[rbowler88]

Hi everyone, Richard here.

Just picked up a Deep Crystal Blue Mica GTSport Tech Auto. Bought it at Westdrive Mazda in Braintree then drove it 300 miles back to Devon. Best news so far, it fits in the garage. (My old Honda didn't, it was too long).

Seems great to drive, handles well around the Devon lanes. Only issue so far is connecting into Mazda Connect as neither bluetooth nor USB works with my music players. I'll let you all know once I solve it.

Pics...

 

[Tommieremix]

That looks very lovely 😍. Do you have the blue or brown interior? I chose the Deep Crystal myself with the premium version here in the states that has the brown leather. I love it & I hope you enjoy your ride and figure out your Bluetooth issues oh so soon ❤❤

 

[Edz2k20]

Very nice, welcome aboard!

 

[rbowler88]

That looks very lovely 😍. Do you have the blue or brown interior? I chose the Deep Crystal myself with the premium version here in the states that has the brown leather. I love it & I hope you enjoy your ride and figure out your Bluetooth issues oh so soon ❤❤

Hi,

In the UK this model comes with black leather as standard, with Stone leather as a no cost option. We went with black for practicality. It has brown leather highlights.

 

[Tommieremix]

Yes, that's the same color scheme I chose 😃

 

[Rdrokit]

Welcome to the forum from Thailand.

 

[Orev]

Welcome and you’ve chosen one of the best colors for this vehicle!

 

[rbowler88]

I promised to let you all know when I solved my bluetooth and USB problems so I could play music in the car. Here is how I did it.

1) I gave up on the Sony Walkmans as they could not pair over bluetooth and Mazda Connect (MC) couldn't read the flash drives - only system storage which on the Walkmans is tiny.
2) I had an old iPod Classic which I could plug into the USB port which worked fine
3) I upgraded the old 160GB hard drive in the iPod for a new 512GB flash drive
4) I copied my whole music library onto the iPod

It works pretty well but not perfectly. The MC takes a long time to read the iPod and sometimes crashes it. But overall I can do what I need. Still, it is the one area of the Mazda that could do with a complete overhaul.

 

[TheShark]

Hi Richard, great looking car but how could I not like it since it looks just like mine! The only difference is the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

 

[steve67]

I promised to let you all know when I solved my bluetooth and USB problems so I could play music in the car. Here is how I did it.

1) I gave up on the Sony Walkmans as they could not pair over bluetooth and Mazda Connect (MC) couldn't read the flash drives - only system storage which on the Walkmans is tiny.
2) I had an old iPod Classic which I could plug into the USB port which worked fine
3) I upgraded the old 160GB hard drive in the iPod for a new 512GB flash drive
4) I copied my whole music library onto the iPod

It works pretty well but not perfectly. The MC takes a long time to read the iPod and sometimes crashes it. But overall I can do what I need. Still, it is the one area of the Mazda that could do with a complete overhaul.

Have you music on your phone and Bluetooth it over... Or get Spotify and stream it into the Mazda.. not one connection problem ..

 

[Edz2k20]

Coming a bit late to the party.

Im using a combination of a 64GB micro thumb drive and my android phone with 128GB local and streaming software.

Important note: If you're using a thumb drive format it using a FAT methodology, I strongly recommend using this freeware for larger thumb drives especially under windows 10 - NTFS either wont work full stop or will have weird side effects. Windows 10 natively wont format FAT32 drives above a certain size which is a nusence but this app works well from my testing:

Fat32 Format GUI

Once done I've not had any problems with FLAC, WAV, OGG and MP3 files most work with embedded cover art as well (some flacs dont show the cover but that could be the files) they all play flawlessly.

Additionally MP4 files will play as video if stored on the root (if the car is stationary, once it starts moving the video switches off but the audio continues)

As far as android auto putting any files on my Huwai P30 Pro (important note Im in the UK - this phone likely doesnt work in the USA) and then engaging android auto allows me to use google to play random or engage one of the streaming android auto apps.

I've found that this cars system is way faster responding than the 2017 CX5s was, that was horribly slow at skipping around large collections especially in random.

Other than that and I'd like to be able to set sub bass apart from speaker bass on the BOSE system Im very happy with the music system. I've even had two large thumb drives in at once (one in the armrest socket) and switched between them using the source button and its still pretty speedy.

Ed

 

[Edz2k20]

Addendum as it may not be obvious to non-techies DONT put your music on the thumb drive then format it using this or any other app - you will lose all the files! Format a new or unused drive and then copy onto it.

 

[rbowler88]

Let me clarify my post. The upgraded iPod solution works. I have 33,300 songs in aac (m4a) - my whole library. I have encoded them through dsp especially for in car use. The Mazda will read the iPod as a USB drive and will play all those songs as set out in the Mazda Connect manual. So I can select albums or play the whole collection. So thanks for all the advice but I'm fixed. I posted in case anyone had a similar use case to mine.

 

[Edz2k20]

Nice, that's a collection as big as (in fact bigger than) mine 😜

 

[Shadow81]

Hi

Ordered my GT Sport Tech Auto on Saturday - after several weeks of looking at many - MANY - cars. Kept coming back to the Mazda as it seemed to have something a little different. Would have liked park assist but not an option, and would have liked a branded dash cam - the wife having been 'victim' of a bump scam - but Im sure I will find one that is compatible somewhere. I like your colour - we went for the Red in the end but it was a close run thing. Interesting to read your issues with the music connection etc - will try to make sure I sort this while on the hand over. Not sure when mine will arrive - the original estimate was 27th September but they are hoping to get it sooner. Will be interesting to see how things go with yours please - good to see experiences from someone with the steering wheel on the correct side

Hope you are still enjoying the car - keep in touch

 

[Michael Realman]

Hi Richard, great looking car but how could I not like it since it looks just like mine! The only difference is the steering wheel is on the wrong side.

Yes, it's weird. They let the passenger drive.