The Heep Morphed in to a CX-5

[Ronzuki]

Got fed up with FCA's attempts to resolve this little engineering problem that began under warranty a little over a year after I bought it. Outside PA's useless lemon-law window. Started out as a drip, centered above the dash and radio. The ensuing fix moved the leaks to where you see below, both sides. With the A-pillar covers removed for the last year+ (by me not them) the water ends up, relatively harmlessly, where you see it, running down the doors and onto the floor instead of inside and behind the dash, dripping off things like the OBDII port. This pic doesn't do the severity any justice. Super-bowl Monday morning I went out to head to work and the passenger side floor board was under an inch of water. If I'd have parked the other way around, it would've been the driver's side.

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After the sixth useless attempt this past May, it still leaks both sides and FCA's "Customer (don't) Care" rep informed me they were done and that no more claims to fix this design flaw would be honored. Once again, feeble "Jeep's leak" excuse was spewed, much like the '04's 4.0 Rattle box excuse "Jeep's are noisey". Their idea of "making me whole" was, not a buy back at a fair market price, but free oil changes . Get a lawyer, spend a bunch of money with him/her and still end up w/ nothing (which they know will be the outcome) or ditch the pig. Bottom line FCA like many Jeep/Chrysler corporate owners do not care. There won't be a third time and I will make it a mission to slander the brand anytime I can.

So it's back to the Japanese built vehicle quality and refinement I've had life-long success with owning....
2018 CX-5 AWD Touring w/ Pref. Equip. Pkg. (to obtain the Bose audio system):

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After a solid week or so of internet and email work prior to the big car sale holiday weekend, winning offer of $26k for the Heep and $26k for the CX-5 + $228 for docs and fees OTD. This Heep cost me $5k over 4 years and 26,600 miles plus typical Jeep quality issues/aggravation. Not great, not horrible. It's for sale on their site for nearly 30k. Once again, as was the case with the 2004 I traded on the Kizashi, they'll be lucky to get what they gave me for it. And, once again, the Carfax info on the Heep is a misleading pile of info. 10 records over 4 years and low mileage. The numerous multiple "Maintenance Inspection Completed" entries is Carfax-speak for "leaks water like a sieve". Only one entry mentions the leaks. Buyer be aware...next guy's problem.

[Speed_Racer]

"It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand" is just too appropriate considering all the problems Jeep loyalists and FCA try to explain away.

Nice CX-5, it should give you many miles of trouble-free motoring!

[KuroNekko]

Congrats on the CX-5! It's definitely the best handling and best looking CUV in its class. I'm really digging the Kodo (means "movement" or "motion" in Japanese) styling from Mazda that they now have across their line-up. Their SkyActiv models also have great fuel efficiency and reliability. In my opinion, they seemed to eclipse and then surpass Subaru in build quality and reliability since their SkyActivs came out. Subaru, on the contrary, seemed to slip in quality as they got wildly popular.
That being said, with the Jeep and the Samurai now gone, are your rock-crawling days now over?

[Ronzuki]

Yep...banging around on the rocks is pretty much over for me. I'll ride shotgun and spot when somebody I know offers a seat. Since I sold the Samurai last fall, the Jeep's primary reason for existence disappeared. Don't miss it at all. The Samurai, I miss. Knew every nut and bolt on the thing. Maybe come winter I'll miss the Heep for slogging around in the crud (because I didn't care about it), but eh, if it gets that nasty I'll just stay home. It was already beginning to corrode underneath and looked worse than the Kiz or SX4 undercarriages which are both much older. I contemplated waiting for the new Skyactiv-X to appear, however, this was the right time to ditch the JK before current masses of JK owners jumped to the new JLs and the market begins to flood (no pun intended) w/ late model JKs.

Mazda's Kodo business is no joke. Nothing in its class, and price point, was even remotely comparable IMHO from any perspective other than interior cargo space (low priority for me in this size vehicle). I'm nearly as glove comfortable behind the wheel of it as I am in the Kizashi. This thing is very refined and up-scale inside, more so than the Kiz. Fit and finish is outstanding inside and out. Unbelievably quiet inside. Ride is tight and responsive. Nimble. It quite possibly could be what a Kizashi sport wagon would have been. However, (there's always a but) it screams for paddle shifters, and, the damn sun roof doesn't have a tilt open feature, which means, I'll likely never use it, at all. Came with the package to get the Bose audio (absolute must have) which IS pretty sweet. Meh, small potatoes.

Believe it or not, I'd noticed right away on a test drive while smooth, it is not CVT smooth. 'Feels' like it ought to be Kiz smooth when I'm driving. Funny how it took a long while to get used to a CVT and now the conventional auto shifting, while smooth, is noticeable. Once again, the standard to live up to is the Kiz. I specifically didn't even consider anything w/ a CVT in it.

The one good thing is that I can kill (disable) most of the nanny-minder BS I don't want. Lane departure warning is bloody annoying since I make full use of the entire width of back roads around here. Fortunately the Mazda boys thought ahead on that one...there's an actual button on the dash to kill it. Blind spot monitoring is very useful. A feature which is symbiotic with my driving style. Embrace the technology! The braking thing may be a problem for me I think...we'll see.

[KuroNekko]

I'm excited about the SkyActiv-X too, but I can't blame you for offloading the Jeep sooner than waiting. The persistent leak and the dealer's refusal to actually fix it is absolutely unacceptable. I think you also made the right call to sell it given the upcoming JL Wranglers. Plus, you may not want to be a first gen owner of a new engine technology in case there are some serious issues with SkyActiv-X.

I just wish Mazda and others would offer AWD with manual transmissions. I know manuals are dwindling in popularity, but as long as engines are conventional internal combustion, I think manuals have a place. As of now, it seems like only Subaru, Jeep, and VW/Audi do. That being said, I think it's a good thing Mazda stayed away from CVTs and stuck to conventional automatics, working on making them more efficient. Mazda is one company that really seems to avoid sacrificing much in driving dynamics with their powertrains. I was actually surprised when I first drove my girlfriend's 2007 Mazda3 S with the automatic trans. It drove very much like my former 2005 Mazda3 S with the 5 speed manual to the point where it really felt comparable in performance. The automatic really does not take away from the driving dynamics unlike most other auto versions of the same car. Yet still, I wish the CX-5 and CX-3 were offered with AWD and manuals. The CX-3 is an auto-only vehicle despite the fact that the Mazda2/Yaris iA that it's based on is often praised for being the best subcompact to drive, largely thanks to its manual trans version.

I'm curious to see how the AWD system in the CX-5 will compare to the Kizashi's on the snow. I guess you'll have to wait several months for that.
Keep us posted on how that CX-5 serves you. Great color, by the way.

[Ronzuki]

Trip to Mount Desert Island, Maine (Acadia Natn'l Park)

Champlain Mountain photo op...thought the car would give some depth perception to the shear size of this cliff. Trail head was closed due to nesting Peregrines.

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2-days driving, 3-days hiking around paradise. Didn't even scratch the surface of the trails and carriage roads on the island.
Spectacular views from everywhere.

mmm...pink granite ...guess what was running through my brain?

[Ronzuki]

OK, so we jumped straight into Jan-Feb winter weather driving today. So much for Fall...fortunately over the weekend I gave the K another good high pressure touch-less car washing and tucked it away in the garage. Clearly the state an municipalities were not ready. Didn't see one truck of any kind on my ride home from work. Fine by me, no salt, no cinders, no mess. Virgin material,

Mazda's 'Kodo' is the bomb. I don't know what they do with their drive, braking and traction control systems, but the orchestration is sweet for this type of foul weather commuting. Hard-pack snow turned ice with snow/sleet/freezing rain coming down. The CX-5 goes with ease, it stops with ease and seems to 'feel' the surface conditions. As soon a I let off the throttle atop a decline, as always, the car immediately begins downshifting on its own (what I would normally be doing in the Heep or Kiz under same conditions). A fabulous utilization of modern tech. I didn't do much at all in the way of actual braking the 27 mile ride. Perfect. Really like having the taller side-wall tires and added ground clearance over the Kizashi's for this type of driving. Not missing the Heep at all that's for sure. Weather gets to the point of needing the Heep's capability, I'm staying home anyway. Looking forward to when an opportunity presents itself to really give the Mazda a proper winter romp. Then I'll really be able to see what its drive control system is made of. Too much traffic tonight.

[KuroNekko]

Great to hear you are liking the CX-5. I've read Mazda is giving it a turbo option much like the Mazda6 got.
Also, I think Kodo is the styling concept as in sheet metal design behind all new Mazdas. The mechanical aspects and technology is the SkyActiv stuff which extends to more than the engine. While it's rather unique that Mazda is so vested into these conceptual frameworks, it's obviously working for them.

[Ronzuki]

ok...I stand corrected, you certainly would know. Looks good, goes good, Kudos to Kodo and all the SkyActive stuff!

Actually, talking w/ one of our designers today whose wife drives a 2016 CX-5, he tells me the drive controls in these things are actually pre-active controls as opposed to reactive as most drive systems apparently are. He's asked how I liked how the CX-5 drove heading home in that crap yesterday and I told him it was extremely pleasant and very sure footed. He tells me there are more sensors in the thing than he knows I care to think about. So in fact when I stated I thought the car could sense the road, he tells me it actually is. The downshifting I was noticing yesterday was a result of the predictive control. Well, as long as it all keeps working as designed, great.

So this turbo you speak of is in addition to the new GDI's quassi-compression ignition SkyActive X business that they're coming out with this year? Or, instead of?

[WESHOOT2]

Adding turbo to top model.