Just under 900 miles so far. Avg Mpg readout on the dash is 28.9mpg (I reset it leaving the dealership). Keep in mind, this is probably 70-80% highway miles and typically at 75-80mph. I'm sure the estimate is optimistic by 2-3 mpg as all of my previous mazdas have always shown 2-3mpg higher than the actual hand calculation of miles driven ÷ gallons filled.
I did get a couple phantom blind spot notifications on the passenger side today during sunset time,Which was interesting but only would last 2-3 seconds at a time and then go back to normal operation.
I havent made up my mind if I prefer driving with i-stop on or off. It doesnt seem to bother me much, but as a car guy...I worry about long term effects of the engine firing up and shutting down like it does. Although I will say its pretty cool how Mazda chose to fire the engine back up via combustion and not starter or the hybrid system.
The headlights are fantastic. The newest vehicle ive personally owned prior to this was the 2013 MS3. While it had the HID's with AFS, the output was garbage compared to these new LED setups. I can actually see well at night now!
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The main cup holders in the front dash area are tiny. My better half can't fit her ridiculous Stanley cups in them, and while that doesnt bother me...she does not like it nor the small center console. The small center console also doesnt bother me as I dont really keep stuff in my car aside from necessities and when it comes to drinks...its either coffee or bottled water for me; which fit fine.
The driving dynamics for a nearly 5000lb, 200" long vehicle are fantastic. It doesnt feel as big as it is on the road, and handles sweeping highway on ramps at speed as well as twisty back roads no issue for its size as long as you're aware you can't drive it like a miata. You get enough feedback through the chassis, and the steering is on the nose.
Minor annoyances:
Thursday, I had a road trip for work. Figuring out the total mileage round trip, I knew if I went right to the gas station and headed out on a full tank, I wouldnt have to stop for gas the rest of the day. So here's where it gets weird. I had 1 tick over 3/4 tank on the fuel gauge when I pulled in. Figured a quick few quick gallons to full and I'd be on my way. Wrong. Pump would shut off immediately when trying to gas up. Maybe its the pump? Moved to another one, same deal. Ok...weird on a brand new car. So just in case, I drove down the road a bit aggressively to burn off some fuel, got it to 3/4 tank on the nose on the gauge, went back to the original pump and it filled up fine. Tried again this afternoon at a different gas station. It will not take any fuel from a pump if theres over 3/4 tank full. Not a huge deal, but annoying.
Mazdas seat belt alarms....
My fiance and I always wear our seatbelts. No biggie. But we have 3 dogs that love to go on car rides, and prefer to be in the back seat versus the cargo area. Fine and dandy, we have a flat bottom hammock for the back seat. However, with them back there...you have to buckle all 3 belts unless you want to hear the damn seat belt chime go off 80 times before it shuts up. Our previous toyota, we could turn the seat belt alarms off with the Carista obd2 dongle and their app. No such luck with this car. What I'll probably do is buy 3 seatbelt extenders for the back seats so we dont have to remember to buckle all 3 seats any time the dogs are with us.
The heated seats...holy smokes do they get hot on the highest level. Lol.
Anywho, I'll probably do an oil change on my own using a mazda genuine filter and use whatever quality 0w20 find soon just to see if there are any break in materials/metal floating around in the pan/filter. And I'll be doing 5k oil change intervals beyond that first change. Ill let the dealership handle the first 3 5k changes since those are "free".
Things to do eventually:
-order the Turbo S inner tail lamp housings that are on the liftgate so I have fully illuminated rear lights and not just the corners. Kind of dumb to me Mazda only does the fully illuminated tails on the Turbo S models in the US.
-Order all weather floor mats
-order window visors/rain guards
-tint the front windows
-black out all the chrome rear badges
-get a tinted overlay for the big front Mazda logo
Edit:
I forgot this car was equipped with the digital rearview mirror until I saw the little switch on the bottom of the mirror that you'd usually flip at night to avoid glare if you dont have auto dimming. Forgetting that, I flipped the little lever the other day and to my surprise...boom camera rear view. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to it but it works real well in daylight. I'll probably only use the DRVM when we have the vehicle loaded up with the dogs and luggage for road trips as itll be nice to be able to load up the cargo area and not have to worry about blocking the rear window and not being able to see out the back. And also, the camera has a nice wide angle that helps see vehicles in your blind spot as they start to pass you or you pass them.
More to come!
