rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

We were on the Eastern Shore Thursday (Salisbury) and it wasn't bad outside, but if you got into the wind it was vicious. My fam lives on a creek that leads out to Ocean City and it would have been a good day for waterfowling.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Over the long weekend, the Vossens were cleaned, clayed, sealed ànd coated... now stored and waiting for spring. Eight years old with maybe 35k miles on them, they still look gorgeous and new. If it weren't for winter, probably couldn't say that.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

Car but not G37 related - just bought tires for the CX5. I'm pretty frustrated by the fact that all retailers do not have the same tire model to price compare (I know it's on purpose). I'm guessing each model is renamed something similar and the tread/cost is tweaked because it doesn't make economic sense to make 20 models of tire for *each* retailer, in the assortment of sizes needed.

Ended up with Yokohama Avid Ascend LX in oem size - well rated for wet traction and noise level, which honestly are our biggest concerns with her car. Corksport rear swaybar aside LOL.

It just rolled over 100k while we were in VA; time for some delayed maintenance. Oil we do on 5K intervals (easy to remember) so that's due, the hatch spoiler is rattling so it needs to be investigated, spark plugs and diff fluid are 75K interval (oops). Still trying to determine whether I need to do the trans fluid/filter - service manual intervals stop at 60K LOL

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

We seem to have similar situations... modified 6MT Sedan as our rarely driven personal car, with a mid-sized crossover as the family DD. Ours is a 2018 Forester Touring Edition, paid-in-full with 50K miles into a 10Y/100K warranty. Love that Subby.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

Oh, I drive mine to work daily, and that includes school pickup. The CX5 is my wife's daily since her employer mandated 5-days onsite again, and the almost exclusive weekend car. 2015 CX5, 100524 miles LOL, paid sometime last year. Just needs some TLC.

BULL

I've driven many Mazdas and on almost every one the road noise is just a downer for me. I believe this is from the minimal insulation these cars bring. How's that CX for you guys?

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

When we bought our Forester four years ago, it was after exhaustively test-driving every comparable car in the mid-sized SUV market between $28k and $32k, at the time. The Mazda really sparked my interest because of its styling and its driving characteristics. I also liked it's 6AT, which was somewhat unique to that class of car, most of which had CVT. (The Hyundai had a dual-clutch AT which behaved really poorly, so that was an easy choice to drop.)

Anyway, the only reason we passed on the CX5 was the driver's position. My wife and I both felt too slammed up against the door panel. It was awkward, and we just couldn't get beyond it. It was the only vehicle that rubbed us the wrong way, in that way (no pun).

Still think it's the best looking midsized crossover, though. And I suspect I would probably really, really like the $37k CX5 Turbo.

As for the Forester, and any "why that car?" question... it's the ugly duckling that's actually a swan once you drive it. And the top-of-line Touring Edition interior is awesome. (Sub-models, not so much.)

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

It does pay to carefully select tires for quietness rating. We can still have a conversation at normal volume, but the wind noise is apparent. Due to vehicle height and frontal area, more so than my old Mazda 3 for sure. No idea about the RX8 or its many RX7 predecessors - I couldn't hear anything over the exhausts

I'll put it this way - except for the leather and some auto-climate controls, the CX5 has most of the same safety and driving features of the same era BMW X3, but was half the cost. Little factors like double or triple seals on the doors (immediate comparison between the infiniti and the mazda) make a huge difference. I'm sure there's less body pan insulation, both for weight and cost reasons, and that leads to increased road noise - but still acceptable for a mainline manufacturer. It's substantially quieter than the Jeep Compass and Ford Edge we test drove, and similar to the CRV.

She likes this car so much in fact, we considered trading for a 2020 in late 2019 - she rented one for a business trip, and loved the new interior but the exterior was too edge-y. Waiting to see what a refresh brings, or perhaps we might start looking at those X3s again when it's time to let this one go. She's saving her car payments in separate savings bucket so the amount financed if we get a BMW would be about the same.

Maintenance wise, the only thing expensive that went wrong with the car (IE not a bulb or plastic pop rivet) was the AC compressor died, but during the warranty so nothing out of pocket for us. I've put tires on once already, and did brakes last year (EBC Greens on an otherwise stock brake system). Current maintenance items are all schedule 2 standard preventative care except for the rattle in the spoiler, which is apparently a thing after some rubber vibration dampers harden.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

My FIL is on his second Forester and swears by them almost religiously. He gets base trim because he's a BSA Scout Master and, well, beats on that car like a rented mule. Neither ever disappointed him. Interior is very plane-jane, true. Power is meh but adequate for normal people driving, traction is incredible, the CVT sucks for towing but is great otherwise.

A buddy in NC has an older Forester with the STI drivetrain and rallycrosses the thing. It's a *beast*.

SupraOfDoom

I'm getting my hood soon from a group buy we had awhile back. No pictures on the Sedan yet but the first coupe owner got his! Quality and fitment look great so far.

BULL

Well currently looking at something for the wife since I've had nothing but BS with her 2007 Rav4. Worst year to own.
All of those 2.4 developed oil burning issues which I'm currently dealing with.
Blew front shocks at 120k (blown blown)
Developed a transmission front seal leak (trans has to come off)
The trans seal ate away at the LCA which will get replaced soon
Engine started pinging upon loads and a bit low in power
91/93 octane help slightly but comes back (intermittent)

I'm either thinking stretched chain or oil burn is what's causing it. Either way I've noticed many many Camrys, TCs, Rav4s, Solaras with the 2.4 in my city pinging up a storm.
The CX-5 is starting to look appeasing.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Appeasing? Is that a Freudian slip?

I really like the CX-5, inside and out. I also like the Alfa Stelvio for the same reasons, more so actually. But if you're looking for reliability, Alfa is probably not for you. And seriously, I'm expecting Alfa to leave the US market (again). I don't think they're doing well here.

There's also the Genesis GV70... crazy attractive crossover.

And the VW ID.4. I'm very drawn to that EV for some reason.

BULL

English and their lavish words

Alfa is stylish and fast but expensively unreliable, It will never be able to compete in US.

Right now there are plenty of TT V6s with some decent reliability and less costly.

4DRZ

iTrader: (7)

Those are all good suvs and I have the same fears about Alfa. We have a dealership across the street from my work and they never have any cars. UPDATE: They have one car in stock. Yikes!

The GV70 is a great looking suv inside and out. However, it is a bit spendy.

I really like the interior of the ID.4. It makes the Tesla and Leaf look like they were completely made out of hard plastic. The new Nissan Aryia looks to have a really cool interior too, but it will be a while before they hit dealerships.

Selym

If there's enough crud in the combustion chamber from burning oil, it'll increase the compression ratio (less space), and there's your pinging.