[kms1990]

Do you use afs if it is equipped on your car all the time, sometimes or just leave it off? i just wanna know, as i have it and its nice (dont notice it much on roads with street lights) but it does seem to make driving much easier at night and it keeps up well when pushing on low light back roads, it does seem to help when going fast on country roads with no lights on them, corners are lit up much better, just wanna know what the forum members do with theirs, and get a convo started on the need/usefulness of this system and any issues anyone may have had with theirs

 

[GerryB]

At first I shut it off because I found it to be, how should I say, distracting. Then I decided to give it a try and now find it to be useful, not so much at intersections but more on curving side streets and such. To each his own I guess, but for now I'll keep it on. I just hope it lasts the many years I plan to keep this car, because that'll be one expensive bitch to replace.

Sent from a Samsung that doesn't explode.

 

[kms1990]

At first I shut it off because I found it to be, how should I say, distracting. Then I decided to give it a try and now find it to be useful, not so much at intersections but more on curving side streets and such. To each his own I guess, but for now I'll keep it on. I just hope it lasts the many years I plan to keep this car, because that'll be one expensive bitch to replace.

Sent from a Samsung that doesn't explode.

see, I was the same way, first car I had ever owned with headlights that auto adjust and respond to steering. so at first I was the same way, it was slightly distracting and seemed rather useless to me, until the second time I drove to my friends house in the middle of the night out in the country. first time I left afs off and the lights did a great job a lighting my path (obviously, as most other car I had owned had halogen bulbs) but I decided on the way home to use afs and see if I noticed anything different or better and I did, boy did it help coming around turns there was a car on the side of the road I saw just as I went into a turn, that I know had the afs been off I would not have seen until much later. since then I have left it on. but yes in city driving it does not really do a whole lot as the street lights cover that for it, but on roads without them its very nice.

mazda is way not the first to use this audi and bmw had almost the exact system in the late 90s early 2000s and still use it. I think this system has been around long enough the kinks have been ironed out and it should be fairly reliable for the life of the car. I was worried about the longevity of it myself. but after googling and seeing its been on many cars since late 90s that means its nothing new and should work like a champ these days. water is the biggest enemy as it is just mainly a gyroscope on the projector that is attached to a motor to control it. so the motor is the only really "unreliable" part there really could be. but the upside is the motor is on the assembly so if you have an issue its easiest and probably most time effective to replace the whole assembly. I had an issue with my passenger assembly right after purchase and they are about $660 plus shipping from zoomzoomnationparts.com (cj Wilson mazda near Chicago) and that was actually the cheapest new assembly I could find many used or refurbished where $500-700 but the good news is $660 gets you everything new, new afs stuff new auto leveling stuff new housing everything. and it takes all of 10 minutes to get the assemblies out( looks harder than it is) only thing that sucks is routing the ballast wiring through the assembly. but that one issue is all I had with mine (I have an 11 made in 10 and the issue with water ingress in the assemblies was mostly limited to cars built between late 09(first run for 2010s)-early 11) the ballast seal is where mine leaked the one in their got flattened and was just not making a good seal between the ballast and the assembly and would let little tiny bits of water by in rain or carwash (even by hand was enough to do it, but automated ones did not as bad, probably due to the air dry at the end) when I got the new ballast and seal and assembly I started assembling it and realized right away the old one (I had silicone the crap out of around the ballast and 2 separate plastic pieces of the assembly) had a bad seal when I went to put the ballast and seal on, the old one would slide right off and the seal would slide with the ballast as it came out no pressure or force needed to take old one off or put it on. the new one had a more plump donut shaped seal that fit very snug in the channel cut into the assembly for it and it took some effort to get the ballast all the way in, I could tell right then that seal had been my issue as the new one sealed so tight it barely fit.

if you have water issues in the assemblies check the donut shaped gasket on your ballast first, its a $6-10 gasket you get from the mazda dealer and fits around the ballast and slides into a channel above the ballast on the assembly when assembled, check it for flattening, rips and tears before spending exuberant amounts to replace parts you don't need. obviously dry out your assembly ell before putting back into service lowest setting in the oven for about 2-5 minutes does this fantastically then check the seal around the clear part make sure the oven did not undue it and your good to go. (lucky mine was covered under the dealers used car 60 day warranty and paid for by them, so I replaced everything I could)

 

[Studum]

Always on. No, not noticeable under streetlights but it is at any other times - including dark parking lots - and with my driving pattern it has grown to be one of my favorite features.

 

[kms1990]

Always on. No, not noticeable under streetlights but it is at any other times - including dark parking lots - and with my driving pattern it has grown to be one of my favorite features.

I am with you on that, I keep thinking when I drive my dads 2014 6 touring that it has just as nice of an interior as the 11 3 GT (although the faux leather is kinda not for me, too rubbery feeling, I prefer the mostly real leather of the 3 GT,bolsters and back are faux but have a pattern that looks and closely resembles the feel of real leather better than the stuff used now in mazdas (perhaps the GT trims still have better faux stuff around the real parts or have rela leather anywhere you sit now) anyways I always feel like it just lacks all the cool tech stuff I would want and have come to enjoy in my 11 3 GT like the HID lights with afs and the upgraded stereo and better seats auto on/off lights and rain sensing wipers, I never had a car with as many features before (the 11 3 is the newest car I have ever owned) I learned to love the leather seats, being in texas I thought I would hate them as they are black (car is velocity red, like those in the forum header) but I always have used a sunshade on the windshield when I am parked in every car this one is even special and got the $45 mazda logo one from the dealer as the autorama ones would not stay up right, the mazda branded on is nice, it comes with a bag to put it in, and is nice and thick, and molded to the exact shape of the windshield, highly recommend it if its warm a lot in your area!

My old 08 3 was the worst one yet galaxy grey with black interior man it was a sweat box in the summer! Even with heat rejecting tint, sunscreen in the windshield when parked, sunroof/windows cracked open, and it had great a/c. But that car has me sworn off dark colored cars for 2 reasons 1. they get too hot when its warm out, 2 they are too hard to maintain the paint on if your anal about it like me, galaxy grey shows every swirl or mark the car had, it was horrible about that.

Anyways his 6 does not have afs as it just has the standard lights (he did not spring for the GT as in 2014 in the 6 you could not get GT and a manual tranny) he wanted a stick, just as I would prefer my 3 had one but could not find one in my price range this time ( in the 3 a manual is available for all trims at least in 2015 it still was, the 3 is more the mazda of mazdas to me anyways so I think they offer more choices in the 3 because its the more popular car and besides the mx5 is one of the defining cars they sell as it is their fastest selling model ever) but he only got the touring trim and no sunroof, which my 3 has. I like these but don't really use them as much as I think I will when I first get a car with one. So he has the command knob and the steering wheel controls, 7" I think radio screen, Bluetooth(I think this was standard by then on the 6) usb port, 6 speaker stereo, 6 speed manual, faux leather upgraded interior, the dimming mirror and blind spot monitoring and not really much else.

I used to be one of those people that said "what use is all the extras for" but now that I have them, I realize how nice they can actually be. (mind you on a used car so I did not pay extra to get them) though the GT trims where going a little higher price on average then others (I got mine right in the middle of what nadaguides said it was worth at the mileage 10k-12.5k was their price range with mileage it had, trim and features and dealer purchase I got mine for 11k after talking them down 500 after pulling up a touring sedan 2.5 of the same color and showing them the lower price lol) they did not want to miss the sale, so they beat them, so not bad many GT ones from 10-13 where priced upwards of 13k with MORE miles on them then the one I got.

I think my next car will definitely have to have lights like these as I have really grown to like the bright white color they put out (many new cars use LED instead of HID now but still) the stereo I can always upgrade myself if I want more so it doesn't HAVE TO HAVE the nice bose 10 speaker like this one does, but auto on lights is nice I don't really care as much about the rain sensing wipers as I feel I should notice when I cant see well because it is raining and know when to turn them on, but still nice if it comes with the other stuff. Only thing is forgetting to turn them off when I go through the local really good carwash when I don't have time or its too cold to get out and do it myself (I like washing/waxing/detailing my car, and driving a clean good looking one) I can live without a sunroof, just nice to have like today when its 65ish outside with a south wind open the sunroof turn off the a/c and your feel great, I have also really gotten used to auto climate control, I feel my next car may have to have that (I can do without obviously) but it is a very convenient feature as it gets the car feeling perfect fast and then shuts up and does not run as hard as long as the normal one did. Bluetooth and usb ports I think have become standard everywhere so I don't have to worry there.

Anyways so yes after getting used to afs I enjoy the feature and feel it has its usefulness shown in side streets or backroads without street lights, even on the freeways at dusk with streetlights I notice it helps when going through sweeping turns. I have also grown fond and attached to many of the other features this car has that are not standard still, like when I got in my sister's 07 6 the other day to work on it, I went to do the push button start and said "oh shit yeah still gotta use the key" the intelligent key is nice too just hit the door buttons or use the fob, my work phone will interfere with it occasionally though but still nice. or the Bluetooth and sirus radio those have become favorites of mine (now that I have had the car almost 6 months and the Sirius still works I think the previous owner either has a year or so left on their package on it or the lifetime one, as I get every channel without buying a subscription, and I have changed the battery) So im waiting to see if it quits getting channels one day, and wont pay if it does, as I don't feel like paying for radio I can get free by downloading the songs on my phone.