u/Nojopar

I just gave a college lecture to a bunch of 20(ish) year olds and I used The Police in an attempt to teach them about arguments supported by evidence and ones that aren't.

Over half (!!!!) of the class never heard of The Police and had no idea who they were. I was expecting more "Oh, that's my dad's music!" or even "my granddad's music", but they never heard of'em at all. Not even Sting.

Pardon me whilst I go off and get fitted for my bread crumb pocket laced cardigan and go look for a park somewhere.

I had my CX90 in the shop for it's scheduled maintenance. They gave me a loaner of a Premium Plus CX-5 with all of 6 miles on it. I had to do a LOT of driving today around the county for work, so I spent around 4ish hours in the thing, mostly on country roads and hills.

The good is the really important bits. The drivetrain was fantastic. Nicely sporty feel in regular mode. It handled all the curves well and allowed me to push it to it's limit without too much problem. I mean, it's no Miata or even a Mazda3 mazdaspeed, but for its class it did a really good job. Obviously a few hours says nothing about reliability, but my old 2014 CX-5 was a great vehicle mechanically and I think this one meets that spec admirably. The seats were comfortable and easy to adjust. I didn't use it, but looks like good cargo space in the back. The exterior styling is nice as always.

The bad is honestly the experience of being in the car. I like buttons and knobs, but I'm a tech nerd at heart so I was all prepared to play with the new interface. I know lots of people love the touchscreen but I hated it. Just hated it. I'm sure over time I'd develop some muscle memory around it, but even after a couple of hours I found myself having to look at the screen to make sure I was touching the correct button. Finger prints littered the thing in under 15 minutes, which would drive me nuts in day to day existence. The plasticy interior seems very Rav4-esque. It's disappointing. It's visually ho-hum and just feels like you're in a cheaper car than you are, which is the polar opposite of my experiences with Mazda to this point. Buttons for like defrost and emergency blinkers felt cheap. The wheel it nice all in all and the stalks are basically the same in all Mazdas as far as I know, but the buttons on the wheel remind me of some mid 2000's remotes. They're just cheap feeling.

Honestly if I had my perfect world, I'd drive a CX-60 PHEV, but they don't make that in the US (if anywhere). That's about the size I want. But I want it to have a premium feel at a lower price point than BMW/Mercedes/etc. I don't expect Mazda to feel exactly like a luxury car, but they always had that Zoom Zoom thing and a more premium feel compared to Toyota or Honda. Where I live the Mazda dealership is a bit of a drive away compared to Toytota or Honda. With this new interior, I'd be cross shopping a bit harder if I were in the CX-5 market as the more 'basic' feel makes it more comparable to what Toyota/Honda offer.

Just my two for anyone thinking of the new CX-5.

Here's the game: You're going to spend a month on a resort island that furnishes everything EXCEPT any music or any way to stream music. The rooms have record players and good stereos.

You're allowed bring exactly 5 records from you but they must meet the criteria that it has to be a single record from each of your top 5 favorite bands of all time. No band can be missed and you can't get more than one record from each band. Furthermore, you can't pick any sort of "Greatest Hits" record even if it is your favorite.

What five records are you bringing and why each record?

Mine are:

1. The Police - Regatta De Blanc. The Police is my favorite band of all time. I love almost every song on that particular record except "On Any Other Day".

2. The Clash - London Calling. If I could own only one record, it'd be this one. This album is perfect from start to finish.

3. Rush - Hold Your Fire. This is a big of a weird pick simply because most Rush fans wouldn't pick this particular record. This was my 'gateway drug' record. I didn't really 'get' Rush until that record and somehow they just made sense to me. There are other albums I prefer slightly, but none tugs at my heartstrings like this one.

4. Queen - News of The World. I LOVE Queen. Pretty much all of Queen. Yeah, even Hot Space. But News of The World has the most of of my most loved songs by Queen. It's my number 2 album of all time.

5. The Beatles - Revolver - This one was the hardest pick of all. I'm not happy about my pick, but my gut tells me this is the one. I bought it used on CD on a whim one day and it was my introduction to the band. I like more of Abbey Road, but so many of the Revolver tracks just hold a special place in my mind.