1 year, 19,382 miles later review

S

sternsi

:
2016 Mazda CX-5 GT
So I have had my 2016 CX-5 GT for 1 year now. After putting 19,382 miles on it I figured I would do a quick review and all issues associated with it. Day 1 was great, picked it up from a dealer out of state. The following week, and 400 miles on it the thing started shaking bad when braking on the highway. Called dealer and had them take a look. new rotors all around, with 540 miles on the clock. While it was in I also complained about the seat warmers and the fact they don't really get that warm. Dealer said they worked to spec.1400 miles first chip in windshield repaired. 2700 miles in car had a slight hiccup in the trans when pulling away from stop signs. Dealer re-programmed and it was fine. 4200 miles and chip number 2 is repaired. 5k mile service and no issues. At around 6800 miles the navigation surround started pealing back so had that replaced. 8400 miles, hit a construction seam in the road and boom went the tire and rim. Can't believe these things only have a donut spare. 8700 miles and yet another chip. I am starting to see a pattern here.9200 miles check engine light comes on. Have it towed to the dealer. Needs new plugs and coils. 10k mile service tag light out, no other issues. 13k miles navigation decided to stop working on a long trip back home. backed it up off the map I had on my computer and it was fine again. 14k miles back in because the seat warmers barely got warm at all, again told to spec and that was all they warmed up to even on the hottest setting.14.5k and another chip. WTF. 15k mile service no issues. 17k miles started noting the fogginess in the headlights, but have yet to talk to dealer about it as the 20k mile service is only a month or so away. Now driving home this past weekend during a 9 hr trip I noticed the trans is starting to make a noise , thump when accelerating at highway speeds, and you guessed it, another chip in the windshield.

So my overall with the CX-5 is it's a fun car to drive, but its not near as nice fit and finish wise as my 05 mazda 6. And what I mean by that is my 05 has 242k miles on it and the seats hardly look worn at all. The CX-5 bolsters are already showing signs of wear which I brought to the service managers attention. The leather just isn't as good, which I guess is because its now bonded. The windshield must be made of the worse glass in history, talking to the service manager he said they see more chips in the CX-5 then all the other cars combined.

Now, My wife has a 2014 Sante Fe, and while it may not drive as nice as the CX-5, it hasn't been into the shop for anything but routine maintenance and it has 29k miles on it. I love my 05 Mazda 6 and was the main reason to buy the CX-5 because of how dependable it has been for me. I still have it and drive it. I am really disappointed with the fit and finish of the interior on the CX-5 and the little issues it has had so far. I know, while they are minor I don't want to think about how it will be in 5 years. I keep my cars for as long as they will go, make sure they are clean, serviced and well taken care of. The fact that this thing is already showing signs of what may be to come scares me and makes me wonder if I shouldn't get rid of it now before I lose to much money on it.
 
Almost 20K in 1 year, that is some good distance. It sounds like you may have had some rough luck. I have about 600 miles on mine and I hope I have better luck. I'm curious, what pattern do you see with the windshield chips? You are aware that windshield chips are probably more related to road conditions and how far behind you drive from the vehicle in front of you right?
 
Wow...really bad luck with your CX-5. Other than occasional squeaky power door locks and the recent recall it hasn't had any major issues and ultra reliable. Not even a windshield ding.... and very familiar... other cars I have are like the old game "Thin Ice". Sounds like you got a lemon.
 
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the first chip I got was in town doing 25 behind a car. It wasn't anything crazy. The others where either in town or on the highway. I drove the exact same route with my Mazda 6 for 5 years that I drive now, and that thing has never had a chip in the windshield. I have read plenty of reviews of the CX-5 having a weak windshield, there is even a petition on the NHTS to recall them.
 
Sounds like bad luck. About to hit 33k miles on my 2014 Touring that I've had for 3 years (about 15k of that was in first year). No major issues, only 1 chip on the windshield that I got repaired, and have just been doing normal maintenance like oil changes, tire rotations, etc.
 
sternsi said:
the first chip I got was in town doing 25 behind a car. It wasn't anything crazy. The others where either in town or on the highway. I drove the exact same route with my Mazda 6 for 5 years that I drive now, and that thing has never had a chip in the windshield. I have read plenty of reviews of the CX-5 having a weak windshield, there is even a petition on the NHTS to recall them.
Click to expand...

If you don't drive into flying stones your windshield will not get chipped. I got the PermaPlate protection plan from my dealer. maybe they do this because they are a bit weaker or something...
http://www.mcdonaldmazda.com/perma-plate-windshield-protection.htm
 
There was no windshield insurance offered at the dealer. I have never actually had a car with a window chip before this one, and I have had over 10 different cars in 20 years. http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/show...Cracked-Windshields-on-CX-5-s-and-Poll/page13

I see it isn't just mine either, just strange that I have never had an issue with my, or my wife's vehicles until this. No issues with the Sante Fe, CRV, Xterra, or any of the other cars I have had. I will see how the next 3-4 months go, if I keep having little issues I will unload it for something else.
 
Guess I'm one of the fortunate ones. I've had everything from pebbles to rock salt to small birds come at my windshield with no damage done.
 
This brings up an interesting (to me) subject - what is a "lemon". The idea goes like this - some cars are lemons, that is, they suffer from a much higher than average rate of defects. Once a person's vehicle suffers just one or two more defects than usual, they begin suspecting they've bought a lemon.

But why? It seems illogical to me. Cars are not assembled by one person, and they're probably not all assembled on a single "distracted Friday" or whatever. Transmissions are built on different lines than engines, bodies, suspensions, etc.

Defects in all these parts are relatively rare, and I'm assuming that the defects in these parts built on different days and on different production lines appear in a single vehicle purely by chance. So the probability of one defect among the hundreds of parts and assemblies in a car is reasonably high - let's say for the sake of argument there's a 30% chance you'll have a defect of some kind in the first year. The probability of two defects is lower; of three is lower yet; and each defect you add to the string reduces the probability of defects to a very low number.

These defects are independent of one another. A defective engine doesn't increase the probability that the transmission, alternator, brakes, or anything else are also defective.

So why when a new car has more than the average number of defects do people suspect they've got a lemon? Logically, they should expect that having a car with 10 defects is relatively rare. Likewise, if you have 10 defects, the probability of another defects is not affected one way or the other by the first ten defects. So if your car has 10 defects, that neither increases nor decreases the probability that your transmission, for example, is defective. The parts don't talk to each other, they don't conspire to break down in concert with each other. They're inanimate, unknowing, and unaffected by the defect rates in the other parts that make up the car.

I would not sell a car because it had several defects that were fixed under warranty. Why not? Because those who believe that the presence of several defects increases the likelihood of more defects are being illogical.
 
Yikes - seems like a lot of bad luck - I've had some issues too, but I wouldn't really consider all of them serious.

I have 28,600 miles on my 2016 GT - here are the issues I've had so far:


0 miles - dealer heavily scratched / scuffed one headlight during prep, had to have it replaced.

Approx. 4,000 - very small chip on windshield from a truck flinging a rock (barely noticeable and not worth fixing)

10,100 - took it in for the infotainment system frequently crashing - (dealer did a software update and it's been fine since)

17,500 - Wife hit a deer had to replace front bumper, grill, emblem

22,800 - Front door lock actuator started making noises when locking - dealer replaced it under warranty.

Approx. 27,000 - noticed the bezel around the infotainment started peeling - I plan to get it replaced on my next oil change.

My seat heaters aren't as hot as i'd like them to be either... but it is what it is. I personally never complained to the dealer about it.


Worth noting that I still love driving it and am happy with my purchase - I still haven't gotten over the "honeymoon" period yet with it. Manual while in sport mode is the best! Really sorry you have had such bad luck with it so far - do you qualify for lemon law at all?
 
so now the 26k mile update and about to trade this POS in for something else. I have never owned a car that has been to the dealer so much. I really wanted to like this but at this point its time for it to go and for me to buy something else. The trans makes a noise every time you come to a stop, dealer says its within spec.. WTF, a trans shouldn't clunk when stopping or starting. Car has hard starts more often then not. Dealer can't find the issue. battery and starter are fine. Headlights have the white haze in them, they say nothing they can do about it since my headlights are wrapped with xcel protective vinyl. I showed them the TSB and they said it was on me and that the wrap is the cause. Navigation still sucks and freezes up even after they have updated it, changed it out. I can only take so much, and I am at that point now. I have an appt to go test drive a new sti this week. I know its not the same type of vehicle, but I am over this thing.
 
Rarebit said:
This brings up an interesting (to me) subject - what is a "lemon". The idea goes like this - some cars are lemons, that is, they suffer from a much higher than average rate of defects. Once a person's vehicle suffers just one or two more defects than usual, they begin suspecting they've bought a lemon.

But why? It seems illogical to me. Cars are not assembled by one person, and they're probably not all assembled on a single "distracted Friday" or whatever. Transmissions are built on different lines than engines, bodies, suspensions, etc.

Defects in all these parts are relatively rare, and I'm assuming that the defects in these parts built on different days and on different production lines appear in a single vehicle purely by chance. So the probability of one defect among the hundreds of parts and assemblies in a car is reasonably high - let's say for the sake of argument there's a 30% chance you'll have a defect of some kind in the first year. The probability of two defects is lower; of three is lower yet; and each defect you add to the string reduces the probability of defects to a very low number.

These defects are independent of one another. A defective engine doesn't increase the probability that the transmission, alternator, brakes, or anything else are also defective.

So why when a new car has more than the average number of defects do people suspect they've got a lemon? Logically, they should expect that having a car with 10 defects is relatively rare. Likewise, if you have 10 defects, the probability of another defects is not affected one way or the other by the first ten defects. So if your car has 10 defects, that neither increases nor decreases the probability that your transmission, for example, is defective. The parts don't talk to each other, they don't conspire to break down in concert with each other. They're inanimate, unknowing, and unaffected by the defect rates in the other parts that make up the car.

I would not sell a car because it had several defects that were fixed under warranty. Why not? Because those who believe that the presence of several defects increases the likelihood of more defects are being illogical.
Click to expand...


I think bad dealer experiences (lemon dealers) can make things seem worse than they are. The dealer I bought mine from and the the one I use for service are both Gold Cups. What few issues I've had have all been fixed correctly, decent communication, loaner cars given etc. Some of these complaints I read where things don't get fixed right seem to be low volume places with not much experience and poor customer service.
 
sternsi said:
... Can't believe these things only have a donut spare.
Click to expand...
To be fair, you can't find any car manufactures who still offer a full-sized spare nowadays. In fact, we're lucky to have a donut spare instead of a flat-repair can!

But I'm with you and I'll do the same if I had that many issues! I understand not all vehicles in the same model are built in exactly the same quality although with almost full automation on the current assembly line the build quality should be very close. The quality, reliability, and longivaty are my concerns for our first Mazda. I fully aware our Mazda won't be the most reliable car we've ever owned, but I still hope our CX-5 at least can be acceptable on this part. Your experience should be the minority among CX-5 owners. The exact CX-5 you have definitely is a one which is having more problems than others with unknown reason. So dump it if you can, and hopefully you'll have much better experience for your next purchase!

Yeah I also believe the windshield on CX-5 is weak as ours was the only one broken in a hail storm earlier this year but no other vehicles parked around ours had the cracked windshield. And I just found out our seldom used navigation system doesn't work anymore! Our 1 old 2016 CX-5 has only 12K miles!
 
This should explain why the CX-5 has a low reliability rating on JD Edwards etc. not that I care about it. I still think you get what you pay for. For a sub 25K SUV with BSM / Bose / RCTA / Comfortable seats - I think it is a good value. But then I waited for year end so I would hopefully avoid such problems as OP, I still think these are outliers but the OP doesnt care and neither would I if my car had problems.
I felt I undershopped by not going for GT. After hearing such things - I am actually not that sad anymore.

My gripe so far:
Center armrest is awful a plastic blob would have been better
the AC vents reflecting
the center where my knee rests is cheap plastic but looks good - is a bit lose.
Other than that I love every bit about this car.

Windshield is iffy - but if my wife drives this on highway 100 miles each day as planned - I will try to get some tint + protection before hand.
 
Kaps said:
This should explain why the CX-5 has a low reliability rating on JD Edwards etc. not that I care about it. I still think you get what you pay for. For a sub 25K SUV with BSM / Bose / RCTA / Comfortable seats - I think it is a good value. But then I waited for year end so I would hopefully avoid such problems as OP, I still think these are outliers but the OP doesnt care and neither would I if my car had problems.
I felt I undershopped by not going for GT. After hearing such things - I am actually not that sad anymore.

My gripe so far:
Center armrest is awful a plastic blob would have been better
the AC vents reflecting
the center where my knee rests is cheap plastic but looks good - is a bit lose.
Other than that I love every bit about this car.

Windshield is iffy - but if my wife drives this on highway 100 miles each day as planned - I will try to get some tint + protection before hand.
Click to expand...

JD Power initial quality says nothing of long term reliability - it's literally a "what do you think about this" within 90 days. A person who finds the stereo hard to use is on equal footing as another with a true safety defect. But, if you feel its valid, compare the cx-5 to the crv:

http://www.edmunds.com/mazda/cx-5/2016/suv/reliability/ scores 3.0

http://www.edmunds.com/honda/cr-v/2016/suv/reliability/ merits only 2.5
 
sternsi I'm with you. You will never feel good about this vehicle, your brain will say what's next. Like my Mazda, but if it hit the fan, I'd be gone. Too many options out there.
 
OP, I'd dump it before 36,000 miles, personally. Just keep it until then if you want, but I'd do it like I did my Jeep Grand Cherokee and 370Z and get rid of it as soon as the warranty was near up.
 
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