Just received from my local Mazda dealership a: "Your Mazda is due for a scheduled maintenance" reminder card in the mail today. It started off with: "Nothing keeps your 2015 Mazda CX-5 performing at its best like scheduled maintenance. Our records show that your Mazda has about 4,300 miles on it and is ready for the following service... '5,000 mile Vehicle Service' which includes"...

*Replace engine oil & oil filter
*Lubricate all hinges, locks & latches
*Rotate tires & check for wear
*Complete a multi-point inspection

Included as part of the brochure was a $51.88 minor maintenance coupon (regular price being $58.88, but only if regular oil is used... then it's $68.88 for the better(?) oil), plus tax.

The Mazda 2015 CX-5 Owner's Manual, under the heading of "Maintenance & Care, Scheduled Maintenance", on page 6-5 clearly states the maintenance interval is 7,500 miles... and not 5,000.

I find it interesting that the dealership is suggesting that I now need my 7,500 (I mean 5,00) mile oil changed, yet again I can see why... and it has nothing to do with keeping my vehicle in tip top shape as far as I'm concerned.

By having the vehicle maintenance done 2,500 miles before it's indicated in the owners manual, the dealership automatically picks up a extra "owner paid for maintenance" every 15,000 miles, or in this case $70.00 or more.

Multiply this amount times the number of vehicles they've sold and it comes to a nice chunk of $$$ in the dealership's pocket. Add this to the usual (additional) parts and service that the dealership finds that's needed(?) to be done before you take possession of your beloved vehicle and it now amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Am I reading this whole situation wrong... or is it just me? Why would my dealership want me to follow their maintenance schedule when the Mazda corporation says differently?

CX5T Lover

 

I personally think it's always best to get the first oil change sooner, then whatever after that.
If U must, discuss the mileage interval with them. Whatever.

 

Have to say, I agree with UseYourNoggin - if it were my car I'd being getting the first change sooner simply because the car is new. My '16 CX-5 is about to reach 5k also and after looking at the dealer's service options, I went and bought Mazda's own oil and filter from the parts department and will be doing it myself. I realize it's not an option for everyone, but I just have trust issues with dealerships (coming from someone who spent 7 years working at them, 3 years in parts).
Dealerships make their most money on servicing vehicles, and at the few I worked at they had made their own maintinence schedules for what they thought was necessary. In my opinion, it may look as though some are trying to take advantage of customers. However, from what I've seen, there are very intelligent and caring mechanics behind the suggested intervals. I've only ever found one service advisor that I liked through the years, and in a similar way have only ever found one mechanic I didn't like. In my eyes, they're trying to run a successful business and it's all a matter of how and when you want to put in to that business.
Sorry to ramble, just my .02.

 

Since we don't have smart service reminders as part of the engine monitor computer changes depend on the type of use. In my case it is mainly highway speeds but in a very hot climate so I do mine every 6K miles. If you are in city driving do it more frequently and otherwise at 7.5k.

 

dealers are franchises. they are in business to make money. if they can get your vehicle in there, they can "sell" you service and parts. our 2013 mazda3 has 2 types of service, normal, and extreme. for stuff like oil service, normal is 5k, extreme is 3 k. or, 6 months, whichever is first. the dealer would like us to follow the extreme service. the first 6 mo, we put maybe 2k on the car. however, since the car is a lease, and i want to maintain the warranty, i follow the service schedule. i also called mazda of north america, and verified that all i have to do is follow the normal service intervals, NOT what the dealer wants. it just has to be documented. present day manufacturing uses much tighter tolerances, and most engines are aluminum. there is no break in period like in the old cast iron block days. use of synthetic lubricants enables longer use periods. except in extreme cases, changing oil early is a waste of money and time. and those of you who think mazda makes their own oil and filters are mistaken. i would only take the car back to the dealer for warranty. if i couldnt service the car myself, i would find a good independent shop. and maybe once a year, i would call the dealer and do a vin check, to see if there are any recalls that the dealer "forgot" to inform us about. this would be especially important to check on shortly before the warranty expires.

 

That's B.S.!
Read this article: GM To Corvette Z06 Owners: Change Your Oil, Now!

Quote from Article:
“We now encourage all owners to change their oil at 500 miles to remove possible contaminants created during the engine break-in process...And, as always, we encourage the use of Mobil 1 synthetic oil – which is a factory fill for all Z06 models, and Stingray Z51 models"

This is a 2015 Engine! Fully dressed, the LT4, with aluminum block and heads,

Now although this is a hi performance engine, it has very valid comparable points!. I still would take it easy on the engine before the first oil change and get it done sooner!
Are you trying to tell me that no one uses lubricants when building and engine anymore? Is it just strictly engine oil? I would think you want to get rid of this mix.

 

yah? just like the gm 3.8 supercharged engine of years ago. they crapped out in droves. gm's approach? do nothing, until the cars are out of warranty, then charge the owner. same with the z06 engine. has nothing to do with break in. has to do with gm's inability to build specialty engines, and their lack of customer service. ford had near the same problem with their thunderbird sc engine, broke cranks. but ford did the right thing, they pulled ALL the cars off the line, and changed engines in all of them. bmw did the same on the e46 m3. pulled them all off, and replaced all the engines. had NOTHING to do with break in, had to do with bearing design. even if they had changed the oil EVERY WEEK they would STILL have broke. most warranties now are for 50k. engine failures are rare. manufacturers would lose their shorts if there were multiple warranties for engine failure. they would give out free oil changes during the first 5k if there were problems. using a low production car with a specialty engine is more an example of how gm cant build an engine properly and trying again to pass the buck. if you really want to see the difference, take oil samples and send them in for testing. i did.

 

Like I said, engines are still assembled with lubricants and not just engine oil, so get your first oil change sooner. There can aso be imperfections because we know things are not always perfect, especially with close tolerances, some crap could get scraped off and deposited in to oil.

 

check out this site:

Testimonials

i used this place when we bought the first 99 millenia, came with conventional oil. first thing i did was change to synthetic. sent in a sample of the conventional oil, i think it was within the first 100 miles, not sure, because it was a long time ago. then, after 1000 miles on the mobil1, i sent in another sample, then before the first required oil service, i sent in another. the results were astounding. after warranty was up, i knew i could go a lot longer between oil services. here is the second testimonial on the list:

I used your service for my 2007 Z06 and you saved my engine we caught the Titanium increasing between oil changes. I had the heads pulled at my cost and GM saw the wear and paid $7,000 to replace the Heads and valves before the engine was severely damaged. Now I own a Chevy SS with a LS3 so I want the same level of knoweldge. -- Dennis M. 8/6/15

this clearly shows the fault is with gm, NOT oil change intervals. even tho the post is about an earlier car, gm's dontgiva**** attitude just keeps on giving. there is another similar post on another z06.

when i was in the shop, we also sent out samples to be tested. several were from cars with over 100k. back when the first aluminum blocks came out on bmw's, there was an extremely high failure rate. they used the same process(nikasil) that killed all the porsche 944 engines, which also were replaced in droves. bmw at one time had more than 2000 blocks in stock. they went to alusil, and all the problems went away. i think gm still hasnt learned

 

Timely thread, I got the same postcard a few days ago. You have 4,200 miles, here's a deal on a 5,000 mile oil change. How do they know how many miles I have?

I'm calling them Monday asking how this effects my free oil change at 7,500 miles.

Mazda built the car they know what the service intervals should be, if they say 7,500 then why not?