I bought my new CX5 Akera 2.2 AWD diesel auto in late July this year. Soul Red metallic, the only colour they charge extra for here in Aus!
Was shopping for a new car in preparation for early retirement which I took in October this year. My company car for the past 3 years was a white CX5 GT AWD diesel, which I was very happy with. So there wasn't much research to do, just checked up on the MY16 upgrades to compare with the company car MY13 GT.
I had been looking a demo models and near new used cars, but found a dealer about an hour away that had obviously picked up a bunch of old stock but new cars from Mazda Australia, so my car, whilst brand new and undriven, is a Oct 15 build and Nov 15 compliance plate. I negotiated a deal on the Akera that was just over 20% off Mazda's recommended drive away price, and was indeed only about $3k more than demo GT's were selling for.
The Akera is basically, as I understand it, much the same as the US's GT model, but it includes as standard both the tech pack and safety pack. It is the top of the range here, its got every option that is available.
I don't know if this happens in other countries but once we had agreed on a drive away price I was handed off to the attractive young accessories woman, who tried to sell me the usual paint protection/window tinting/leather treatment package on a "super special" deal for $1995. I asked if Mazda's paint was so bad that it needed special protection, to which she had no comeback. Passed on the special deal, of course. And on the 1800kg rated towbars that they wanted $985 to supply and fit.
So I got
- the latest ceramic nano (BS!) window tinting done for $355 by my Auto Club's car glass division. Darkest legal.
- fully approved 1800 kg towbar kit installed by a mobile guy that came to my house - $595
- set of Mazda mats from a friend whose sister works at local dealer $110 instead of $150 retail
When I got the car home from the dealer, I immediately gave it a
- full wax with Meguiars Ultimate Wax
- gave the leather interior a wipe over with Meguiars leather cleaner and conditioner
- did all the plastics, inside and out, with Meguiars low shine protectant
-wash it every couple of weeks with Ultimate wash n Wax.
As you may have gathered I like the Meguiars stuff, been using it for 20+ years on my own cars. So the latest Ultimate range was my choice and it seems even easier to apply than the stuff from years gone by.
When I was doing this I noticed a few water drop marks on the hood and roof, I think Mazda or the dealer had the car parked somewhere and it's got rained on and was not dried off, leaving some slight rain water marks. The wax didn't take them off, so got a bottle of Meguiars Ultimate Compound and that did the trick, and re-waxed it after that. Perfect.
Run my tyres on 38/40 most times, or 40/42 when towing any significant distance or on highway trips.
Overall, very happy so far wth the car, with only 2 minor issues - had the "brake dragging" noise from the rear brakes from the day I picked it up, some messing around with the dealer not diagnosing it right saw them fit new front discs and pads first attempt to fix it before they saw the TSB about it and replaced the EPB module and that has fixed it properly. Warranty took care of that.
Only other issue is the auto flaring about 500rpm on the 3rd to 4th gear change when the car is cold and first driven away. Only does it the first time it changes 3rd to 4th, then its fine. Still sorting that one out. It's not a biggie for me, more an annoyance.
What I particularly like-
- The diesel economy, and the 420 torques (Nm) for towing my 1400kg 18ft boat - does it easy!
- The park brake hill start assist that keeps the brake on for a second or so, really good on boat ramps when driving up with a heavy load on the back. No rolling backwards even an inch.
- the LED adaptive headlights, very bright, very clever how they dip low beams as a car approaches etc. They work surprisingly well, much better than my cousin's Ford Everest.
- the MRCC gee it's clever that cruise control, you hardly notice it working it's so smooth. Brakes when going downhill too.
- the front and rear cross traffic alerts and braking - very helpful in busy shopping centre car parks and city traffic.
- Lane change warning. Good safety feature to address that blind spot in the mirrors
- reversing camera - yes, lots of cars have them now but I can't imagine having a car without one nowadays. I can put the towball directly under the trailer coupling every time!
- it's overall driving dynamics, it's a very easy and enjoyable car to drive. Almost like a sports car. Almost!
Don't like so much....
- the lane wandering alert - at least around town, it drives me nuts so I turn it off. On the highway on trips - good idea, Alerts you if you start to wander out of your lane. But the warning if you take both hands off the wheel for even a second or two when it's on bugs me big time.
- the entertainment system, which can be very slow to start up sometimes, and sometimes seems to get stuck for minutes on the warning to check surroundings before reversing. But it does work much better with my iPhone 6 using voice control than the older GT did.
- the radio part of the entertainment system, where you have to go into the menu to find your favourite stations and select one , rather than being able to pick one off the screen. PITA. But many of them are like this now.
Cheers from down under!