Recent content by deuxdiesel

Why not just skip the slushbox altogether and offer a 2.5 AWD manual 6 speed? It's hard to take the "driver focused brand" mantra seriously when manual transmissions are not universally available.

So that is where it's coming from! I though it might have been the side mirror- it was driving me nuts looking for a cause, but with all the other squeaks and rattles this car has, it was hard to pinpoint. The fix seems like a kludge- I will do it myself as opposed to spending the day at the...

Acceleration needs to be tempered by handling. I test drove the XT and loved how quick it was (the CVT was nauseating), but the wallowy and mushy handling seemed highly mismatched. For all it's other faults, the CX5 is the best handling of all the CUV's from my test drives. It doesn't hurt...

My wife's 3 year old Golf TDi, after having been driven on the worst roads in the US (SE Mich) still feels like it was carved out of a single block of steel. Quiet, no rattles, no clunks. The CX-5 does handle great on smooth roads, but rough roads are painful.

My wife, daughter and I all drove the Trailhawk before the CX-5, and much preferred it's solid feel over the cheap, tinny and loud CX-5, but we settled for the CX-5 hoping that it will be more reliable. The owners forums for the Cherokee are full of transmission horror stories, so in...

I grew up in Dexter, and only live 10 minutes from there. Never heard of these guys, but I will contact them.

22" rims will give you a horrendous ride due to the super-low profile tire you would have to get to keep the same tire height, something like a 225/35/22 with a 3" sidewall. If you got bigger sidewalls, like a 50 series or so, the tire would be so tall that it would kill your mileage. I was in...

If you locate some pinch welting (used around interior trim) you could make a nice finishing piece for it.

That would be great, but I don't see it happening due to the fact that so few people by manuals anymore, especially with a low volume car like the CX-5. I read that less than 10% of all Foresters come with a stick, and having owned 2 of them, I can tell you from experience there was a lot of...

Personally, I would rather have a 6 speed manual as a choice with the AWD as opposed to a tarted-up automatic. Our need for AWD was greater than a manual transmission (we have other cars to satisfy that need), so we got stuck with the auto. Could be worse- Mazda could always go to a CVT like...

Most likely they charged you "shop time" which is the $75 an hour, whether it took them 20 minutes or an hour. Remember that low skill jobs like oil changes and unfortunately in your case, a hitch install, usually go to the lowest paid wrench. You should make sure the install it to spec...

I just installed the Curt Class II yesterday. It was really fun lying on my back in the salty slush and freezing cold. I only had ramps for the rear, so clearance was tight. It took about 1 hour working by myself because I decided to remove the muffler completely- it comes off quickly with a...

Interesting that the fit kit listed for AU is not sold in the US. Possibly because we don't have those little access flaps on our roof moulding, but it could be made to work. The Yakima Landing Pads stick up a bunch and are pretty un-level, front to back.

For me it's not the seat back, but the seat bottom. I'm used to having the front of the cushion higher so my bottom is quite a bit lower. No way to get this right on a long drive. I may and up machining some riser blocks to put under the front seat mounts (yes, I understand the risks) and get...

We had yet another decent snowfall yesterday (4-5") and I can concur that the CX does oversteer in slippery conditions initially, but it straightens itself out pretty quick. Coming from a 4wd Tacoma whose dashboard would light up like Broadway at the first sign of wheel slip, I find this to be...