Keep in mind your Golf is still very low mileage. I would HOPE nothing of import broke due to inherent failure in only <70K miles.
Mazda3 2.5 Turbo
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That's Japanese paint for you. Beautiful but fragile. My 370Z and Infiniti were the same way. I just wrapped mine and haven't had any issues. Pony up the $1500 and don't worry about it anymore was my move.
I'm not seeing much of the paint chipping on ours. We have the red that looks like a bright candy apple red in the sun (I don't know the official name of the color), and the vehicle is about to hit 45K miles. There are a few chips here and there, which are unavoidable with a daily driver, but nothing that I would call unacceptable. If you live in the rust belt of the Midwest (or any place that salts the roads) I'd recommend taking it through a car wash that has an undercarriage spray on a regular basis until the salt has been rain-washed off of the roads. I'm going to do that with this Mazda to see if that helps with the rust...I didn't do it with my last one and it ended up a rust bucket...
The CX9 avoided those problems as it was the last of the Mazda models to go SkyActiv.
The earlier CX5 models did lack soundproofing and the hood issue was a common one. 2017 was the year they changed everything as they saw the complaints and focused on sound deadening and stiffer panels and chassis.
In fact, the hood on my 2017 CX5 is quite heavy.
It's only heavy because they were too cheap to put hydraulic struts in it, which I greatly lament.
...and to me this is an example of how the Golf is/was built to a higher class - standard hood struts vs a prop rod. Minor things like this. (point also made above while I was typing this!)
The Golf in a base model just feels more put together and with well-laid out and simple controls. The Civic and '3 are trying hard to have new-age techy looking dashes. The Golf just lumbers on with a simple, proven layout. Now they offer "digital" dash/cockpit on the higher end models, but I'm all for simple and therefore cheap! A base model can be 40% less than the fully loaded one, and it comes with the same engine and chassis. Best value by far (applicable across manufacturers usually)
I put many, many miles on a '93 Mazda MX6 and assumed I'd get into a '3 or CX5 someday. I was kinda surprised I went a different route. Sportwagen holds as much as a CX5! I miss the ground clearance sometimes, which is leading us to an Outback next, most likely...
I am very appreciative of the turbo when climbing mountain passes, fully loaded with camping gear - that might make the future Outback we get need to be an XT model...
I have concluded the same; it merits a wrap on the hood at least... I am not so worried about the area immediately in front of the hood - because it's all plastic - and to be truthful, it is the rust potential that I am most worried about. Re the front fenders, seems to me that it's pretty fiddly to have those wrapped, what-with all of the edges. Hood is easy for a professional to do well.
VW seems to have a track record of this, but why do they always seem to be lagging behind in terms of reliability? Is that just a German automaker thing?
The paint on my CX-9 seems thicker and/or tougher than what was on my '15 or '16 Sienna. To make matters worse, my '15 Sienna was white, but the material underneath the the paint on front and rear bumper covers was black, so whenever the paint was chipped through all of the paint and primer, guess what showed? Yep, it looked like the entire front end of the vehicle had blackheads...you'd think they could at least mold the front bumper cover out of a materiel that's the that's the same color as the paint, but I suppose some bean counter figured out that would cost the company an extra $.05 per part...
My whole front end is wrapped flawlessly. Headlights, front bumper, hood, and leading 1/3 of fenders. A pillars, front 1/4 of roof.
Ground clearance is the only reason I drive an SUV.
I for sure would have bought a VW instead of my Mazda6 if I had had confidence in the long-term electrical system viability of a VW. It would have been a Jetta GLI or a GTI, in a flash. Oh, I forgot: those two VW products have a propensity to carbon-up intake valves (for some unknown reason they did not add dual-injection to their north american bound cars... but appear to have done so in the Euro marketplace, at least for some of the variants of the Golf / Jetta). The Mazda line of Skyactiv engines, despite having single (direct) injection, do not have a history of carboning up their intake tract to the point where CEL's fire-off, cars flunk emissions tests.
I REALLY want to like VW, because in general I like how they drive and feel (and I REALLY like how they are rustproofed)... but unfortunately they continue to give me pause.
I know, I know... YMMV...
I have read, though, that Mazda paint is SO thin that some protective film professional installers will measure paint thickness to confirm, but NOT wrap the car (if paint is thin)... 'cuz if removal were attempted it'd peel off the paint. At least that's their position... and I'm sure a professional will not turn away business unless for a legitimate reason.
Others???
My detailer said nothing of the sort and wrapped it fine. I have not noted anything like that about the paint, just that it's relatively soft compared to American or German.
I haven't seen anything like this about Mazda's paint. I think Honda owns the title of having the thinnest paint...
Even if you can't...why does it matter aside from academic argument? The gearbox, diff, and the engine are absolutely flawlessly matched in my experience on this drivetrain.
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