Tuesday, December 31, 2013

James' New Mazda CX-5

So, I bought a new car! A 2014 Mazda CX-5 — only the second new car I've purchased in my life (the last time was almost nine years ago when I bought my 2005 Saab 9-3). After 140,000+ miles, my poor 9-3 (named Birgitta) had seen her share of life, and she was starting to cost too much to maintain. And hence began the new car search.

Why a Mazda CX-5? Well, earlier this year, when Tim traded in his 2002 GMC Envoy SUV for his much smaller 2013 Mercedes E350 coupe, we realized we needed more storage capacity than our two small cars could handle. I wasn't really looking for a big SUV, so I ended up looking into something smaller: crossovers.

I considered many crossover models. In addition to the Mazda CX-5, I test drove the Chevy Equinox, Nissan Rogue, Buick Encore, Honda CRV, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Ford Escape (and boy, we met quite a few horrible sales people in the process ... go figure). I picked my top three (Equinox, Escape, CX-5), considered the price and features on all of them, and after my analysis, the road seemed to point directly to the CX-5. It was my Christmas gift to myself!

I ended up selecting the color meteor gray (perfect for a space geek like me). I decided to name my new car Eydie, after the late great Eydie Gorme, an amazing vocalist who we lost earlier this year. So the next time you see a meteor gray CX-5 zipping by, take a look at the driver. It may be me! :)