Thanks for the impressions. Mine are similar, though not identical.
I have a '18 GTR with about 3200 miles on it. I also like the power and styling, enjoy the car quite a bit, look forward to my drives in it. But I also have nitpicks, kind of a lot of them, more than I'd prefer. Most of my complains come down to Mazda's corner cutting. The car has a tinniness to it that German cars don't tend to have. Even my 2010 Jetta TDI felt much more solidly built, for example. Things like door handles, the gas portal door, and the trunk lid feel painfully cheap. That I'm probably also going to have to pay $1000 for appropriate tires to be able to take better advantage of the car's much touted suspension and handling is frustrating. If they're selling this car as a driver's sedan with advanced tech features to optimize handling, then why cripple it with these Falken tires? (Probably because it costs less, obviously, as with so many of the details they chose to avoid.) The user interface and sluggish performance of the Mazda Connect screen and the suboptimal dashboard gauge composition are head scratching at times. I wish the seat memory presets also accounted for the mirrors. Why not have four way lumbar support in a car that's marketed as having improved, great seats? The reverse camera resolution is poor. I could probably list 20 things that seem beneath the level of attention to detail that a car that has an MSRP of $32590 should have.
I think my feelings about this car are more polarized than any other new car I've ever bought. There are lots of things I love about it and lots of things I'm disappointed by, though my eyes were open going in as I had enough time with the car to see a lot of its strengths and weaknesses.
I'm having better luck than ocramida with Android Auto, but I'm not using Jet Audio. Spotify, for the most part, behaves pretty well. I've been using VLC for stuff that's directly off my phone. It has limitations, but it's been fine. My biggest annoyance is with Google Maps. I don't like using navigation very often. But I do want the maps. I like to see the route on the map without having to listen to the instructions. I can do that in a browser or with the Google Maps phone app itself, but it seems that once I give the AA implementation of Maps an address, I'm getting full nav whether I want it or not. That's not a Mazda issue, though. I don't use the Mazda navigation much, but I appreciate the use of the HUD to give some of the nav information with it.
I love the HUD, actually. The first time I saw it, on a test drive a year or so ago, it struck me as marketing yet another thing nobody really needs. But I was wrong about that. It's a great tool, nicely implemented. There are plenty of things I love about the car. The tech safety features, the striking interior look, the ready, smooth power when I want it (except off the line), the fact that it's a turbo but runs great on regular, the heated and cooled seats, including heated back seats and USB ports in the back, something my family greatly appreciates.
I have a '18 GTR with about 3200 miles on it. I also like the power and styling, enjoy the car quite a bit, look forward to my drives in it. But I also have nitpicks, kind of a lot of them, more than I'd prefer. Most of my complains come down to Mazda's corner cutting. The car has a tinniness to it that German cars don't tend to have. Even my 2010 Jetta TDI felt much more solidly built, for example. Things like door handles, the gas portal door, and the trunk lid feel painfully cheap. That I'm probably also going to have to pay $1000 for appropriate tires to be able to take better advantage of the car's much touted suspension and handling is frustrating. If they're selling this car as a driver's sedan with advanced tech features to optimize handling, then why cripple it with these Falken tires? (Probably because it costs less, obviously, as with so many of the details they chose to avoid.) The user interface and sluggish performance of the Mazda Connect screen and the suboptimal dashboard gauge composition are head scratching at times. I wish the seat memory presets also accounted for the mirrors. Why not have four way lumbar support in a car that's marketed as having improved, great seats? The reverse camera resolution is poor. I could probably list 20 things that seem beneath the level of attention to detail that a car that has an MSRP of $32590 should have.
I think my feelings about this car are more polarized than any other new car I've ever bought. There are lots of things I love about it and lots of things I'm disappointed by, though my eyes were open going in as I had enough time with the car to see a lot of its strengths and weaknesses.
I'm having better luck than ocramida with Android Auto, but I'm not using Jet Audio. Spotify, for the most part, behaves pretty well. I've been using VLC for stuff that's directly off my phone. It has limitations, but it's been fine. My biggest annoyance is with Google Maps. I don't like using navigation very often. But I do want the maps. I like to see the route on the map without having to listen to the instructions. I can do that in a browser or with the Google Maps phone app itself, but it seems that once I give the AA implementation of Maps an address, I'm getting full nav whether I want it or not. That's not a Mazda issue, though. I don't use the Mazda navigation much, but I appreciate the use of the HUD to give some of the nav information with it.
I love the HUD, actually. The first time I saw it, on a test drive a year or so ago, it struck me as marketing yet another thing nobody really needs. But I was wrong about that. It's a great tool, nicely implemented. There are plenty of things I love about the car. The tech safety features, the striking interior look, the ready, smooth power when I want it (except off the line), the fact that it's a turbo but runs great on regular, the heated and cooled seats, including heated back seats and USB ports in the back, something my family greatly appreciates.
