I can actually say from personal experience that this is a widespread issue, so it’s good Mazda’s finally taking action. [Photo: TFLcar]
So, picture the scene: You spend over $30,000 on a brand spanking new 2016 Mazda CX-5 Grand Touring with the Technology Package. For that money, you get some fancy LED headlights, taillights and daytime running lights as part of a $1,200 package, and you’re pleased as all get out to have a modern (at the time) and fully-loaded crossover.
Then, some time later, one of your DRLs starts going dim or fizzles out completely with no warning, and for no discernible reason. Several owners have complained at the issue, as it’s not cheap to fix. The light assemblies cost $600 per side to replace at dealer prices, and that’s just for the parts. On Tuesday, Mazda announced that it was recalling 36,761 examples of 2016 CX-5s with this issue.
More specifically, the problem has to do with the sealing gasket attached to the running light wiring harness. “Due to inappropriate material specification,” Mazda says, the gasket can release sulfur over time, corroding the LED circuit surrounding the DRL. When that happens, they may flicker or go out entirely, and the issue can affect one or both daytime running lights.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hasn’t published their report on the issue yet, but Mazda says accidents or injuries have been reported at this point. The defect can present a safety issue, though, if the DRLs are out and the headlights are off. In low-light conditions, such as right before dark (when the lights in the tech package can switch on automatically, if the driver sets them up to do so), pedestrians or other vehicles may not see the car as easily.
My 2016 Mazda CX-5 takes on the new (non-turbocharged) model, and wins!
No timeline for repairs yet
In the announcement, Mazda did not lay out an exact course of action or a time frame on repairs. It’s reasonable to assume dealers will eventually replace the gaskets free of charge, and if the daytime running lights have actually gone out, they may replace the entire assembly as well. Concerned owners can contact their dealer to keep tabs on when replacement parts will be available.
Editor’s Note: I actually own a 2016 Mazda CX-5, one that I bought brand new in May 2016, so I’ve been sleeping with one eye open just waiting for this to happen on my own car. There’s no word on the recall from my end as a customer yet, but this Mazda CX-5 has seen four other recalls since 2016.
Mazda has been promising us their SkyActiv-D diesel technology for nearly a decade now. We finally have the CX-5 on sale with a diesel — and I do mean finally, as even that was years in the making — and it seems we’ll get the Mazda6 diesel this year as well.
Autoblog noticed that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) posted new certification documents for the Mazda6 on January 31. The document focuses specifically on Mazda’s midsize sedan, where it mentions a 2.2-liter turbocharged engine paired to a six-speed automatic as an option. It didn’t mention whether the car would have an all-wheel drive option, but it’s a possibility given that the Mazda6 is available with a diesel and all-wheel drive in overseas markets. In the CX-5, that engine produces 168 horsepower and 290 lb-ft of torque in its U.S. spec.
But here’s the thing: Is it already too late for the Mazda6 diesel to really be successful here?
Currently, the Mazda6 offers a 2.5-liter gasoline engine, while the diesel is available in global markets.
In a market of one
Quick question: How many diesel sedans are currently on sale in the U.S.? In the old days, you used to be able to buy a Volkswagen Passat or Jetta TDI, a Chevrolet Cruze, a BMW 3 Series, Audi A3, Mercedes-Benz E-Class or even a Jaguar XF with a diesel engine. Today, none of those models have a diesel option, and some like the Cruze have died out entirely.
Now, the market remains reasonably strong for diesel trucks. That said, Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” scandal did inarguably chill the public’s perception on diesel in this country. But beyond that the price difference of diesel fuel, the need to top off a DEF tank every once awhile and the added expense of buying a diesel car in the first place more or less eliminated any of Mazda’s possible competition in the market. The Mazda6 diesel may fare a bit better with the market all to itself, but all those factors may steer buyers away from the long-promised SkyActiv-D powertrain if it launches this year as a 2021 model.
The Mazda6 is one of the best-looking sedans out there, but will a diesel option really help its sales? [Photo: Mazda]
Electrification is the new diesel
Then there’s the matter of the midsize sedan’s sibling, the CX-5. The Mazda6 diesel will launch only on the top-trim Signature trim, eliminating more affordable options. The CX-5, for its part, starts at $41,000 before destination fees, nearly putting it in the same price bracket as the larger CX-9 Signature. For its part, the CX-5 diesel also gets substantially worse fuel economy than, say, a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, despite being nearly $5,000 more than even the most expensive Limited trim.
So there you have it. For what it’s worth, diesel enthusiasts will have a new sedan option later this year. A new generation Mazda6 is reportedly in the works, and recent patents suggest Mazda is working on a new gasoline inline-six and an eight-speed automatic transmission. While the company may release information on that later this year, electrification is also coming into play as automakers aim to improve fuel economy figures across their model lineups.
Based on the CX-5, the Mazda6 diesel should come in around $40,000 if it does go on sale later this year. What do you think? Are you excited or do you think it’s too little, too late? Let us know in the comments below!
You know how the saying goes — they just don’t make them like they used to. Today’s Jeep Cherokee is a far cry from the original XJ which debuted in 1984. When folks moved on from the original models, hundreds of thousands of examples hit the used market for next to nothing. They’re old-school, boxy SUVs that aren’t even close to the forefront of modern technology. As such, they ended up becoming largely worthless to most people…until now, that is.
In the last year or two, though, prices have gone through the roof for old Jeep Cherokee XJs. What used to cost at most $4,000 or so is now selling for more than double that. Let’s take Tommy’s 1991 Jeep Cherokee XJ as a very clean example.
Originally, Tommy bought the car with under 100,000 miles on the clock for just $3,300. Mind you, that’s the sort of price crappy ones that have been to the moon and back go for. A few months later, he sold the Cherokee on Bring a Trailer for a whopping $9,700. Other low-mileage, original examples have sold for well over $10,000 — and this 1999 Limited 4×4 with 22,000 miles sold for $21,699 in 2018. That’s nearly the same as the car’s original price!
Do you think Cherokee prices are too crazy?
Nostalgia starts to hit most cars after a couple decades out of the public consciousness, and it seems that’s the case with the Jeep Cherokee. Original models are gaining favor as collectable items. Perhaps people are looking back to the good memories they had in one, or they’re just sick of all the tech gadgets in modern crossovers, including the new Cherokee KL.
Plus these Cherokee XJs are, for the most part, dead reliable thanks to the 4.0-liter straight-six engine and mostly bulletproof transmissions. People clearly want old Cherokees, and they’re willing to pay the price to get them. As the Wrangler has only gotten more and more expensive, this has historically been one of the cheaper ways into Jeep ownership. If prices keep going up like this, that may not be the case for much longer.
Let us know what you think about Jeep Cherokee prices in the poll below:
It looked like we were going to have an early spring here in Colorado, but the last couple weeks showed we still have some cold, miserable winter weather ahead. So while it’s not time to roll out the motorcycles and convertibles just yet, it does give us some more opportunity to test in the snow. In this video, Roman takes a look at just how capable our long-term Tesla Model X is in the slick conditions, against a more conventional baseline: the 2020 Land Rover Discovery HSE.
What do you need to really hack it in the snow? Having a car with decent ground clearance helps, as does all-wheel drive. Perhaps more important than either though are the tires you’re running. While “all-seasons” are built to handle winter conditions better than a summer tire, they’re still no substitute for a good, purpose-built winter tire. The Tesla Model X Dual Motor has reasonable ground clearance around 8 inches. For its part, the Land Rover Discovery can raise itself up to 11.1 inches of clearance thanks to its air suspension and terrain management systems.
The tread pattern and compound on winter tires are purpose-built to help maintain traction on snow and ice.
Here’s why you need good tires.
When it comes to driving in winter conditions, there’s three things drivers need to consider. Acceleration, steering and braking are all important, and modern cars all have stability and traction control systems to keep the driver in control on slick surfaces. However, as Roman shows in the Tesla Model X on its stock Continental CrossContact LX Sport tires, those systems are always limited by the mechanical grip that comes from the tires actually biting into the snow. If you don’t have the grip, those systems can only do so much and you become a passenger when you do lose traction in winter weather.
In the Discovery, on its Pirelli Scorpion winter tires, the tests produced remarkably different results. Acceleration, steering and braking were all notably less dramatic, which means you should feel much more in control of the situation when you’re on snow and ice.
Despite the Tesla Model X’s heft, which somewhat helps push the car into the snow to gain some traction, its tires were its main point of weakness. So to answer the question, “Are Teslas any good in the snow?”, we can’t say the Model X is bad without any qualification. In fact, it’s not so much the vehicle you’re driving, but your tires that can truly make the difference. In some cases, the hundreds of dollars you’ll spend on good winter tires can mean the difference between safe travels and a nasty accident.
Let us know some of your all-season versus winter tire stories in the comments below!
It’s something you probably don’t think about, but the results can be devastating when it happens. If you drive a gasoline-powered car, it’s obviously not a good idea to fill it up with diesel fuel. Most pumps are actually designed so you don’t accidentally fill up with the wrong fuel, in part by making diesel pump handles green and gasoline handles black or red in the United States. Accidents do happen, and every once in awhile someone could fill up their gasoline car with diesel. But what happens when it’s not your fault your car ends up with a tank full of diesel?
In Colorado, that’s exactly what happened recently, according to a FOX31 report. Dozens of drivers in Boulder County are facing major mechanical issues after inadvertently putting diesel into their gasoline-powered vehicles.
Take the case of Dani Alexander, for instance. She said her 2015 Subaru Forester started lugging and chugging almost immediately after she filled up at a local Circle K. “I got gas and about three blocks later, my car started lugging and chugging,” she said. “It’s a really good car and I just got it tuned up on Friday.” The gas station referred Alexander to Travelers insurance, which paid out more than $1,100 for the mistake.
“They did admit it was their mistake. That they has been delivered bad gas that had diesel in it, and that’s where the plumes of black smoke were coming from.” Affected owners started a Facebook group devoted to the problem, and hope to be reimbursed for repairs and their lost time.
Problems down the road?
According to the report and Dani Alexander’s account, it sounds like most drivers only realized the problem when they drove away. That’s far from ideal, since diesel getting into a gasoline fuel system can cause serious damage to the engine. It’s even worse if you put gasoline into a diesel engine, so it’s obviously an accident you don’t want to make yourself.
However, for these owners the problem is even worse in that they went to fill up with gasoline and ended up with diesel due for some unknown reason. Recent stories covering the issue point to a mistake from a third-party vendor, who filled gasoline storage tanks with diesel instead. That’s a terrible situation, since the driver has little way of knowing their fuel is bad.
Circle K could not be reached for comment, at time of writing.
Editor’s Note: For its part, at least the insurance company is helping pay for the claims. Accidents will happen, but as it’s going on in our back yard, we definitely feel for our friends and neighbors whose cars may break down after they fill up at a local gas station.
Every year, we see the prolonged death march of the manual transmission continue to play out, and the picture only looked worse in 2019. Fewer Americans are opting for the three-pedal option, leaning toward automatic transmissions in some form instead. While that’s been a given for quite awhile, there’s a new wild card in the mix: electric vehicles. For the first time last year, electric cars actually outsoldmanual transmissions.
To put that in perspective, we U.S. car buyers purchased 17.1 million new vehicles in 2019. Of those, about 1.1 percent (less than 200,000) had the exceedingly rare clutch pedal, as pointed out by Green Car Reports. On the other hand, EVs held a 1.6 percent market share. That’s a more substantial lead than in 2018, where electric cars and manual transmissions were within about 0.1 percent of each other. This information came from Power Information Network (PIN) by JD Power, which uses dealer transaction data to generate its reports.
Apart from purpose-built enthusiast cars, people just aren’t springing for manual transmissions anymore.
A sad, but not surprising trend
Of course, enthusiasts are the ones keeping even that one percent alive. It’s sad news for those who prefer to row their own gears, but it’s hardly surprising news. Again, this trend has played out for several years, and more automakers drop manual variants each year. As the data rolls in, fewer and fewer people buy manual transmissions, so manufacturers are less inclined to keep offering them. Performance cars like the Chevrolet Corvette and Toyota Supra no longer offer manual transmissions at any point in the lineup.
There are a few notable holdouts, such as enthusiast-friendly cars like the BMW 2 Series, Toyota 86 and Ford Mustang, but on the whole the market share for manual transmissions will likely drop below 1 percent in the next year or so.
The 2020 Toyota Supra was one of the biggest automotive revivals in years, and one that’s garnered both excitement and disdain from enthusiasts. It’s a damn good sports car in its own right on one hand, but on the other its co-development with BMW has been a fly in the ointment for those who fondly remember the Mark IV Supra and its 2JZ straight-six engine. While we haven’t seen it (yet), a four-cylinder Supra has actually been around in other global markets, but we may soon get it on our shores as well.
At least, that may be the case if that’s the news Toyota will announce this upcoming Thursday, February 13. “Toyota is racing into the new year with fresh news about the upcoming 2021 Toyota GR Supra. Tune into the live reveal from Daytona International Speedway on Thursday, February 13 at 3:00 P.M. EST,” is all the company said in a statement. That, and they revealed the photo above, which doesn’t reveal much. But more than likely Toyota’s big announcement is that we’re getting another engine option for the new model year.
Motor Trendpointedout in a piece late last week that the smaller, 2.0-liter mill gained certification from the California Air Resources Board. If the Japanese automaker is going through such trouble to certify the engine, odds are they’re actually planning to bring it over here sometime soon. In Japan, the four-cylinder engine is available in two states of tune. The base engine manages 194 horsepower and 236 lb-ft of torque, while the more powerful version manages 225 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. As with the straight-six, it’s a BMW-sourced engine, and it manages 255 horsepower (with the same torque figure) in the Z4 sDrive30i. If the engine does make it here, it’s almost certain we’ll get the more powerful variant.
And this is the Supra we’re talking about — even with the “weaker” engine, you know some owners are going to try and tune it for power figures way beyond that. Sure, it doesn’t have as much grunt as the inline-six, but a smaller and lighter engine tuned for more power? It could be a winning combination. Ed Laukes, Toyota’s group vice president of marketing, just told Motor Trend to stay tuned this week for more information coming from Daytona. This upcoming weekend is the Daytona 500, so it’s a good time to make an announcement, particularly if it’s more notable than a new trim level or something.
While we wait for the official announcement, check out our latest experience with the Toyota Supra below:
The first question comes from a Toyota fan who saw a photo of the Toyota Lunar concept vehicle.
Q: (Via NathanAdlen@Twitter) Hi Nathan!
I was wondering if you know about this Toyota Lunar SUV thing?
A: The proposed lunar craft is a concept at the moment.
Toyota and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), signed a three-year agreement to jointly develop a pressurized lunar rover. This vehicle will be a manned pressurized rover that measures around 20 feet long and 17 feet wide. It should have around a 140-cubic-foot cabin that can hold up to four astronauts when needed.
It will run on fuel cells – basically oxygen and hydrogen with its only byproduct being water.
“Manned, pressurized rovers will be an important element supporting human lunar exploration, which we envision will take place in the 2030s,” Koichi Wakata, vice-president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), said in a written statement. He said the space agency aims to launch the new rover in 2029. – – Space.com
N
The next message comes a fan who recently saw the 2020 Chicago auto show coverage of the upcoming Chrysler Pacifica all-wheel drive (AWD) minivan.
2021 Chrysler Pacifica with AWD Photo: FCA
Q: Hi there Nathan and gang!
I saw your coverage of the 2020 Chicago Auto Show and I was pleased about how much you covered in such a short amount of time. You guys did great and easily out paced and out performed everyone else. I truly appreciate the hard work!
I was wondering about the 2021 Chrysler Pacifica AWD and what your thoughts were on it? I own a 2015 Toyota Sienna with AWD and I always wanted an alternative to it. In some ways it’s good. It’s very reliable and holds a ton of stuff. The AWD system is kind of basic, but even in the severe weather of Buffalo, NY, I’ve never gotten stuck. Some times I have to truck co-workers home when their cars are totally bogged down. A good set of winter tires and its hefty weight help.
The 2019 Toyota Sienna AWD minivan.
It gets terrible gas mileage and is feels bulky all the time. The interior looks like something from the Clinton administration and the overall looks are bland throughout the whole van. I like the looks of the Pacifica and I rented one in Ontario last year. It’s a nice van and it was surprisingly efficient. It wasn’t even the hybrid, but it did as well as my daughter’s Rogue which is much smaller.
Does it lose a ton of efficiency with the AWD system? It it a lot higher off the ground than the regular Pacifica? What about the gas tank? Is it smaller to make room for the mechanical bits underneath? Will the plug in hybrid be offered with AWD?
Anything you have to say would be greatly appreciated! I love watching all of your channels and I love the independent spirit your team has as opposed to those other competitors.
Thanks again!
Gordon, S
A: Hello Gordon!
You are most welcome and thank you for the support!
According to the Chrysler engineer I spoke to, the fuel tank will be the same size (19 gallons), though they had to reshape and move it to fit. While the ground clearance remains about the same, it is a tad higher in places.
No, the plug-in hybrid will not have an AWD option. They could not give me EPA numbers, but they said the AWD system is built to completely disconnect, limiting drag. Other systems like this appear to lower gas mileage by about one to three mpg.
The Stow ‘n Go seating setup looks like it can accommodate seven passengers, at least that’s what I could see in the van I looked at. We’ll know more at the press event coming soon.
Here’s Chrysler’s tech information on their AWD system:
Power Transfer Unit (PTU):
Splits torque from the nine-speed automatic transmission and routes it to the rear drive module.
Three-piece Drive Shaft:
Connects the power transfer unit and the rear drive module. Even with the additional driveline components, the Chrysler Pacifica AWD retains its second-row Stow ‘n Go seating storage.
Rear Drive Module:
Houses electronically controlled wet clutch that manages torque to rear wheels; second-generation one-speed drive module optimized for weight and low-speed drag torque reduction.
I’m rarely excited about minivans, but this model looks very promising and I think it will be a serious contender against the Sienna.
Cheers!
N
The last question/comment comes from an old fan who was alarmed that Nissan announced that the next Nissan Frontier will no longer have a manual transmission.
Q: Nathan, I just saw the Nissan Frontier video you guys did at the Chicago show.
I am thrilled that they are giving the old truck a new engine but what the hell are they thinking about killing the manual? What the hell is going on?
KR
A: I know – it’s hard.
They are getting rid of the four-cylinder too.
This is all in the hopes that. by consolidating, they can gain more profit when their new model hits. Unfortunately, a tiny percentage of buyers opt for the manual and that number drops every year. By building a one-engine – one-transmission truck, Nissan can simplify the whole building process.
With this change, only Jeep and Toyota will offer a manual transmission for midsize pickup trucks. I’m bummed too. The thing is: you can’t blame Nissan. Well under five-percent of buyers are choosing manual transmissions.
Let’s hope Jeep and Toyota keep with the goodness of a stick-shift for a little while longer.
Roman just bought one of the most hated modern Land Rovers to prove a point: Even this SUV doesn't suck! Or maybe it does...that's what we're going to find out in our latest project series.
A: I know – it’s hard.