CX-5 Predicted Reliability

So I am having a few second thoughts about buying a new CX-5, to the point where I have been looking at second hand Rav4s and Foresters.

What do you guys think the reliability will be like with them? If I buy a brand new vehicle, I want it to last for a long time.
Do you think there will be any rust issues?

I know its purely speculation right now because the car is in its first year and there is no data, but any insight would be appreciated.

zsawyer said:

So I am having a few second thoughts about buying a new CX-5, to the point where I have been looking at second hand Rav4s and Foresters.

What do you guys think the reliability will be like with them? If I buy a brand new vehicle, I want it to last for a long time.
Do you think there will be any rust issues?

I know its purely speculation right now because the car is in its first year and there is no data, but any insight would be appreciated.

Click to expand...

Mazdas are very reliable cars. Id say so even more than toyotas and hondas.

As for rust, I think thats what mazda was covering with all the body plastics on all the typical key rust areas.

For reliability, ask the Germans what they think. I can't provide you with the German links, but this Irish article sums up the German reliability tests very well.
There is a test Auto Bild does in Germany that very few other countries seem to do. They put every car through its paces for 3 years and 100,000km then lists the faults experienced.

The idea is that the average owner will have a car no less than 3 years and it's on the basis of a long term test, that reliability becomes more obvious.

http://www.advertiser.ie/galway/article/45067/germans-recognise-mazda3-for-reliability-

In summary of the article, Mazda basically not only gets rated as one of the most reliable brands on sale in Germany, but it's the only car maker in recent times to have zero faults after 3 years
Toyota and Honda are more mainstream manufacturers in Japan. Toyota is always number one. But although Mazda manufacturers less vehicles, they still produce in Japan - a country known for precision and reliability.

As for rust, the CX-5 does come with a rust warranty (at least in Australia). But the most certain way of protecting against rust is to use something similar to:
http://www.erps.com.au/

I know a lot of 4WD users around Australia install such devices because they're always on beaches and around salt water (a perfect environment to enable rust).