Seeking advice for keeping aging CX-5

[Moonlighter]

Yes, probably true. But if you DO have a big issue, the dealer is more likely to go to bat for you if you are a regular customer.

Again, the scheduled services include more than just changing the oil, as you will see if you read the service schedule.

I understand your comment, but for the record, changing your own oil won't compromise the warranty, you just need to keep your receipts.

I am aware that doing oil changes yourself may not compromise warranty.

But having evidence that all the other things on the list in the service schedule were done by a suitably competent person such as a qualified mechanic is not as easy to prove, and that can bring you undone from a warranty perspective. Plus, every service, my Mazda dealers mechanics connect my car up to their diagnostic equipment and that can pick up unseen problems. I cant do that. On two occasions I picked up my previous CX5 from a service to find that they changed a sensor (at no charge) that was out of spec, but there was no fault showing in the dash.

Add to that - warranty laws are not the same all over the world. Warranty claims that might get approved in your country despite a lack of documented service may not be in my country,

I have seen first hand how having a good established relationship with the dealer pays off with “above and beyond” support both during and after the warranty period.

For us, its a once a year “done as per the logbook” dealer service that is recorded in both the vehicle’s logbook and in Mazdas national database, and done at what I think is a reasonable price. This works for me.

Anyway, you do you. I will do me.

 

[ColoradoDriver]

I obviously disagree with most, not all but most, of your post and stand by what I said.
As more and more car companies make the switch to "Lifetime", surely more and more transmissions are failing? Tranny failures should be WAY up...
I don't know a single person, personally, that has replaced a transmission in 20 years. I haven't seen anecdotally on any car forum I am on where lots of people were getting new transmissions...except here. When the 16s got a bad batch from the factory.

I also refuse to believe it's some conspiracy to get us to replace our cars earlier as some think. No way. No car company wants to be known as THAT car company that has implodng trannys at 100K...

I don't think anyone is claiming that the tranny is going to blow up at 100k.

I just see fluid as a wear item and since Mazda won't define in explicit terms what "lifetime" means in either time or mileage, I think its perfectly reasonable to come up with an interval one is comfortable with for doing ATF if one plans to own the car long term. I got 294k out of a 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee before I bought this CX-5 so I plan to at least get 300k or more out of my CX-5 so I change the ATF. I didn't do my first drain/fill till 71k. I did 3 of them then. I did it again around 120k. At 150k I plan to drop the pan and change the filter. From there will probably continue to do drain / fills every 30-40k. It's not like you get all or even a majority of the fluid out in a drain and fill so I think it's fine.

No I don't think its a conspiracy to sell more cars, but seeing how many manufacturers are starting to recommend 10k or longer oil change intervals, it is something being driven by governmental regulations and meeting "numbers" more than it is about what's good for the car. I continue to do my oil changes every 5k miles. It could probably go longer, but really it doesn't cost much, especially since I DIY it so I don't see the harm in that and ensuring the engine stays in good shape from an oil perspective. In that same vein I also view the transmission and think every 30-40k miles will be reasonable. It looks like I've only driven about 10k since last October, so honestly doing a transmission service every 3-4 years seems very reasonable to me.