Postcard from - Mazda

In 2014 we wanted a new car. The Toyota was reaching that delicate age where you could see expensive work in it's future. We looked, we thought and we talked, then we went for test drives. The X-Trail wasn't right for us. We're tall and there just wasn't the headroom in the car. The Subaru was nice, but we'd heard that repair costs could be very high, so that got rejected too. The Mazda CX-9 was another with low headroom.

In the end we opted for the Mazda CX-5. The driving position was nice, the seats comfortable and the car looked as though it would hold it's value. I would have liked the electric blue one, but that got sold the day before, so we got the silver one. Come the day, we picked it up from north of the river and drove home. The windscreen got cracked on the way! A stone kicked up from a bus, and some bad luck, but that's why you have insurance.

At the end of the first month, I wasn't heppy with the car, after three neither of us wanted to keep it. The model we bought had the 2 litre engine with "Sky-Active Technology" which is the Mazda name for the engine management system. They're proud of it, but for me it was the worst part of the car. There wasn't enough power available to feel comfortable passing on the freeway, and going up any hill at all, the car changed down and felt as though it struggled - with two people and no cargo. We did a test drive with the larger engine, but that wasn't a lot better. And the air conditioning! In Perth in spring it just couldn't cope.

In the end we traded it for a Holden Sportwagon with a far more powerful engine and bigger load capacity. And we're far, far happier. Don't get me wrong, the Mazda may work for some people, just not for us.

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