The "Infotainment/Nav system" was the deal breaker for the purchase of this vehicle for me. Then realizing the 15s are coming out sooner with the new Mazda 3 system (which still has bugs) caused me to run to find a 2012 Venza with NAV. no glitches the JBL system is as good as the Bose in the Infiniti I sold. and the NAV is as well. That, the 2.0, and looking at resale made me pass on what otherwise is a great SUV. The Venza just feels like its made better and the 4 cyl is not bad. I paid $23K OTD for a 2012 XLE with 28K and will take another look at Mazda when they figure out the tech. There are 2013 GT CX-5s asking $23900. Pre owned they may be a much better value.

 

Of those of you who have had problems, who has been into Mazda and had their Tomtom updated?

And if so, are you happy now?

 

I had the maps and the system updated. Even though some bugs were eliminated, others remain and also some new ones that I had not noticed before seem to have appeared. And the GPS directions are not good either, sometimes good directions and sometimes totally wrong! Mazda totally missed on the Navigation System and in general all the technology interfaces (radio, phone, door locks, trip information, lack of compass, windshield wipers controls) have issues, some of the really absurd and reveal lack of thinking and testing prior to release.

 

There are many things that are annoying to me but the absolute most annoying is the way the Info/Nav system goes from a bright screen (Daytime mode) to something that is impossible to read when it switches to Night mode. One would have thought that with all the capabilities of Mazda they would have realized that this is totally unacceptable. With all the capabilities of the car to recognize what is happening in the environment the designers should have been capable of designing this subsystem so that it would be useable. This is especially annoying for drivers in California where it is the law that when you are driving i the rain your headlights must be on thus making the Info/Nav screens unreadable.

I have the GT with the Tech Package, some technology... NOT!

 

I am totally disappointed with the Navigation System and the so called "Technology package".
I experienced what you are saying. Once the system dims and you cannot see it, it is impossible to correct it!!!!!! Because to change the settings you need to be able to touch the screen... that you cannot see!!!!!!! The way around it is to ELIMINATE the automatic dimming. You can do it going to the settings menu (at a time you can actually see the screen) and change the setting to "day". Another "smart" feature this car has that is totally USELESS. There are may others.
I asked Mazda if they would update their firmware to correct any of these issues and the answer was ... NO. Too bad for them, I will not buy another Mazda.

 

It is amazing that some of the complaints I read on this forum are nothing more than lack of knowledge of the product. It would seem to me that if one would spend less time complaining and a little more time learning the operation of the systems we would not have to read a bunch of nonsense. "It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

 

Updated to what?

Is this just a software update? I was in the dealer last week and they indicated that they did an update but other than some minor display differences I haven't seen anything that would knock my socks off.

Or is there a real update and they replace it with a Garmin?

 

Maybe you could take a couple of seconds and enlighten us as to how you deal with the issues I raised. Yes, if the Nav display goes too dim to see I can stick my arm between the spokes of the steering wheel and adjust the dash lighting level but then in 30 minutes or so, when it is really dark, the Nav illumination is blinding.

Also, do you have some knowledge as to how you get the Auto Headlights to turn on when the Auto Windshield Wipers start to operate (as the law in California requires)?

It's easy to make comments about other people's remarks but most of us don't have time to dig some small item out of a Owner's Guide that is not well organized.

It's my opinion that there was too little actual user input into the design before the car and the documentation was pushed to production.

 

Hi, sorry, I'm new so I don't know if I'm posting in the right place, but I just installed the navigation in my 2013 CX-5 and when I do the failure analysis it says "NG" next to "COMMANDER" and "NAVI GPS ANT". How can I fix this? I ensured all the cables were properly connected.

 

You can change the color scheme for night-time separate from day-time. Set it to something brighter. You may need to do this with the SD card inserted into the PC, it's been a long time. Hope this is helpful.