2014 Mazda CX-5 Touring

A little over two weeks ago, we traded in our 2011 Hyundai Sonata on a brand new 2014 Mazda CX-5 Touring model.

I wrote a bit about some of the issues we had with the Sonata, but after owning it for just about 2 1/2 years I actually was able to get past those minor issues and come to like the vehicle.  The main reason we got rid of it is my wife and I really like sitting higher in a vehicle.  The Sonata ran well, got good mileage, had a good radio and so far had been inexpensive to maintain.  The dealer we bought it at took decent care of us and the vehicle.

We had owned a Honda CRV for about eight years before getting the Sonata.  My wife really liked that car.  She felt comfortable driving it and it was easy for her to find in a crowded parking lot.  I liked it because it was a Honda and ran like a top.  When I retired from my career in the Fire Service, I ended up driving most of the time.  We needed a new car and bought the Sonata.  We didn't use the CRV as much as we thought we would and gave it to our son.

That's how we got to getting the Mazda.  Many years ago, we had owned a Mazda pick up and a 323.  They both ran excellent.  I really like the looks of the new CX-5's, so long story short we bought one.

I'm not going to go into detail on the purchase, just what I've experienced so far driving it.

First, the fuel gauge and tank.  The fuel gauge is not accurate at all.  On my first fill up, we traveled over 145 miles before the gauge moved off of full.  Even at 30mpg (which we weren't getting) that would have been about 5 gallons of fuel.  The tank on this vehicle is only 14.8 gallons.  We should have been showing about 2/3rds of a tank instead of full.  Once we hit that mark, it moved rapidly down about 20 miles per each segment on the fuel gauge.  I'm keeping an eye on it to see if the accuracy picks up as it's used more.

The tank has a vent problem that does not allow you to fill up the tank to full.  In both instances that I've filled the tank, when the fuel nozzle clicked off, I had to manually pull back the vapor recovery boot on the fuel nozzle to add another 2.7 gallons each time.  Being able to add that much after the nozzle clicked off automatically means that there is a problem.  Don't know if this will correct itself.  If it doesn't, I will make sure they fix it when I take it in for it's first service.

Second issue is the software to the radio is clunky and does not work well at all.  I don't own an ipod, I put my music on thumb drives and listen to the music that way.  When you first start the car, it takes more than a minute to read the USB drive and if you turn off the car, it won't pick up where you left off, it starts at the first song.  Navigating through your USB drive is not easy.  They have no "Folder" options, so the music is all mixed up.  Someone needs to go back to the drawing board and fix the software so it works like most radios do these days.

Third issue is that for a brand new car there are a lot of squeaks and clicks.  To me that is poor attention to detail.  I hate to say this, but the Sonata never once made any noise like this, it was solid.

Even with these issues, it is a nice car.  My wife says it's fun to drive.  I hope we can get these problems taken care of then it will be an excellent buy.