I traded my 370Z for a Grand Heep Cherokee some time ago, and everyone said I had left a POS for a worse POS. I argued. I debated. But in the end? I was wrong. My Heep Grand Cherokee was the biggest piece of shit I've EVER owned or even heard of. In the 1 year and 3 months I owned it...

-N23 disabled my 4WD low
-Transmission leaked and was taken out, seal replaced, and still leaked.
-Sunroof guide broke
-Both front control arm bushings rotted out and had to be replaced
-Random body parts fell or flopped loose when I took it through touchless carwash
-Satellite radio randomly lost signal
-Transmission had very annoying tq converter shudder
-Steering always felt like the diff was locking up on tight corners like in a parking lot
-Water pump went bad (again...it was changed 8K miles before I bought it...)
-Annoying whining (very loud, as in, wake the neighbors) when I cranked it on cold days, even after replacing the belt.
-Randomly stalled once, and would run rough at idle sometimes. New plugs, PCV, air filter, etc. Nothing helped.
-Random SES light was the last straw, and I traded it in rather than chase that down and take the transmission out AGAIN!

Long story short? You were right...I was wrong. Fuck Jeep. Fuck Mercedes. Fuck Fiat. Fuck all that shit. NEVER will I own any of it again. EVER!!!!

That said, I had to replace it. I knew I wanted something with a reputation for reliability, and the AWD of the Jeep really did come through for me in my first snow. Loved AWD! Also, I needed ground clearance. Basically, I was stuck in the SUV platform due to lifestyle choices (living in the mountains). Also, when I build my house, work will be a 40 mile commute (round trip) 3x a week. So fuel efficiency was becoming an issue in my mind.

I ended up with a 2015 Mazda CX5 2.5L AWD with 27k on the odo and got rid of my 2010 Grand Heep Cherokee 5.7 Limited with 92k on the odo. Why? Well, it has NAV, it has amazing seats, and driving it is like driving a sedan, yet it will hold about 90% of what my Jeep would, and has the highest safety ratings possible from all the testing organizations. Consumer Reports ranked it highly, and the handling...THE HANDLING! I have never driven an SUV that handled like this thing. It is quite fun in the mountains. Now, the 4-popper is a bit slow compared to my HEMI, but amazingly it gets 100% of its max torque at 3200ish rpm (all 185# of it...) which is pretty impressive to me, and the 6 speed SkyDriv  or whatever clutch auto is amazing. Still, it IS slower than the Jeep, by my stop-watch taking 15 seconds from 0-80, compared to my Jeep on my stop watch taking 10.

So the trade?

I get 30+ mpg on the highway, and around 24-26mpg on my daily commute. It also takes regular instead of midgrade

To put that in perspective, that's the ammo and cost of my VTAC Nightfighter course later this year in fuel-savings per year, alone! Daily driving, it feels motivated enough.

The only negative I've found is it's a little "softer" in appearance than I prefer, but lets face it, I've owned some badass machines, my C6 Z06 being a personal pinnacle, and what I really need is an economical, effective, reliable form of transportation that will last me 8-12 years and allow me to focus on building a house in a year or two instead of worrying about paying for the POS's repairs, or monstrous gas bills, etc. that will also handle the winter in the mountains. I think this CX5 will be a winner. I sure hope so!









Gone and hopefully soon forgotten!

Not that it matters now, but the CX-5 received a more aggressive look for 2016.

Agreed, but this was the one that I found used at $2K under blue-book at a dealer that gave me $1K more than KBB trade-in's maximum allowance for my busted ass Jeep.

In a nutshell you put up with Chrysler corp because wrangler.

If it's not a wrangler there's no reason to conceivably go there.

Lol my sister bought a 05 Laredo from a private party and hadn't put 25k on it (145k all together) and the wiring caught fire (apparently they're known to do that but not recalled for it) and than at 150k it dropped a valve and scored the cylinder and contacted the piston (again, known to do it but not recalled) needless to say it's sitting behind the shop and she's looking at Silverados. Never thought a Mazda would look that good. Hopefully everything works out for ya.

On the blogs, younger guys always wonder why we make fun of Chrysler product....   well once you own one.  

Mazdas are great, really driver oriented, sort of like VW without the abysmal VW quality.  However that said, they are still not Toyota quality.  However, I would rather buy two Mazdas for 300k miles than drive one Camry for 300k miles.

As for the person trying to roll 150k miles on a Jeep, well...   I work with a guy about to roll 200k miles on a Range Rover Disco so I guess anything is possible.

BTW, Nissan quality is definitely not as good as it was.  You can say that about all the Japanese cars.   However, I think they are still better than US brands, although in some cases by not a very large margin.   Except for Mitsubishi, they are the Chrysler of Japan.

Nice upgrade.

The only thing that would bug me as a whole about Mazda is even though they really try and get good reviews a 8 year old Mazda is still a $1200 car.

As far as resale goes they never moved beyond the era when Japanese cars were viewed as cheap. A used Mazda is still firmly in the company of the Koreans and God forbid Mitsubishi

this

I bought a new JGC in 99. 13 trips to dealer in first year convinced me to never buy a Chrysler product again.

Sold it to some foreign kid for 2000 less than I paid.

Txl

Are you basing your opinion on the independently designed skyactiv mazda's and not the ford based contraptions of the past?



That doesn't seem to be the case for the skyactiv mazda's, they seem to be holding their value.

I've owned four different Wranglers that had 150k+ on the odometer, and have seen quite a few with over 200k.  Hell, a local salvage yard has a Grand Cherokee with a 4.0L that was driven to the yard with over 300k miles.  I also had a '97 LR Discovery that had somewhere around 170k miles when I sold it, so stranger things have happened...

I hope your mazda works out cause if not at the rate youre going your next ride will be a kia sorento.

That...
As a Wrangler owner - I'd never buy another (newer) Jeep that wasn't another Wrangler.

Good move on the change.  Mazda has been getting good reviews.

Oh and btw.



370Z to JGC

Nice OP I have a 2014 CX-9 Awd been great to us so far

Yeah, yeah, I tried to find that thread but could not. When I'm wrong...I admit it. I was wrong.

According to Consumer Reports and others, the CX-5 won't hold value quite as high as the RAV-4 and CRV, but it isn't far behind, they say.

Good choice. Haven't researched a lot about them, but I haven't heard anything bad.

I like my grand cherokee. 03 with 193xxx on it (give or take). Other than some freshening up, it runs like a champ

Nice.

I have a 2015 GT AWD. So far about the only thing that annoys me about it is I don't get the MPG I'd hoped for and the radio.

Damn slooooooow radio to change from am/fm/sirius. Takes forever to sync up the Sirius especially if you switch formats. No mute button on the wheel either.

Don't forget the 'special' oil from Mazda with all the moly in it. Really does help with the MPG. My dealer uses bulk Castrol so I had to start doing it myself.

I bought a 1998 Jeep Cherokee when I was at Bragg, in addition to my 1986 Cherokee.

Boy am I glad I let the dealer talk me into their extended warranty.  After the engine blew, I was still covered by their bumper to bumper warranty, and didn't have to pay a dime for a complete engine rebuild.

I love the visibility of the older Cherokees, but after talking with some mechanics that worked on them a lot, I started to hear about a laundry list of problems with that in-line 6 engine.  Apparently, it had different piston sizes and compression ratios, and was a common source of problems.  It had all kinds of torque and power, but would have cost me insane amounts of money if I had not got the warranty.

You may want to increase the tire pressure 10-15% above the recommended level.

Loving it so far!

0-60 (not a rocket, but not bad for a 4-banger 4-door AWD SUV!):
0-60

Also, my first complete fill-up the other day, I calculated 25.7mpg. Not shabby for probably half city driving, short trips, and a few longer drives without paying much attention to how hard I press the skinny pedal!

Windows tinted, as well.


Made a good decision!


So far it's been very cheap to own! I replaced the tires with new Continental Cross Contact LX20's (Came with Yokohama Geolander G91's on it. I think they failed to rotate them, as one was literally brand new, and one was nearly bald, and 3 of them had dry-rot. Maybe they put old tires on to trade it in? I dunno). The LX20's ride great! Cost me $700ish mounted, balanced, and aligned. Changed the oil ($70) using Mazda's "Moly" additive full synthetic. Changed the diff fluid ($63 total with a coupon from the service dept.). Tinted the windows ($150) with ceramic tint.

My Jeep was $175 for the diff(s), $900 for tires mounted/balanced/aligned, and $80-90 for an oil change if i bought the oil myself, $120 if I didn't.

Very nice.

I drive a Mazda 3 but trying to talk the wife into a CX-5 in a couple of years.

She drives a 2005 Ram 1500 4X4 (w/Hemi) now.  It's got 130K on it and the only problem has been a heater fan that had to be replaced.

Enjoying the Mazda so far. With cruise control on, it averages about 28mpg on the freeway doing 75mph or so. With cruise off, and trying to hyper-mile it (coasting up hills, accelerating slowly down them, 65-70mph max or so), I can get a hair over 30mpg.

I have around 3500 miles on it, now, and the only issue I have encountered is that while driving through Dallas, some concrete shot up from an expansion joint and blew the rear-right wheel-well's body-cladding trim 1/2 way off. I stopped, and snapped it back on, but I think the fasteners (some of them) are broken, and it is creased from being bent backwards. It flapped around until I pulled over, but did not damage the paint or anything else that I can tell. Replacement part and fasteners and labor is going to run me $125. Including a coke, some cookies, and a free car wash.

It really is nice to have something that gets 5mpg better than my Jeep on got on the highway....AROUND TOWN, while swilling 87 octane. I'd gladly give up the 1-1.3 seconds 0-60 for that any time! The reliability is an awesome bonus, although I did re-finance it last month for 2.67% for 78mo, and got a 72mo 100K mile bumper to bumper warranty added into the deal, as well.

How in the hell does a Jeep oil change cost $80-90?  My Ford diesel only runs $70, and that's for 4 gallons of oil and a $25 filter.

Pennzoil Ultra-Platinum synthetic. The MDS in a HEMI prefers high quality synthetics.

I like the Mazdas...looking at some used ones for my daughters first car.