Just got the ban

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by MidLifeinMI

If you want to avoid auto start/stop, want dual zone climate, keyless ignition, AWD, etc. in a mid-size, you might consider either a Mazda CX-5 (CUV) or CX-50 (little more geared for offroad; still no Jeep). Quality has been Toyota/Lexus level for a few years now, and while they still have an old-school 6-speed auto, at least it's not a CVT. 2.0L turbo has decent power, and build quality/interior materials are top rate. I've had a CX-5 for almost a year now, and so far it's been completely flawless.

I looked at Mazda online a while back, but had mostly forgotten about them. I will go back and look -- thanks!

Midsized is what I want. I'm done hauling coal, plywood, firewood, etc. so I no longer need a pickup. I do need 4- or AWD though because of where I live.

Other than getting groceries, taking a few bags to the dumps or stuff like that, I'm fine. Whatever I end up getting, I will probably have them install a hitch before I pick it up, just in case I move or something, which is likely.

[VatorMan]

Originally Posted by Bruze

I looked at Mazda online a while back, but had mostly forgotten about them. I will go back and look -- thanks!

Midsized is what I want. I'm done hauling coal, plywood, firewood, etc. so I no longer need a pickup. I do need 4- or AWD though because of where I live.

Other than getting groceries, taking a few bags to the dumps or stuff like that, I'm fine. Whatever I end up getting, I will probably have them install a hitch before I pick it up, just in case I move or something, which is likely.

You might look at Subaru as well. We recently got an Ascent that has all the decent bells and whistles. I put on a hitch myself and saved some coin. Extremely easy to do.

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by VatorMan

You might look at Subaru as well. We recently got an Ascent that has all the decent bells and whistles. I put on a hitch myself and saved some coin. Extremely easy to do.

Ha, good friends of mine both have Soobies, have had several, and love them (they are both liberals, haha).

She pushes them on me a bit too much, so I'm shying away from buying one just for that reason. But it's not off the table because I know they are good cars.

He told me that AWDs are not all the same, but Soobs work very well in snow, which is both of our concerns. They have a steep uphill driveway, 60-80' long and their cars walk up them in a foot of snow, no problem. Before I knew them, they had a Cherokee which he said was no match for the Soob in the snow.

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by MidLifeinMI

If you want to avoid auto start/stop, want dual zone climate, keyless ignition, AWD, etc. in a mid-size, you might consider either a Mazda CX-5 (CUV) or CX-50 (little more geared for offroad; still no Jeep). Quality has been Toyota/Lexus level for a few years now, and while they still have an old-school 6-speed auto, at least it's not a CVT. 2.0L turbo has decent power, and build quality/interior materials are top rate. I've had a CX-5 for almost a year now, and so far it's been completely flawless.

Ha, well here we go again.

I went to Mazda and built one and throughout the whole process, right to the end, there was no mention of the following -- either standard or optional, unless I missed them:

AC or climate control
Keyless ignition
Start/stop

I'm assuming probably everything today comes with at least intermittent wipers and AC, but no mention of either unless I missed it.

If these multi-billion dollar companies had a brain, the sites would be set up something like this:

Enter car and price range

Enter "must have" items

Enter "cannot have" items.

Click "Search" and it brings up whatever matches those terms, and then you work forward from that point. But NONE OF THEM WORK LIKE THIS.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT: So I go all the way through and search for locally available cars. FINALLY, there is a big list of things the car actually comes with. LINK

It has intermittent wipers and AC.

Also "cylinder deactivation." Didn't they try that in newer Corvettes but dropped it? Don't remember for sure.

Mid-Life-Guy: Does yours have that? Any problems with it?

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by aerovette

My wife (ex) has owned three generations of Tahoe and has loved each one. No real issues. Fuel relay on one.

Rock solid and will go 200k miles with proper maintenance.

[VatorMan]

Originally Posted by Bruze

Ha, good friends of mine both have Soobies, have had several, and love them (they are both liberals, haha).

She pushes them on me a bit too much, so I'm shying away from buying one just for that reason. But it's not off the table because I know they are good cars.

He told me that AWDs are not all the same, but Soobs work very well in snow, which is both of our concerns. They have a steep uphill driveway, 60-80' long and their cars walk up them in a foot of snow, no problem. Before I knew them, they had a Cherokee which he said was no match for the Soob in the snow.

Yeah, the value of the vehicle and mainly because they were the ONLY dealership not charging a markup made me cringe and buy it. Lol. I have to say, it has impressed me. It has a turbo boxer engine rated at 260 hp. 3 rows, 2 of them captain seats, heated steering wheel and seats.
Did tell the wife if she got hit on she has to send me a pic so I can tell her to say no or not.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

There are several products that elminiate the annoying AutoStop feature permanently or invert the operation (e.g. its OFF by default and you have to push the button manually to activate it). I just put one in a Honda Ridgeline for a friend and have run one in my Dodge Durango for years, they are pretty much "plug and play":

https://www.autostopeliminator.com/

Be careful though the one above will NOT set any DTC diagnostic codes, some of the Chiwanese versions WILL.

Got it in my '19 EdgeST.

Good product.
Highly recommended.
Plug and play.

[MidLifeinMI]

Originally Posted by Bruze

Ha, well here we go again.

I went to Mazda and built one and throughout the whole process, right to the end, there was no mention of the following -- either standard or optional, unless I missed them:

AC or climate control
Keyless ignition
Start/stop

I'm assuming probably everything today comes with at least intermittent wipers and AC, but no mention of either unless I missed it.

If these multi-billion dollar companies had a brain, the sites would be set up something like this:

Enter car and price range

Enter "must have" items

Enter "cannot have" items.

Click "Search" and it brings up whatever matches those terms, and then you work forward from that point. But NONE OF THEM WORK LIKE THIS.

Mazda's trim levels keep getting more confusing every year. Mine is a 2021 model, I have the Grand Touring Reserve trim which is the 2nd from top ("Signature" is (was) top trim). This year, they changed all the designations again, but for your wishlist/must-haves, here is where you are:

AWD - standard on all levels
Keyless entry - standard on all levels
Start/stop - Mazda doesn't incorporate this, so no worries there
AC standard; dual-zone climate on "S Select" trim and above

Other things to note with Mazda:

• 10.25" infotainment is on all models, but note that it is NOT a touchscreen - it's controlled by a knob on the console. A bit inconvenient, but easy to get used to.
• LED headlights standard on all models. Adaptive (steerable) lights are on higher trim levels.
• Most of their safety nannies (BSM, lane departure warning, emergency braking, adaptive cruise) are std across the line.
• You'll want the turbo - 252HP vs around 185 on NA engine.

[MidLifeinMI]

Originally Posted by Bruze

EDIT: So I go all the way through and search for locally available cars. FINALLY, there is a big list of things the car actually comes with. LINK

It has intermittent wipers and AC.

Also "cylinder deactivation." Didn't they try that in newer Corvettes but dropped it? Don't remember for sure.

Mid-Life-Guy: Does yours have that? Any problems with it?

If it has it, I've never noticed. I'm not sure if the turbo has it, or just the base engine (EDIT: CD is on non-turbo only). As a data point for you, we just finished a 2 week, 4000 mile trip from IL to WY and back, and averaged just over 28mpg for the trip. I was pretty happy with that, especially considering the 75- and 80mph speed limits.

One surprising like: the Mazda is definitely a "driver's SUV". It handles better than ANY SUV I've ever driven, and better than many so-called "Sport" sedans. "Zoom-zoom" is still a thing.

My biggest complaint, in 11 months/14K miles - seat bottoms are REALLY hard. I hear they've tried to address that in the 2023 models, but haven't verified that.

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by MidLifeinMI

Mazda's trim levels keep getting more confusing every year. Mine is a 2021 model, I have the Grand Touring Reserve trim which is the 2nd from top ("Signature" is (was) top trim). This year, they changed all the designations again, but for your wishlist/must-haves, here is where you are:

AWD - standard on all levels
Keyless entry - standard on all levels
Start/stop - Mazda doesn't incorporate this, so no worries there
AC standard; dual-zone climate on "S Select" trim and above

Other things to note with Mazda:

• 10.25" infotainment is on all models, but note that it is NOT a touchscreen - it's controlled by a knob on the console. A bit inconvenient, but easy to get used to.
• LED headlights standard on all models. Adaptive (steerable) lights are on higher trim levels.
• Most of their safety nannies (BSM, lane departure warning, emergency braking, adaptive cruise) are std across the line.
• You'll want the turbo - 252HP vs around 185 on NA engine.

Thanks for the info. No start/stop is a dealmaker for me.

I asked GTO Guy on this thread for a forum I could go to get answers for these questions, as a last-ditch attempt to avoid traveling around to all the dealers to find out.

When I started using the online sites about 20 years ago, I thought wow this is great, I can sit in my living room and pick and choose the vehicle I want! What could go wrong?

With EVERY MANUFACTURER'S website being a mess in one way or another from then until today, I've spent more time the past two months looking online in my living room that I would have spent actually going to the dealers.

I will dig into the Mazda some more, thanks again. You guys have been more helpful than anywhere else.

Another question for the ages: Why do ALL manufacturers only offer black, white, some shade of gray/silver -- and if you're lucky maybe one shade of red or blue, sometimes at an extra cost? Decades ago you could get about any color you wanted. Why did this change?

If I was in the business of robbing banks or something, I would want non-descript gray-ish getaway car. Nobody could pick it out from all the other ones.

"Yes I saw him officer, he was in a gray/silver SUV."

"Wow, thanks for that."

I prefer any shade or red or blue over the bland colors. But not all that important in the big scheme of things.

[DJ_Critterus]

So, anybody else get a perma, yet?

[Bruze]

Originally Posted by DJ_Critterus

So, anybody else get a perma, yet?

Was that the thread subject?

Bob Pinciotti got one.

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by Bruze

Was that the thread subject?

Bob Pinciotti got one.

Not sure. I'm out of the loop and been sitting here in Flagstaff doing Grand Canyon tourist stuff for the past couple of days.

[TheHammer]

Originally Posted by DJ_Critterus

Not sure. I'm out of the loop and been sitting here in Flagstaff doing Grand Canyon tourist stuff for the past couple of days.

Mother Road Brewery, Black Sky Brewery get the pizza.
Satchmos BBQ
Atria

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by TheHammer

Mother Road Brewery, Black Sky Brewery get the pizza.
Satchmos BBQ
Atria

Not doing the breweries with family and the small niece & nephew here. As for pizza, I'm kind of a snob since I was raised in Italy. Had some from Oregano's earlier and it was o.k. Not great, but just o.k.

What is Atria?

[ToolMaker]

Originally Posted by RatDog

Good story and I agree with you about not preferring bright red. You have a good color. My wife’s car is crystal red metallic. She wouldn’t have bought a bright red car. She had 2 other requirements. It had to be a convertible and it had to be a stick shift.

There’s no way you BIL could buy that car for anywhere near $6,500 these days. Love to hear about great cars staying in the family. Here’s my ‘67. I’m 76 and my son doesn’t want it when my time is up.

My wife likes to bust my friend nuggets by telling them she is going to bury me in my 67', and not tell them where!

[TheHammer]

Originally Posted by DJ_Critterus

Not doing the breweries with family and the small niece & nephew here. As for pizza, I'm kind of a snob since I was raised in Italy. Had some from Oregano's earlier and it was o.k. Not great, but just o.k.

What is Atria?

https://www.atriarestaurant.com/

need to go to to grand Falls / Chocolate Falls

ought to be flowing pretty good

[Old Ben]

What was this thread supposed to be about?

[MidLifeinMI]

Originally Posted by Old Ben

What was this thread supposed to be about?

I think it was something about being banned from the other place for talking about small SUVs while eating pizza in Flagstaff. I might have some details wrong.

[Vandelay Industries]

Originally Posted by Old Ben

What was this thread supposed to be about?

More days of useless drivel.