<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/mazda-cx5-frontsep16-.jpg"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3931" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/mazda-cx5-frontsep16--300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>Out with the "old", in with the new. My CX5 has done 38,400 miles in the past 3 years and 4 months and I only had to change the front tyres when it got to 35,000 miles so I think it has given me excellent service. I cannot think of a single gripe I have with the car and part of me was thinking that I could hang onto it for another three years. After much consideration and weighing up the rational, financial and the emotional factors around car ownership I decided to purchase a new car.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CX30Jan20.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-6035" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CX30Jan20-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a>Not only have I changed car I've also changed my colour choice from the drab to the "smash in the face" colour of soul red. It is slightly smaller, lower, sleeker and petrol instead of the frowned upon diesel. It has a 180 bhp engine so quite nippy and that will be tested to the full as I drive up and down the country visiting friends or around the quiet Lincolnshire lanes.

It is rammed with gadgets such as the capability of connecting my android phone to the dashboard display so I can use Google maps instead of the provided sat nav system (pretty hopeless in the CX5). I can read emails, tweets, texts and WhatsApp messages as well as the usual hands free phone, so I will be fully connected. It also has a heads up display to read road speed, speed limits and when I'm crossing lane markings. It is on the edge of being an autonomous car.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CX30-houseJan20.jpg"><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-6036" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CX30-houseJan20-200x150.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="150" /></a>I will be looking at the fuel consumption because I'm renown for having a heavy right foot (that's the accelerator foot for anyone living abroad) and the longer I kept the CX5 the worse the fuel consumption got. I don't expect it to achieve the 52 mpg (mixed) as advertised but I'll keep you posted on that, if you're interested.