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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,122
10,679
AK
*until you drive on the road and hit a pothole.
Not even a pothole, like a slightly uneven piece if pavement is going to send you into the roof.

I don't get "slammed" cars to the point where they become non-functional. Makes no sense to me.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
17,215
14,679
Not even a pothole, like a slightly uneven piece if pavement is going to send you into the roof.

I don't get "slammed" cars to the point where they become non-functional. Makes no sense to me.
I almost edited to state, "or single pea sized piece of gravel".
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,122
10,679
AK
I almost edited to state, "or single pea sized piece of gravel".
My BMW x-drive had a ton of wheel gap, they basically lifted those cars to fit the x-drive parts, so it ended up kind of like a subaru outback. I lowered with ACS springs, dinan flash to make the electronic dampers stiffer and stiffer sways, but it was still 100% functional and not "slammed", just a little less crazy wheel gap. I see all these cars in pictures all the time though slammed, M3s, M4s, Mercedes, etc., but they just look like crap when they get to that point IMO. No one is showing up for an autoX or track event with that kind of ridiculousness. The G-events when driving a car at 80% or more will easily overwhelm those stupid modifications and bottom out, break stuff, etc.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,060
15,151
Portland, OR
I don't get the "stanced" craze. I like a proper stance to a car, but if you drop it to the point of only the shoulder of your tire is touching, then you missed the point. My car is on the lowest stock setting, but it's far from rubbing anything.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,060
15,151
Portland, OR
Look at the wheel wells, the tops of wheels have nowhere to go. It can't have any effective suspension, which is kind of important for, like everything.
You must be looking at a different picture. There is the same amount of space on this as the GT3 it's based on. It's not a huge gap, but this is a very functional vehicle. It's been lowered but still functional.


 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
21,949
21,470
Canaderp
You must be looking at a different picture. There is the same amount of space on this as the GT3 it's based on. It's not a huge gap, but this is a very functional vehicle. It's been lowered but still functional.


We could just wait and see when they release some real pictures. :D Those must be cgi...
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,825
7,068
borcester rhymes
Cx5 actually has some personality compared to the rest.
I drove my parents CX9 around this last week. It was surprisingly good to drive, for a 3 row cuv/suv whatever. I would consider a cx5 as a main car. The steering was communicative, the transmission was not vague, and the fit and finish spectacular. Compared to the wife's Ascent, it was significantly more rewarding and responsive to drive, and was at least as well built. Not sold on the scribbly knob only infotainment.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,825
7,068
borcester rhymes
I have a deep hatred for Tesla and the musk bootlickers, but something about the model 2 stirs something in me. Maybe it's just the thought of a remarkably quick, RWD hatchback, but I like this:
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,468
5,103
I drove my parents CX9 around this last week. It was surprisingly good to drive, for a 3 row cuv/suv whatever. I would consider a cx5 as a main car. The steering was communicative, the transmission was not vague, and the fit and finish spectacular. Compared to the wife's Ascent, it was significantly more rewarding and responsive to drive, and was at least as well built. Not sold on the scribbly knob only infotainment.
This is how I've felt about the Mazdas I've driven. The Cx-5 and the 3, feel very similar. Good steering feel, solid transmission, very good fit and interior finish on the higher end trims. Infotainment in the 3 is better than it is in the CX-5. If only Mazda would get moving on the electric angle... they'd eat a lot of everyone elses cake.

I do like the knob, but then again... I prefer a knob to touch screen. I think the cx5 has both.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,825
7,068
borcester rhymes
The nine has both, but you cannot use the touch function while driving. This makes total sense, until you realize how unintuitive the wheel can be. I regularly had to scroll through a dozen buttons to change my pandora station, or whatever else. Surprisingly, glancing at the screen to find my button then boop it would be easier than staring at the screen to see where the cursor is and navigating the various menus. Might get better with more time and practice, but it was something I didn't love- I'd rather have the choice to use either if need be.

I do wonder about the wholesale adoption of electric cars- similar to abandoning sedans (ford). Can our grids handle it? Will we get enough charging stations to support all these cars? Will mfgers that don't dive in be rewarded by buyers that can't have or don't want an electric car? It's an interesting time. Even ///Alfa is apparently diving into electrics and abandoning the giorgio platform.
 

Fool

The Thing cannot be described
Sep 10, 2001
2,918
1,668
Brooklyn
The CX5 is the car I cannot unsee. I don't know why.

Unrelated, has anyone bought out their lease? Mine's about due, the remainder vs the blue book is kinda bonkers, and finding something else either to lease or buy used seems like a terrible idea in this current environment. I've not done this before, I've always leased as a grownup to keep payments low and we don't drive a lot.

I've yet to call the lender about it, but wanted to gauge your experiences and visceral Ridemonkey reaction to this idea.
 

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,844
9,878
Crawlorado
I drove my parents CX9 around this last week. It was surprisingly good to drive, for a 3 row cuv/suv whatever. I would consider a cx5 as a main car. The steering was communicative, the transmission was not vague, and the fit and finish spectacular. Compared to the wife's Ascent, it was significantly more rewarding and responsive to drive, and was at least as well built. Not sold on the scribbly knob only infotainment.
Our CX-5 is quite nice for what it is. Looks sporty and drives sporty. I agree that the infotainment knob thing is awkward, but I dont really flip through media on the go enough for it to be more than a casual nuisance.

I will say, the underbody skirting they put on it is amazing. I haven't touched the engine bay of my wife's car since we bought it two years ago, and it's still spotless. No grime or corrosion on any underhood parts or pieces, which is a miracle for an East Coast car.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,825
7,068
borcester rhymes
The CX5 is the car I cannot unsee. I don't know why.

Unrelated, has anyone bought out their lease? Mine's about due, the remainder vs the blue book is kinda bonkers, and finding something else either to lease or buy used seems like a terrible idea in this current environment. I've not done this before, I've always leased as a grownup to keep payments low and we don't drive a lot.

I've yet to call the lender about it, but wanted to gauge your experiences and visceral Ridemonkey reaction to this idea.
I don't have much experience with leasing, though I am extremely tempted to do it next round as I would prefer to drive something new and lower maintenance and I have a tendency to go through cars. I don't know much about it so I'm not an expert.

That being said, I think it's generally an OK idea to buy out the lease, but I have also heard of a lot of leasehackr types selling their leased car to Carvana for bananas-money and making out with extra cash at the end of their lease. Then they lease something else or whatever. I don't really know how it works, but I assume if your buyout is 15k and you sell the car for 22k, then you get 7k for blow and hookers.
 

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
39,723
8,733
Yeah, in this market buying out the lease is probably a solid move as the residual value was set on paper at lease signing.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,141
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Really wish Mazda dealers weren't such tremendous cunts around here, their dealer network around here is so bad I'm inclined to write Mazda off completely. Would have way rather had a CX5 over the wife's Edge, granted the huge backseat on the Edge has been pretty awesome with a car seat, but it's so goddamn uninteresting to drive, even with the 300something HP ecoboost.

Unrelated, has anyone bought out their lease? Mine's about due, the remainder vs the blue book is kinda bonkers, and finding something else either to lease or buy used seems like a terrible idea in this current environment. I've not done this before, I've always leased as a grownup to keep payments low and we don't drive a lot.

I've yet to call the lender about it, but wanted to gauge your experiences and visceral Ridemonkey reaction to this idea.

Seems like it's just a question of numbers. If the buy out is fair, and less than you'd pay to replace it with something similar, buy it out. If the payments on the buy-out aren't bad, buy it, drive it until the market sorts itself out and figure out what to do then as long as it's not something stupid like an Alfa I can't see how the buy out isn't a good idea.