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2017 GT First week review

8K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  RedBluff 
#1 ·
Just picked up my 6 and here are some initial thoughts.

-Very much liking the car. Has a great feel to it. Solid. Love the technology. Radar cruise control is great. Interior is great. Very Audi like which I really like.
-Gas mileage has been below what I expected. I do almost all highway driving and I'm struggling to get 32 MPG. It's early here, so I will report back once the engine is broken in.
-Mazda overthinks some things. Like the LED daytime running lights only turn on when the car is in motion. Or the memory seats don't work when the car is moving.
Also, the side view mirrors are not memory. The last one really sticks in my craw because they are power so why not have their positions stored?
-Other quirks are there as well. I can't open the trunk from the outside if the key is in the car? I have to use the inside button or remember to keep the key in my pocket. Just weird behavior. XM satellite doesn't display the channel art even though there is a box for it. My contact pictures don't show up even though there is a box for it.

If anyone knows of settings that address these "glitches" please let me know. I'll report back more when I've had more time with the car or other things pop up. Overall though, I'm amazed that Mazda doesn't sell more of these.
 
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#2 ·
First, glad you're enjoying the car!

-Gas mileage has been below what I expected. I do almost all highway driving and I'm struggling to get 32 MPG. It's early here, so I will report back once the engine is broken in.
This surprises me. I do 80 miles of commuting daily into the heart of Boston traffic and I'm averaging around 34mpg. When I was doing less city driving, I had it around 36mpg, and when I do only highway driving I can easily get it up to 38mpg. These pedals are very sensitive, and it takes some getting used to before finding the sweet spot. There's a point at which you *think* you're holding the pedal at the optimal position, but you can let off just a tiny bit and keep your speed but increase mpgs - takes practice to get used to it.

-Mazda overthinks some things. Like the LED daytime running lights only turn on when the car is in motion. Or the memory seats don't work when the car is moving.
You can manually turn the lights on whenever you'd wish, but I do find it odd that they only turn on when the car is not in park.

The memory seats not working while in motion is part of Mazda's over-protection of drivers. They don't want you fooling with the seats while you're driving, or you suing them when you crash because of it.

Also, the side view mirrors are not memory. The last one really sticks in my craw because they are power so why not have their positions stored?
Must have been an oversight or a cost issue. Adding another module to remember the mirror positions must have been costly enough that they didn't bother putting it in.

Honestly, I've only had to re-adjust my mirrors a few times in the 4 years of owning this car, so it doesn't bother me much :)

Other quirks are there as well. I can't open the trunk from the outside if the key is in the car? I have to use the inside button or remember to keep the key in my pocket. Just weird behavior.
This one I'm not quite sure. Have you owned cars in the past that neither required a key nor an internal button to open the trunk? My fob only leaves my pocket when I'm done driving for the day because there's really no reason for it to.

XM satellite doesn't display the channel art even though there is a box for it. My contact pictures don't show up even though there is a box for it.
Which model navigation system do you have? The older (2014 - 2015) system is the TomTom NB1 and it doesn't surprise me that something doesn't work the way it should.

The newer (2016 - ) Mazda connect navigation is much more reliable and I'm surprised that such an issue exists.
 
#3 ·
First, glad you're enjoying the car!



This surprises me. I do 80 miles of commuting daily into the heart of Boston traffic and I'm averaging around 34mpg. When I was doing less city driving, I had it around 36mpg, and when I do only highway driving I can easily get it up to 38mpg. These pedals are very sensitive, and it takes some getting used to before finding the sweet spot. There's a point at which you *think* you're holding the pedal at the optimal position, but you can let off just a tiny bit and keep your speed but increase mpgs - takes practice to get used to it.



You can manually turn the lights on whenever you'd wish, but I do find it odd that they only turn on when the car is not in park.

The memory seats not working while in motion is part of Mazda's over-protection of drivers. They don't want you fooling with the seats while you're driving, or you suing them when you crash because of it.



Must have been an oversight or a cost issue. Adding another module to remember the mirror positions must have been costly enough that they didn't bother putting it in.

Honestly, I've only had to re-adjust my mirrors a few times in the 4 years of owning this car, so it doesn't bother me much :)



This one I'm not quite sure. Have you owned cars in the past that neither required a key nor an internal button to open the trunk? My fob only leaves my pocket when I'm done driving for the day because there's really no reason for it to.



Which model navigation system do you have? The older (2014 - 2015) system is the TomTom NB1 and it doesn't surprise me that something doesn't work the way it should.

The newer (2016 - ) Mazda connect navigation is much more reliable and I'm surprised that such an issue exists.

Thanks for your response.

I park my car in the city frequently and the guys there always adjust my mirrors as they have to fit the car into tight spaces. So for me, its a royal pain. I wish they would just increase the MSRP by 50 bucks if was a cost issue. Not a deal breaker of course, but I wish it had it.

The trunk behavior I compare to my VW Passat and Audi Q7, both with keyless entry. If the car is unlocked, you can open the trunk. Pretty straight forward. With the Mazda, doesnt work that way. I usually put my key in the storage in the center console. That way, when I get home, I just get out of the car and the key is there when I return (we have a garage, single family home). So the only time the key is in my pocket is when Im at work. Again, not the end of the world, just an odd choice in my opinion.

The car is a 2017, so I assume it has the latest Mazda connect.
 
#4 ·
The mileage should increase slightly as you break in the motor. And Byakuya is right, these modern automobiles are super sensitive to throttle input, so once you get used to the pedal, you should see the highway number cross the EPA estimated 35 mpg. I do 60:40 highway and city traffic, the city traffic is pretty bad in DC, and i manage 31-32 in winter and 34 in summer.

About the lights, ignorance is sometimes bliss ! Its been a while since i read the manual, and i did not know that the running lights came on only when the car is in motion .

My gripe with the seat memory is mostly with steering position. Why couldn't they make the steering column electrically adjustable and have the position stored in the seat memory button ? Common sense if you ask me.

As for the channel art, did you mean the album art ? It is all stored in gracenotes DB, and this is a metadata put together by users. So expect to see some song names show up in german / italian or whatever language an individual had saved that song and then entered it in gracenotes DB. And no, your contact pictures will not show up, atleast not until mazda gets andriod auto or apple car play.
 
#11 ·
As for the channel art, did you mean the album art ? It is all stored in gracenotes DB, and this is a metadata put together by users. So expect to see some song names show up in german / italian or whatever language an individual had saved that song and then entered it in gracenotes DB.
When I listed to FM the album art is displayed but when I listen to XM it does not. I don't know why it would need to pull from the Gracenotes DB. That info should be available as part of the data received directly from the XM signal.

And no, your contact pictures will not show up, atleast not until mazda gets andriod auto or apple car play.
My contacts pictures DO display.
 
#5 ·
Thanks for posting man. I was just about to do the same after about 10 days of ownership (2017 GT). I hope you are enjoying your new ride as much as I am.

I agree that I am "disappointed" with my initial fuel mileage BUT I have spent a great deal of time in SPORT mode so I'll have to accept some of the blame for my first tank's manually calculated mileage ending up at 25.3 MPG. I feel confident that once broken in and getting back to my normal commute routine (about 60 highway miles per day) I will see upper 30's as most do.

I also love the interior. I drove Honda, Ford, Kia, Hundai, Chevy while I was shopping. There is no comparison in my opinion. Mazda blows them all away as far as interior style and feel. Not to mention driving dynamics and exterior style.

While I appreciate the technology, I am going to reserve judgement until I live with it for a while. Adaptive cruise is a blessing and a curse. I can't close the gap enough to keep other drivers from exploiting it but I can appreciate the safety aspect on a long, boring drive. Lane Keeping doesn't really seem to "keep" me in my lane but rather just sort of nudge me in to making a correction. Not a big deal as I try to be an attentive DRIVER when I'm behind the wheel but I think there are maybe more active systems out there. Smart City Brake Support is surprisingly aggressive. I've only experienced it once and I was fully aware of the vehicle in front slowing suddenly. The system intervened before I applied the brakes but I felt I had sufficient room to do so. Some fine tuning of the vehicle settings may be in order.

I haven't really noticed the trunk opening situation. So far just keep the smart key in my pocket. I really like the "walk away lock" setting as I don't have to press anything to secure the vehicle, just "walk away". I wish the driver door would unlock when I approached but I don't think that is an option. Hadn't noticed the power seats being locked out while driving. That does sound silly. On a longer drive I might want to make small adjustments without having to pull over and stop.

One feature I wish was included was automatic folding side mirrors. Added expense and complexity I know but it's still cool.

I'm still in love!
 
#7 ·
I didnt mean to say that the power seats dont work when driving. You can make adjustments. Its the memory function doesnt work. So if you get in your car and the seats have been adjusted, you cant press the memory button to get back to their original positions without pulling over and putting the car in park.
 
#8 ·
Agreed. Always got to keep an ear out for that initial "shkweep" when you close the final door of the car (meaning passengers count, too). Without that, it means you were too far away to enable it.

I didnt mean to say that the power seats dont work when driving. You can make adjustments. Its the memory function doesnt work. So if you get in your car and the seats have been adjusted, you cant press the memory button to get back to their original positions without pulling over and putting the car in park.
This is by design as far as I know. Though I don't see the harm in allowing someone to change to a saved position while driving - I mean, they allow you to save a position while driving, why not revert to it?
 
#10 ·
the LED daytime running lights only turn on when the car is in motion.
OK, so I had to figure this one out. I'm OCD, so sue me :grin2:

The OM has a rather complicated (for me at least) chart that outlines when certain lights come on or go off. Regarding the DRL's:

The lights are turned on while the vehicle is driven, and turned off when the headlights are turned on by the auto light function.

This would be when the master switch is at the "auto" position. Today, during daylight conditions, I pulled up close to a vehicle at a stoplight where I could see my vehicle's reflection. DRL's stayed illuminated when I stopped, but when I put gear selector into Park, the DRL's turned off. I did leave the gear selector in Drive for a few seconds while stopped behind the other car, but only three or four so I'm not entirely sure DRL's stay illuminated while stopped and in Drive like at a stop light but it seemed that way.

I hate the Monkey Mind sometimes...
 
#12 ·
Curious, have they illuminated the door panel controls yet?

I'm not surprise the head unit is still not right. LOL, they really do need to sub that out to someone that makes head units AND speakers. I wished they'd call Harman.

How about the flappy paddle shifts are they any crisper and or more defined?

And last but not least......have they add a stronger fan to the rear seat A/C controls?
 
#13 ·
Question regarding fuel capacity/mileage. I'm in my second week of ownership of a 2017 6 sport. I drove until the DTE was at 5 miles, filled up expecting to put near 16 gallons in, but it would only tank 13.6 gallons. My friend says I have a pessimistic fuel tank, what is your experience? Are you getting more than 13/14 gallons at fill up?
 
#14 ·
The DTE is your car's onboard computer "estimating" based on driving conditions and not counting the reserve capacity. It is no different to most other cars when the light comes on and the guage kisses 'E' but you still have a couple of gallons left in the tank.

On a side note, i wouldnt recommend running these cars on low/near empty tank. For one , all the settled impurities at the bottom of the tank may choke up the filter, and two, in case you do run of out gas, you risk frying your fuel pump ( don't ask me how i know !).

All said, the cars onboard computer that calculates the overall mileage is very accurate.On a couple of occasions it was outside 2 mpg compared to manual math , but on most tanks it is within 1 mpg.
 
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