well, I just did an inventory search for Reserves and Signatures in two different colors each and the closest dealer in Prescott has none of the four combinations. All are available at several dealers in the Phoenix area. I would need to go down to test drive anyway, so I would just buy it there. I guess I could get warranty work done at the Prescott dealer which would be good.
 
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