CX-50 Soul Red + Soulless Salmon?

[Bode]

Hello all. New to the forum. First post. I'm just days away from potentially ordering a Soul Red CX-50 TPP. Went to the annual car show today and saw a red one up close for the first time. What surprised (borderline shocked) me was when I opened the doors and rear hatch.

For how insanely gorgeous the red is on the outside (and make no mistake, it is remarkable!).....inside the door jams and elsewhere was another story entirely. The paint under the skin was a hideous almost salmon orange color (pic below).

So my question is this....for those of you who own Soul Red CX-50s (or any other model for that matter)....is this really how it is supposed to look "behind the scenes"? I checked out the other models Mazda had on display at the show, in a variety of colors incl. another CX-50 in Zircon Sand, and none of them had mismatched colors outside vs. inside. For the record, I have owned 4 red cars, including my current Ford Flex, and none of them looked like this.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

 

[sm1ke]

That certainly doesn't look right.. but I'm not sure if that's how they came from the factory. Hopefully someone who owns a Soul Red CX-50 can chime in soon.

 

[njaremka]

It is typical for the engine bay to look like that. Manufacturers skimp on the final clear top coat in the engine bay because, well, engine bay. I've never seen a door jam painted like that. If Mazda is really skimping on the top paint color coat in the door jams, then yuck.

 

[Bode]

Thanks for the replies. I know it maybe shouldn't be a deal-breaker. But I just don't think I could ever "unsee" that....IF that's the way they all look.

 

[181962]

Hello all. New to the forum. First post. I'm just days away from potentially ordering a Soul Red CX-50 TPP. Went to the annual car show today and saw a red one up close for the first time. What surprised (borderline shocked) me was when I opened the doors and rear hatch.

For how insanely gorgeous the red is on the outside (and make no mistake, it is remarkable!).....inside the door jams and elsewhere was another story entirely. The paint under the skin was a hideous almost salmon orange color (pic below).

So my question is this....for those of you who own Soul Red CX-50s (or any other model for that matter)....is this really how it is supposed to look "behind the scenes"? I checked out the other models Mazda had on display at the show, in a variety of colors incl. another CX-50 in Zircon Sand, and none of them had mismatched colors outside vs. inside. For the record, I have owned 4 red cars, including my current Ford Flex, and none of them looked like this.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

View attachment 318378

My 2020 CX-5 Soul Red does not look like that--the door jam color is the same as the body panels. The engine compartment bits are as @njaremka says, an almost orange flat paint.

When you said "auto show" did you mean a manufacturer's show displaying new car wares? If so, did you ask the Mazda rep about it?

 

[181962]

Thanks for the replies. I know it maybe shouldn't be a deal-breaker. But I just don't think I could ever "unsee" that....IF that's the way they all look.

Maybe this is what happens when "Made in Alabama"?

 

[Bode]

My 2020 CX-5 Soul Red does not look like that--the door jam color is the same as the body panels. The engine compartment bits are as @njaremka says, an almost orange flat paint.

When you said "auto show" did you mean a manufacturer's show displaying new car wares? If so, did you ask the Mazda rep about it?

First off, thank you for confirming that your 5 doesn't have weird salmon colored 'guts'.

Secondly, yes I did ask a rep at the show, and she had no clue why it looked that way. She was just as confused as I was and also looked at other ones to confirm that the color difference was much more pronounced on the red one than any of the others.

Finally, yes it's an "Auto Show" in the same sense that takes place in most any large city....all the manufacturers in the downtown convention center with "product experts" showing off the cars. Twin Cities Auto Show

80+% of the vehicles at the show are trucked there from local dealers. I know this because a couple of weeks ago I was at my Ford dealer for an oil change and they had a number of cars (Mustang, Lightning, Mach-E, Bronco Sport) on the lot with big signs in the window saying, "For Auto Show". So I'm 100% certain this CX-50 was not some pre-production model, or a dedicated show traveler. It had a window sticker from a local dealer.

Still waiting to hear back from my sales guy who I've asked to look around the lot and see if other red ones look like this.

 

[biglou]

Omg thats really bad. I have the polymetal color in the same trim and there is no way I would have accepted delivery on that. Even to use it for the autoshow is a bad move. How did anyone miss that.

 

[Bode]

Omg thats really bad. I have the polymetal color in the same trim and there is no way I would have accepted delivery on that. Even to use it for the autoshow is a bad move. How did anyone miss that.

Finally heard back from my sales guy. He said all Soul Red CX-50s come that way. Said they simply skip the final opaque finish layer on the inside parts. That's really disappointing, especially when there's an upcharge for that color.

By comparison, my current Ford Flex Limited EcoBoost cost me well over $50k 10 years ago. It's Ruby Red, which carried a significant upcharge. But at least for the extra bucks they went ahead and....you know......painted the whole entire car the same.

Still interested in the CX-50, but need to reevaluate. If I buy one, it definitely won't be red, which is a real shame as that color is truly remarkable and something I was really excited about.

 

[Muggs1]

Do not buy this crap. I am quite shocked that they think they can cheap out like this and getaway with it.

 

[biglou]

Soul Red is the color I originally wanted, but anybody who had one had a huge markup and I said no. I cant believe this to be true. Can anybody on this board who has a soul red confirm this.

 

[ADS-B]

Hello all. New to the forum. First post. I'm just days away from potentially ordering a Soul Red CX-50 TPP. Went to the annual car show today and saw a red one up close for the first time. What surprised (borderline shocked) me was when I opened the doors and rear hatch.

For how insanely gorgeous the red is on the outside (and make no mistake, it is remarkable!).....inside the door jams and elsewhere was another story entirely. The paint under the skin was a hideous almost salmon orange color (pic below).

So my question is this....for those of you who own Soul Red CX-50s (or any other model for that matter)....is this really how it is supposed to look "behind the scenes"? I checked out the other models Mazda had on display at the show, in a variety of colors incl. another CX-50 in Zircon Sand, and none of them had mismatched colors outside vs. inside. For the record, I have owned 4 red cars, including my current Ford Flex, and none of them looked like this.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer.

View attachment 318378

Mine looks the same and it's a CX-5. I don't see an issue here.

 

[Bode]

Mine looks the same and it's a CX-5. I don't see an issue here.

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

 

[ADS-B]

Thanks for the reply. Much appreciated.

I'll take a pic to show you how it looks on my car. It did not even cross my mind that the colour difference should be a problem. I my mind it was normal, considering it's the interior frame, covered by the doors, no need to be as bright as the exterior.

 

[biglou]

My grip is your paying a premium for this color and they are going to cheap out like that. Not cool. They don't seem to be doing for other colors.

 

[Bode]

I'll take a pic to show you how it looks on my car. It did not even cross my mind that the colour difference should be a problem. I my mind it was normal, considering it's the interior frame, covered by the doors, no need to be as bright as the exterior.

Totally get where you're coming from. My thing is...I've owned 4 red cars from three different brands, including my current car (which had an upcharge for the color). Not one of them had the slightest difference inside vs. the outer skin. So that's why, in my mind, it's not normal at all. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics of your 5.

 

[Buzzman12]

In following this thread, and I can honestly say, from my first car in the 60's, until now, I have never owned or seen a car that had different paint colour like what you're showing us on the CX-50. Never.

This is not normal, and certainly not an industry standard practice.

Shame on Mazda if this is their new standard. I will not buy another Mazda at this point in time. Since my 2017 model, they have gone downhill. Everything from cylinder deactivation, to cracked heads, to poor paint, and more.

As an aside, I remember Nissan going the same way back in the early 2000's. I had three of their vehicles. They made some pretty good cars up until 2006, at which point every model line was either refreshed or on a new platform, most of them with their dreaded CVT's. They were all garbage. They are still trying to recover.

 

[sm1ke]

I'll take a pic to show you how it looks on my car. It did not even cross my mind that the colour difference should be a problem. I my mind it was normal, considering it's the interior frame, covered by the doors, no need to be as bright as the exterior.

If you and @HardRightEdg wouldn't mind posting the build date of your cars, that might be useful to know as well. I thought this was limited to the CX-50 only, and I had assumed that it was a cost-saving measure from the Alabama plant.

The CX-90 doesn't seem to have this issue, and the artisan red paint in the door jambs looks the same as the exterior. The engine bay has the same colour, but doesn't have the high gloss clearcoat that the rest of the car has, which is to be expected. Thus, there is no reason to jump to the conclusion that all Mazdas going forward will have this difference in colour in the door jambs.

 

[181962]

If you and @HardRightEdg wouldn't mind posting the build date of your cars, that might be useful to know as well. I thought this was limited to the CX-50 only, and I had assumed that it was a cost-saving measure from the Alabama plant.

The CX-90 doesn't seem to have this issue, and the artisan red paint in the door jambs looks the same as the exterior. The engine bay has the same colour, but doesn't have the high gloss clearcoat that the rest of the car has, which is to be expected. Thus, there is no reason to jump to the conclusion that all Mazdas going forward will have this difference in colour in the door jambs.

For what it's worth, mine was built Oct. 2019, final assembly in Hiroshima.

I might or might not stand corrected on this one. There may be a slight difference in color on my CX-5, not quite as pronounced as in the OP photo. It seems most noticeable inside the rear hatch. However, the differences in my case or in the OP could be tricks of the light or the camera.

For instance, the first attached photo below seems to show a difference but not quite as pronounced as in the OP. The next two pictures with shadows and reflections show color variations in different light can be all over the map. By the way, that third picture is the A pillar. Regardless, the interior pieces are clear coated and have the same flecks as the exterior paint.

Frankly, of all the things to complain about in vehicles in the CX-5 / CX-50 price range, making this a deal breaker strikes me as missing the forest for the trees if there is a difference at all. I'd be way more concerned about new model / new factory / new workforce.

One other note. On my CX-5 there is no seam between the rear quarter panel and rear door jam. It's hard to see how they would be painted separately or why anyone would go to the trouble if it is possible.

 

[ADS-B]

Mine is a 2020 model CX-5 GT premium package, made in Japan, final assembly November 2019, US entry January 2020. I guess I have to take back what I said about the colour difference. And I also agree with @HardRightEdg 's post.