At my wits end... *May contain complaints 😉

Chocolate said:
Can we change the title of the thread to "Complaints Department"?

@Antoine
Click to expand...
Had a little fun with the thread title...Seriously though, a reminder for everyone...We're not here to complain, we're here to help, share and enjoy. Sure, Mazdas aren't perfect and we may need to vent from time to time, but we're not a site that supports complaining (for the sake of it), bashing, negativity etc...Keep it constructive, thanks!
 
Couple of comments.
I have a 16 CX5 and a 19 Volvo S60. A $32,000 car versus a 3 year newer $53,000 car.
The Volvo has a similar fob with buttons on the side. Surely the Volvo one is better because I've never, not once ever, accidentally hit the buttons. And I'm slim with tight fitting pants much of the time. :D Just looked up the Mazda key fob. Yea, they look very similar.
The TPMS system on the Volvo...is similar to the Mazda. A lot of companies are getting away from using ACTUAL numbers. However, on the Volvo is does at least tell you with a graphic which specific tire is low. But I will say: it's never a bad time to check the air pressure on all your tires.
Also the AWD on my Mazda is excellent. I can't be sure what's changed on the newer ones, of course, but I have a hard time believing it's worse then mine. A very hard time. Especially after reading the comments here.
I think OP should check out an XC60. Base model is ONLY 10 grand more then a Signature.
 
Boby@ said:
Actually what I originally said was "I am contemplating trading it in with 23,000 miles on it", which was an estimate of how many miles would be on it by the time I traded it in (Summer/Fall), as I don't buy new cars in Winter/Spring given road conditions can be iffy here at those times. To be honest, I didn't know the exact mileage at the time, I just knew it was less than 20K.
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Based on what you originally wrote, it was not apparent that you would be trading it in months from now because you don't buy new cars in the Winter/Spring. Thanks for clarifying.
 
Boby@ said:
This was the only incident I've had with the CX-5 AWD (and the only incident of its' kind I've *ever* had). I was pretty shocked it could happen at all under the given circumstances. The driveway may have been wet from snow melt, as it was way above freezing--I don't remember.
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GFrosty said:
I get the idea of having had a variety of other AWD/4WD cars and having previously had seemingly "better" grip in somewhat comparable conditions. But it's hard to directly compare apples to oranges across different tires from different eras. AWD/4WD simply doesn't provide the base grip; the tire does, and AWD merely is the "icing on the cake" (so to speak).

Now, some "all-season" tires do have a bit better material, a bit better cold-temp grip than others. But it's hard to expect a basic, bottom-end 3-season tire to perform, AWD or not.

If the grip requirements in your area necessitate cold-temp winter capable tires, I'd strongly suggest acquiring a set. It isn't that the CX-5 has crappy AWD. It's that the tire you're expecting to have cold-temp grip doesn't have such.
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I'm not sure how many more times the above can be said. Or how differently it can be explained. The OEM tires are not winter tires, you can't expect them to perform like they are. And you can't expect any AWD system to regain traction by accelerating up a snowy/wet, sloped driveway when the tires have already lost traction and you're already sliding sideways.
 
Chocolate said:
I think it was a joke.

Anyways, lots of complaints over at the top 2 competitors' forums.

www.crvownersclub.com

Gen 5 CR-V: 2017-2022 (UK 2018-2023)

Questions/Issues specific to the Fifth Generation CR-V (1.5T & 2.0 Hybrid)
www.crvownersclub.com www.crvownersclub.com

www.rav4world.com

4.5 General

Discuss anything RAV4.5 related that doesn't fit in the categories below.
www.rav4world.com www.rav4world.com
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Not surprising--I didn't even consider either car at the time as they just weren't what I was looking for. Somebody else brought them into the discussion...
 
All I know is I bought my CX-5 the week before it snowed 10 inches and of course I had to go play in the snow, stock tires did ok but only had about 400 miles on them. I came to Mazda from Subaru, really didn't find any difference in handling.
I will run these stock tires until next winter then put on Cross Climate 2's or WGR5's. I have 1,800 miles on the car and some things are a little annoying but I have found that with any car I have had over the years. It can't be all things to all people.
 
7eregrine said:
Couple of comments.
I have a 16 CX5 and a 19 Volvo S60. A $32,000 car versus a 3 year newer $53,000 car.
The Volvo has a similar fob with buttons on the side. Surely the Volvo one is better because I've never, not once ever, accidentally hit the buttons. And I'm slim with tight fitting pants much of the time. :D Just looked up the Mazda key fob. Yea, they look very similar.
The TPMS system on the Volvo...is similar to the Mazda. A lot of companies are getting away from using ACTUAL numbers. However, on the Volvo is does at least tell you with a graphic which specific tire is low. But I will say: it's never a bad time to check the air pressure on all your tires.
Also the AWD on my Mazda is excellent. I can't be sure what's changed on the newer ones, of course, but I have a hard time believing it's worse then mine. A very hard time. Especially after reading the comments here.
I think OP should check out an XC60. Base model is ONLY 10 grand more then a Signature.
Click to expand...
My experience with our 2001 XC-70 sort of soured me on Volvo. We bought into the "safety" hype, but that generation XC-70 had a serious safety issue. The resistive element in the throttle position sensor wasn't sealed, so it would get dirty over time and become intermittent. When the ECM couldn't determine what position the throttle was in from the voltage being out of normal operating range, the car switched to "limp home" mode and would throttle back to a low level regardless of how much you were pressing (or not pressing) the pedal. Thank God it never happened to us merging onto a highway with a truck bearing down on us or when we were idling in slow traffic.

I also am not wild about what influence Volvo's Chinese owners might have if they start pulling Volvo's strings. In the electronics business, our Chinese suppliers would often substitute non-approved parts and either change specs to suit their goals or ignore specs completely. That was back in the 90's/early 2000's. I don't know what things are like now.
 
sm1ke said:
I'm not sure how many more times the above can be said. Or how differently it can be explained. The OEM tires are not winter tires, you can't expect them to perform like they are. And you can't expect any AWD system to regain traction by accelerating up a snowy/wet, sloped driveway when the tires have already lost traction and you're already sliding sideways.
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I wouldn't "expect any AWD system to regain traction by accelerating up a snowy/wet, sloped driveway" and, since, as I stated earlier, that is not what I was doing, I'm not sure of the point of your comment. As I stated, I was on level driveway which was not at all snowy, but may have been a bit wet from snow melt along the side of the driveway. It was sunny, the temperature was well above freezing and the driveway was completely dry near the garage. If the driveway was wet further along, I didn't notice, but it must have been dry enough for the one front tire which was still on the driveway to eventually pull me back onto the driveway.

I also stated (pages ago) that I understand from the input here that the OEM tires are garbage and should have been replaced as soon as I bought the car. I didn't expect the OEM "all season" tires I had on any of my past AWD cars to be particularly good in Winter (well, except for the OEM All-Terrain Firestones on our Jeep), but they were sure worlds better than these Toyo tires, as I always left them on the car until they were worn enough to be replaced (usually around 20K miles). Those tires got me through years of Winters without much trouble (but I do try to avoid driving in really bad weather if I can avoid it). I learned to drive in bad weather when I had an '82 Z-28 with a small-block V8, wide, soft, performance tires, RWD and no weight over the driving wheels unless I put a sandbag in the trunk, but I still needed to drive to work.

I should add that, yes, I would sometimes have the rear end break loose in snow on my AWD cars with OEM tires, but I never had any trouble straightening the car out before things went south. I rarely had a problem with the rear end on the cars which had the manual AWD "lock" function (I use that term because that's what was always printed on the button you pressed to engage full-time AWD and override the automatic system and there was usually an indicator in the istrument cluster that lit up "AWD Lock").
 
Boby@ said:
I also stated (pages ago) that I understand from the input here that the OEM tires are garbage and should have been replaced as soon as I bought the car. I didn't expect the OEM "all season" tires I had on any of my past AWD cars to be particularly good in Winter (well, except for the OEM All-Terrain Firestones on our Jeep), but they were sure worlds better than these Toyo tires, as I always left them on the car until they were worn enough to be replaced (usually around 20K miles). Those tires got me through years of Winters without much trouble (but I do try to avoid driving in really bad weather if I can avoid it).

I should add that, yes, I would sometimes have the rear end break loose in snow on my AWD cars with OEM tires, but I never had any trouble straightening the car out before things went south.
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The OEM tires aren't garbage. Initial impressions and test drives by auto journalists/reviewers/owners and instrumented tests by Mazda and other organizations like Car & Driver were all done with those OEM tires. They simply wear quickly (like most OEM tires), develop road noise quickly due to the wear, and are all-seasons that happen to be underperformers in less than ideal conditions. That's why most owners swap them out before they are noticeably worn.

I don't blame you for expecting better performance from an OEM tire based on your experience with your previous vehicles. These particular tires are just not great in the snow. Chalk up this one instance to an underperforming (in the snow) all-season tire with some wear and driver input error due to expectations based on previous vehicles with different tires. Alternatively, use this one instance to justify a new vehicle purchase to yourself and move on from it.
 
sm1ke said:
The OEM tires aren't garbage. Initial impressions and test drives by auto journalists/reviewers/owners and instrumented tests by Mazda and other organizations like Car & Driver were all done with those OEM tires. They simply wear quickly (like most OEM tires), develop road noise quickly due to the wear, and are all-seasons that happen to be underperformers in less than ideal conditions. That's why most owners swap them out before they are noticeably worn.

I don't blame you for expecting better performance from an OEM tire based on your experience with your previous vehicles. These particular tires are just not great in the snow. Chalk up this one instance to an underperforming (in the snow) all-season tire with some wear and driver input error due to expectations based on previous vehicles with different tires. Alternatively, use this one instance to justify a new vehicle purchase to yourself and move on from it.
Click to expand...

OK, good observations. The answer then, is the tires aren't necessarily bad (at least at first), but perhaps not as good as other OEM tires I've experienced in the past, and wear quickly to the point where traction is compromised much sooner than I've experienced with other OEM tires.

I've certainly had a number of OEM tires that weren't particularly good on snow-covered roads, but still worked pretty well on wet roads, which is about the only thing I can imagine might have caused the rear end to break loose.

I'm curious, though, looking at the photos of my tires, do they look that worn? If they are too worn for safe driving, is that all one can expect with OEM tires now? That's down there with the Eagle GT's on my old Z-28--I had to replace them every 13-14K miles. They were great when it was warm and dry, but pretty bad even just on wet roads. The combination of those tires, RWD and lots of low-end torque at a wet intersection made for some really sloppy take-offs when the light turned green :) Unfortunately the car didn't have the posi-trac LSD (it was either an option which didn't get ordered or it wasn't available when the car was built).
 
its not that they are worn its the rubber. Those are soft tires for summer/warm weather. They are terrible even in rain when new. They are good if you live in the sunbelt.0

They are one of the cheapest tires in that size. That should explain. A good new tire in 225 55 19 is above $200 and top models are &240-260. While the Toyos are in the $160-170 range brand new. Look at their rating they are rated only 300. Thats usually summer tire ratings.
 
Ecch. To be honest, it never occurred to me to look at reviews of the OEM tires when buying a car. I imagined (apparently foolishly) that a car manufacturer wouldn't use the cheapest tires they could find, hurting the base-level performance of a premium car.

Our Mercedes (yes, I know, "apples and oranges" from a different era) came with very good Contis, though, even then, I change to better Contis when they wore out.
 
I didnt know either. You are not the first.
All my previous cars came with at least some brand/better tires - Michelin, Bridgestone , Continental, etc.
Later I was wtf are those crap stock tires on the top trim of the CX5 .. they dont even have normal warranty. Some more time later I found that Mazda likes to count beans if you know what I mean.
 
Antoine said:
Had a little fun with the thread title...Seriously though, a reminder for everyone...We're not here to complain, we're here to help, share and enjoy. Sure, Mazdas aren't perfect and we may need to vent from time to time, but we're not a site that supports complaining (for the sake of it), bashing, negativity etc...Keep it constructive, thanks!
Click to expand...

It's an improvement, but I still like "Complaints Department" better.
 
Boby@ said:
I also am not wild about what influence Volvo's Chinese owners might have if they start pulling Volvo's strings. don't know what things are like now.
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Not to sidetrack too much...don't want Sm1ke to yell at us... :D but Geely has been great for Volvo so far. They needed cash and Geely gave it to them. The SPA line of Volvos (basically the generation with the new "Hammer DRL" lights) are brilliant cars. Well made, nicely appointed and teched out. The S60 (and later some XC90's) starting in 2019 is actually made here in the US. Cars are, and were still designed in Sweden and are not full of Chinese parts. XC60\XC90\V90 still made in Sweden. Geeley was letting Volvo call most of the shots. I don't know how long this will continue as they move to full electric cars (which I don't love much) but I've never actually seen or driven the newest gen of those yet.
 
Antoine said:
Had a little fun with the thread title...Seriously though, a reminder for everyone...We're not here to complain, we're here to help, share and enjoy. Sure, Mazdas aren't perfect and we may need to vent from time to time, but we're not a site that supports complaining (for the sake of it), bashing, negativity etc...Keep it constructive, thanks!
Click to expand...
Hello Antoine. This reminds me of a former colleague who was complaining all the time mostly for little things . The boss told him to stop complaining so he replied "I'm not complaining I'm just making observations". The boss told him to go make his observations somewhere else. We all laughed. The boss didn't fire him but the guy left a few years later. Seriously, I hope the OP finds a solution to his problems, a new set of tires or a new/used vehicle?
 
Just_Steve said:
All I know is I bought my CX-5 the week before it snowed 10 inches and of course I had to go play in the snow, stock tires did ok but only had about 400 miles on them. I came to Mazda from Subaru, really didn't find any difference in handling.
I will run these stock tires until next winter then put on Cross Climate 2's or WGR5's. I have 1,800 miles on the car and some things are a little annoying but I have found that with any car I have had over the years. It can't be all things to all people.
Click to expand...
New video out comparing the Cross Climate 2 to some newer tires:

 
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