Mazda's configurator ticks me off

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 01/04/2018 at 01:52 • Filed to: None

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Whilst poking around on Mazda’s website looking at the Mazda3 hatchback I noticed something rather misleading. If you choose the Touring model, you must add the Bose/sunroof package, and on the Grand Touring model there was an expensive package that was once again mandatory. Excuse me, but if those packages are mandatory why the hell aren’t they included in the base price? What’s the point of showing a low price if there’s no possible way to buy the car at that price?

Want the bigger motor but not all of the toys and gadgets? Choose the Touring model, but you had better like black interiors ‘cause that’s all they offer on this trim. I don’t, and would prefer something in a lighter color. This means I get the smaller motor I don’t want and get cloth, or I get the the bigger motor and leather , which I don’t want. There’s just no pleasing me...

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 02:28

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If they are listing a base price without a mandatory option selected at that trim, then that is super shitty.

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 01/04/2018 at 02:38

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and probably illegal. It is in my country anyway.

Forrest > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 02:40

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That sounds super annoying.

My pet peeve with the Mazda3 is that, to get Adaptive Cruise Control, you have to get a Grand Touring and then add the Driver Assistance Package. I wish Mazda would make that package optional on lower-spec cars.

Also, I share your enthusiasm for light-colored cloth interiors. It just makes the most sense on hot summer days.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Forrest 01/04/2018 at 02:49

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Exactly. I want a few of the items, but not all of those electronic nannies that seem to be designed to wake up those that are busy doing other things besides, you know, driving.

I miss the days when there were separate options available and you could mix and match to suit your needs. Now it seems to be all or nothing, and more often I’m choosing ‘nothing’ and adding what I want later, even if it’s not ideal.

bhtooefr > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 06:03

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Try a different ZIP code, see if it changes things.

My guess is there’s local distributor shenanigans causing the mandatory options.

Stapleface > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 07:26

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It seems to be par for the course with most of the Japanese manufacturers these days. I know that Ford still does it, as my father ordered his last two F150's exactly how he wanted them. Then again, this is a 50k vehicle, not 25k like the Mazda 3.

Azrek > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 09:33

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My favorite will always be the Porsche configurator. You can get a base price car of $60,000 and easily double it before you are done....I mean, wow...

E92M3 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 09:34

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That annoys me too. Want ventilated seats? Sorry that’s only available on our top trim. They aren’t worth $10-15k, but I would like the option to add it to a lower trim. Why must you bundle it with all your advanced safety features that will just annoy me, and be turned off? It should be available with any trim that has leather

Nerd-Vol > E92M3 01/04/2018 at 09:46

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They want to incentivize you to move up to the next trim level.

Also, making a shit ton of options and permutations becomes expensive for the manufacturer.

Manny05x > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 10:03

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Sounds like they are using the cable companies model lol.

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 10:25

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Active cruise used to be a standalone feature but nowadays it uses the same sensors as stuff like lane departure warning, pre-collision braking, etc. So it’s usually packaged with those features.

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 10:27

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I was able to build both trims you mentioned without selecting any additional packages. All I had to do was click the Next button on the packages screen without selecting a package.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2018 at 11:19

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I didnt try that, and was just responding to the message that said it was mandatory. I haven’t been to a dealer in a long time to see how cars are actually equipped because, well, mine doesn’t need repairs or replacement...

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/04/2018 at 11:42

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Weird, I didn’t get any messages about packages being mandatory.

fennelbreath > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2018 at 12:26

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This is exactly why.

And as a side note, Mazda has one of the touchiest lane departure warning systems on the market. I’ve reviewed the 3, the CX-5, the Miata, and the Miata RF over the past year, and while I’m fine with most active safety features, the Mazda’s lane departure warning made me pound the wheel in frustration every time. So glad you can turn that shit off, because we don’t exactly get a choice of features in press loaners.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2018 at 12:33

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Must only be for iPad users. I guess they think we can afford it... :P

Textured Soy Protein > fennelbreath 01/04/2018 at 12:35

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The lane departure warning on my wife’s Impreza is similarly over-active. The first few times I drove it with her as a passenger she kept freaking out, THE CAR SAYS YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR LANE!!! but thankfully it can be turned off and it stays off. Except it lights up a damn yellow idiot light on the dash to tell you that it’s off.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Textured Soy Protein 01/04/2018 at 23:50

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It seems to be mandatory if you choose the manual transmission. With the automatic I don’t get the same message.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Nerd-Vol 01/05/2018 at 00:06

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Tons of options and picking and choosing seemingly infinite combinations was the norm decades ago before everything went computerized. Nowadays it should be even easier to do with JIT manufacturing. Maybe I’m just old school, but they’re not going to get me to move up to a fancier model for a few toys if that means giving up what I really want. This might explain why there wasn’t a single Miata out of the 7 on the lot at my local dealer that I was interested in purchasing. Mostly RFs and GTs, with not a single Club to be found. Either they didn’t order them or they all sold out, and I’m going to bet on the former.

I wouldn’t care so much if they offered a manual with the more deluxe models. I wouldn’t mind a few more toys (except for those annoying safety nannies), like I had in the BMWs and MB, but I wasn’t willing to give up the manual to get them. They do it for Canada and the UK, but not for America, and we can probably thank our draconian emission regulations for that. In other countries they can sell various versions of a car with the same basic powertrain without having to retest the entire car and certify it as a new model, so why not here? How much different could the emissions be between a sedan and a wagon with a slightly different exhaust system?

If our government wants to eliminate wasteful laws and rules let’s start with this, perhaps just adopting a worldwide standard for emissions and safety; so many regions are so close on this stuff that it seems incredibly wasteful to have to develop so many different versions of the same damned vehicle. And then work on the 25-year restriction. And the Chicken Tax. I’m not going to hold my breath, however, because there’s probably someone lining the pockets of the politicians to keep this garbage in place...

Textured Soy Protein > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 01/05/2018 at 09:26

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Looks like the same for me. Although I’m doing the desktop configurator in Chrome and there’s no “mandatory package” message, it just pre-selects the package and doesn’t let me un-check it.