We recently bought a new 2020 CX-5 Grand Touring. It has the complementary 3 month SiriusXM subscription. Sometimes when switching to SiriusXM it connects and plays just fine. However sometimes it won't connect, and the spinner goes endlessly. Is intermittently not connecting to SiriusXM a common problem? Should I be asking the dealer to replace the radio module? The other bands work just fine.

 

Does it happen when the signal may be blocked by trees or buildings?

Otherwise, I would bring it back, it may be a bad connection to the antenna.

 

Book it in with Mazda for a MZD Connect software update.

 

It still will have issues even after the update. It is a common problem with the CX5

 

Very true. It is the only "quirk" I have with my CX-5. Absolutely love the car just the same however. In the 15 months, I've owned my 2019, I believe I have narrowed down pretty much when the XM is going to mess up. For me, it is whenever Sirius/XM decides to do their twice-yearly free promo where they make the signal available to all receivers (i.e. free-trial) for a month or more. Got to think the issue is the brand of XM receiver Mazda puts in our cars. Issue never happened when I had my 2017 CX-3, nor has my wife experienced any XM signal disruption with her RAV4. Many threads on various message boards regarding XM issues for Mazdas. Generally for anyone who has had the hardware (receiver, cables, antenna) replaced, or software updated, has had the issue come back almost without fail. Speaking only for myself, I'll live with it, the few times (5-6) it happens in a calendar year.

 

My new 2020 Grand Touring has a similar issue. Sometimes when I start the car, I only get a small number of XM channels available and have to sometimes wait 20-30 min before all of the channels appear. Usually I have to turn the radio on and off several times to get the full channel listings. I recently turned in a 2017 Subaru with XM and the two radios appear to operate differently. When I talked to the Mazda tech, he told me that my problem happens when I turn the car off in the middle of "an XM update" which jives with some of my observations. Periodically I see a message on the display indicating the "XM is updating channel information". I never did have this problem with my Subaru radio and never saw any messages like noted above, I think the problem lies with the particular model of XM receiver that Mazda uses in their cars. As others stated, I love my 2020 GT and can put up with this quirk until they decide to fix it.

 

Problem solved. My wife decided not to continue with the XM subscription. BTW, I have had satellite radio on numerous cars over the years, never a problem with it. Until Mazda. I receive XM just fine in my Taco while it is in the garage.

 

If you have good alternatives, that if a fantastic solution. I live in an area that has mostly either religious stations or hard-core right wing leaning over-the-air-stations, so over the air radio is not my cup of tea. Mostly now looking toward putting a bunch of my favorite music on a thumb drive and going that route. We typically only listen to one XM channel anyway--60's on 6-- so I can pretty easily replicate that. What gripes me the most is spending over $35k for a car that has a crappy radio in it and the mfg is not wlling to remedy it.

 

Yeah, I am convinced it is the type of XM receiver hardware that Mazda uses. Only in recent years too, as my 2017 CX-3, which I owned from 9/16 to 3/19, never had a single issue with the XM reception - flawless. Actually the "missing" stations (along with XM channel unavailable message) happened again yesterday. I was in the mood for some "60's on 6" music too. Damn. Waited until I drove a few miles, shut the car off, then turned the XM back on when I came out. Voila! all stations back as normal. I remember last year, some tech at Sirius/XM told me that his area learned that the XM receivers in certain brands (he mentioned Subaru also) were sensitive to bandwidth fluctuations such as when XM does their free promotions. Supposedly XM was working on a fix with these automakers but who the heck knows if there is any truth to that. Like I said in an earlier post, in the grand scheme of things, I can put up with this.

 

My "solution" was to go with an unlimited data plan on my smartphone and stream the channels and music from the web