New addition to the garage.

[grouch]

I did something I haven't done in 30 years the other day. I bought a car on payments. The last one was a '93 Dodge Dakota. I'm just tired of working on my cars all the time. The nanny systems aren't too intrusive, although the blind spot warning will get old quick. The back up camera I've found is handy for parallel parking. (Yes, I know how to do that.)

Consumer reports gave my car high marks and it drives nice and gets decent fuel economy. I didn't really need AWD, but it was all they had. One thing I was NOT going to get was a white or silver car. The car companies love those two colors and push them as they are cheap. A small scratch on the production line is easily fixed. The cars also disappear on a rainy day in the road spray. I wanted a red car and by golly, I got one. My sister gave me a ride to pick it up and was rather startled to see me in a shiny red car. I've always dressed for comfort than style and drove cars that were all sorts of drab colors. Last year, I was offered a warm cot and hot meal at a local homeless shelter. (I did buy some newer clothes after that one.)

Anyway, I bought a 2016 Mazda CX-5 AWD Tour. Time will tell how good a car it is. The selling point was condition and the 5 star crash rating.

[Ken]

Hey, Grouch, I like the new car.

The CX-5 is popular over here (As are most Mazdas, especially
the MX5 (Miata). I've had my 2L, Mazda 3 TS2 (On a 59 plate)
for a few years now. I should have changed it by now but it still
does everything I want and doesn't have all the annoying driver
'aids' that we all love to hate. I pity all the youngsters who will
never have the chance to drive a 'real' car.

I love that colour, over here it is called Volcane Red, a very apt name.

Hope you have many thousands of good miles in her.

Ken.

[grouch]

Hey, Grouch, I like the new car.

The CX-5 is popular over here (As are most Mazdas, especially
the MX5 (Miata). I've had my 2L, Mazda 3 TS2 (On a 59 plate)
for a few years now. I should have changed it by now but it still
does everything I want and doesn't have all the annoying driver
'aids' that we all love to hate. I pity all the youngsters who will
never have the chance to drive a 'real' car.

I love that colour, over here it is called Volcane Red, a very apt name.

Hope you have many thousands of good miles in her.

Ken.

I've had the CX-5 three days and now it's gone. I told them when I bought it there was a noise and the salesman and service people said it was just rust from sitting. I sold rusty rotors when I ran a salvage yard but they would polish up in 20 miles or less. I took it in yesterday and they said they may need to keep it until Saturday. Well, they got the front brakes fixed and now the back ones are making noise you couldn't hear over the front. Now they need to keep it until Tuesday. They've given me a nice little Mazda 3 sedan but I really don't like it as well as the CX-5. My knee which had quit hurting is up against the door. I was nearly to work this morning before I managed to turn the automatic headlights off where they just lit the road and didn't keep going to high beam.

Once I figured out how to turn on the cruise control, I found it had some nanny systems I REALLY don't like. It kept slowing down on the highway when another car was over 100 yards ahead of me. When I moved aside to miss a dead skunk in the road (be glad you don't have THOSE in the UK.) the steering wheel shuddered, red warning signals appeared on the dash and it started beeping at me. The dealer is taking care of issues with the car with no complaint and I think they would like to get it back without smelling like a dead skunk.

[Ken]

I've had the CX-5 three days and now it's gone. I told them when I bought it there was a noise and the salesman and service people said it was just rust from sitting. I sold rusty rotors when I ran a salvage yard but they would polish up in 20 miles or less. I took it in yesterday and they said they may need to keep it until Saturday. Well, they got the front brakes fixed and now the back ones are making noise you couldn't hear over the front. Now they need to keep it until Tuesday. They've given me a nice little Mazda 3 sedan but I really don't like it as well as the CX-5. My knee which had quit hurting is up against the door. I was nearly to work this morning before I managed to turn the automatic headlights off where they just lit the road and didn't keep going to high beam.

Once I figured out how to turn on the cruise control, I found it had some nanny systems I REALLY don't like. It kept slowing down on the highway when another car was over 100 yards ahead of me. When I moved aside to miss a dead skunk in the road (be glad you don't have THOSE in the UK.) the steering wheel shuddered, red warning signals appeared on the dash and it started beeping at me. The dealer is taking care of issues with the car with no complaint and I think they would like to get it back without smelling like a dead skunk.

Hm? It doesn't sound as though the dealers pre-delivery inspection/test was worth a damn.
Any brake problems should have been sorted out long before you sat in the driver's seat.

I guess you must be a bit bigger than I am as I have no trouble with fitting comfortably
into the Mazda 3. All those bells and whistles and saaaaaaaaafety dongles? another
reason why I have not updated. I want to drive a car, not be driven (mad) by one.

When you say the CX is 'gone', have you handed it back or are they hopefully going
to return it to you as a fully functioning vehicle?

Ken.

[grouch]

Hm? It doesn't sound as though the dealers pre-delivery inspection/test was worth a damn.
Any brake problems should have been sorted out long before you sat in the driver's seat.

I guess you must be a bit bigger than I am as I have no trouble with fitting comfortably
into the Mazda 3. All those bells and whistles and saaaaaaaaafety dongles? another
reason why I have not updated. I want to drive a car, not be driven (mad) by one.

When you say the CX is 'gone', have you handed it back or are they hopefully going
to return it to you as a fully functioning vehicle?

Ken.

It's supposed to be finished tomorrow. I'm a dealers nightmare. I know cars better than they do. The car sat undriven for months through one of our humid summers. The rotors rusted. I'm thinking they may be rather thin. When the Vegas started showing up in the salvage yard I ran, I marveled at how thin the rotors were.

The more I drive this Mazda 3, the more I'm looking forward to getting the CX-5 back. The GF and I are both 6 footers. She's all leg though and I'm all torso. (I have Welsh ancestry.) Getting something we both fit in has been a challenge. The seats in the 5 cradle be and the 3 just don't fit me. My legs are hurting again and now the back is starting to ach.