Mazda Ranked Highly by CR

Unfortunately the ranking keeps dropping since 2015, to #6, then to #12 in 2018.
Actually, CR gives the 2018 CX-5 their highest rating for reliability. It ties the 2018 Subaru Forester for reliability, is just a bit below the 2018 RAV4, and way better than the Hyundai Tucson. Owner satisfaction is way higher than the RAV4 and nearly the same as the Forester.
Yeah, but were discussing BRAND reliability rating from Consumer Reports the OP started with.

And based on my info, Mazda3 was the most reliable vehicle from Mazda for 2018.

Just ran into an old post in CX-9 forum and found the latest Consumer Reports Car Brands Reliability ranking. Unforyunatrly Mazdas reliability keeps dropping now its #12 dropped 6 spots from 2016! The brand reliability now is behind Honda、Hyundai、Nissan, the only one worse than Mazda among all Asian brands is Acura! I personally dont read too much into CR since they faked roll-over reports on Suzuki Samurai and Isuzu Trooper, but their reliability data is still the best collected from thousands of vehicle owners since 1960s. This also coincides my feeling on Mazdas quality and reliability during my almost 3 years of ownership on our 2016 Mazda CX-5 GT AWD. Im gradually losing confidence on our CX-5s longevity after many things in our CX-5 started falling apart. Before anyone jumping into conclusion that CR is not trustworthy on reliability data, in 2015 when we purchased our CX-5, the salesman proudly showed me the reliability ranking from CR, at that time Mazda was #4! And that was part of reason we made the purchase, and kept recommending it to friends and family.

Car Brands Reliability: How They Stack Up

Ranking the brands and showing their most and least reliable cars

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My 2014 back in 2013 was basically a brand new model. I took a chance and so far so good.
 
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How Dodge managed a 13 place jump in predicted reliability is beyond me.
 
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Speaking of reliability, I don't know how reliable CR is, they have Porche as #4 and Honda at #12. In general I think Mazda is making very reliable cars and the odds of getting a good one is high.

What makes you think those rankings are out of whack? Porsche makes nearly flawless cars, they just have expensive maintenance schedules. And it ain*t 2003 anymore - Honda is in a free fall in terms of reliability and several publications have taken notice. Go browse a Passport or CRV forum and you*ll see how much of a mess Honda has made lately.
 
What makes you think those rankings are out of whack? Porsche makes nearly flawless cars, they just have expensive maintenance schedules. And it ain*t 2003 anymore - Honda is in a free fall in terms of reliability and several publications have taken notice. Go browse a Passport or CRV forum and you*ll see how much of a mess Honda has made lately.


You can't really compare a Mazda forum to a Honda one. Honda sells 3-4 times more vehicles than Mazda, so of course you're going to see more problems from owners.

If I went to an IPhone forum, I'm going to see more threads related to problems then lets say a LG forum.
 
You can't really compare a Mazda forum to a Honda one. Honda sells 3-4 times more vehicles than Mazda, so of course you're going to see more problems from owners.

If I went to an IPhone forum, I'm going to see more threads related to problems then lets say a LG forum.

By that argument youd see more problems on a Toyota forum but that isnt true. As somebody who traded in their Honda (and is a forum member here, RAV4World, and OdyClub), Honda quality has truly gone downhill.

My van was fine but had I not taken proactive measures I may have seen issues with the transmission (installed a cooler and did a drain and fill every 15k) and engine (disabled VCM to prevent oil burning and gummed up piston rings). There is also the oil dilution issues found on the 1.5L Turbo engine and the off chance your V6 head has a casting issue and cracks just outside of your powertrain warranty. Honda is not the brand it used to be when it became heavily Americanized.
 
Its weird how CR ranks the Mx-5 Miata as the most reliable car...then again its a very simple car (no cylinder deactivation, no turbo, ect.). The CX-3 is basically the same approach...simple....but now the CX-9? What the heck. It has every electronic and mechanical gizmo Mazda offers and turbo too. What is it about the CX-9 that the CX-5 and Mazda6 (or Mazda3 vs CX-3) can't do?
 
You can't really compare a Mazda forum to a Honda one. Honda sells 3-4 times more vehicles than Mazda, so of course you're going to see more problems from owners.

If I went to an IPhone forum, I'm going to see more threads related to problems then lets say a LG forum.

I know what you*re saying, but I was referring more to the substance of their complaints, not the quantity. Regardless, even though Honda sells more cars, their CRV buyers aren*t really the type to post on car enthusiast forums. Case in point, the CRV and Honda communities on a Reddit are roughly the same size as the CX-5 and Mazda communities.
 
You can't really compare a Mazda forum to a Honda one. Honda sells 3-4 times more vehicles than Mazda, so of course you're going to see more problems from owners.

If I went to an IPhone forum, I'm going to see more threads related to problems then lets say a LG forum.

Yes you can. You need to compare different brands "relatively". For example, compare percent of complaints or defects per total units sold for a given year.

For those that want to know, I use the following sites to help me decide what car has the lease number of complaints and what those complaints are.
1. To find out total units sold Year-To-Date, use the following link and select small SUV(for example)

https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/2019-us-small-suv-sales-figures/

2. To find out total number of complaints:

https://www.carcomplaints.com/

While we are at it, let's compare 2019 CX-5 vs 2019 CR-V...both redesigned the same year, which is 2017

2019 Total units sold YTD(up to Oct 31):
CX-5: 124,670
CR-V: 314,083 (about 2.52 times more than CX-5)

Number of complaints:
CX-5: 5 (% complaints=0.004%)
CR-V: 247 (% complaints=0.079%)

So if you normalize it, the number of CR-V complaints is about 20 times more than that of CX-5 (247/(5*2.52))

The above is not bullet proof as not everyone that has issue take the time to file a complaint, but that is the same for every brand...so we can relatively compare to have an idea. Also, you can use NHTSA.gov to find out the number of complaints filed there and compare YTD sales figure.
 
I think these surveys are more indicative of build and quality control than long term durability. Mazda has had its own issues in the past with body rust and rotary engines but their pickups had a great reputation. I thi k Mazda really tries hard but they dont have the deep pockets and resources of the bigger companies and that has to be a challenge.
 
Thanks for that link. Used it to lodge complaints about a Renault Duster and a Nissan pickup I've owned . Hopefully will never need to report my new Signature.
 
Its weird how CR ranks the Mx-5 Miata as the most reliable car...then again its a very simple car (no cylinder deactivation, no turbo, ect.). The CX-3 is basically the same approach...simple....but now the CX-9? What the heck. It has every electronic and mechanical gizmo Mazda offers and turbo too. What is it about the CX-9 that the CX-5 and Mazda6 (or Mazda3 vs CX-3) can't do?

I think the Mazda3 is projected as the least reliable because its the newest of the available models. It probably has some "growing pains" as the first MY of the redesign. The CX-9 was the same story in 2016 (quoted in yrwei52's post, #22 of this thread).

Also might be worth mentioning that the 3 is currently the only Mazda in the US that is not built in Japan (US-market 3s are built in Mexico). Take that for whatever it's worth.
 
Its weird how CR ranks the Mx-5 Miata as the most reliable car...then again its a very simple car (no cylinder deactivation, no turbo, ect.). The CX-3 is basically the same approach...simple....but now the CX-9? What the heck. It has every electronic and mechanical gizmo Mazda offers and turbo too. What is it about the CX-9 that the CX-5 and Mazda6 (or Mazda3 vs CX-3) can't do?

Probably because they dont sell many at all so less problems. And they dont get drivin a lot of
Miles Im sure either.
 
I think the Mazda3 is projected as the least reliable because its the newest of the available models. It probably has some "growing pains" as the first MY of the redesign. The CX-9 was the same story in 2016 (quoted in yrwei52's post, #22 of this thread).

Also might be worth mentioning that the 3 is currently the only Mazda in the US that is not built in Japan (US-market 3s are built in Mexico). Take that for whatever it's worth.

The new Mazda 3 is a pile. They had about 6 stop sales for the model. And it took them 6 months until they even had a vcm program that would work with the car. So you couldn*t program key. Or check codes or do anything. Now that*s sad.
They rushed it out and put to much emphasis into how soft the dash is instead of actually working on the quality of the actual car.
 
I think the Mazda3 is projected as the least reliable because its the newest of the available models. It probably has some "growing pains" as the first MY of the redesign. The CX-9 was the same story in 2016 (quoted in yrwei52's post, #22 of this thread).

Also might be worth mentioning that the 3 is currently the only Mazda in the US that is not built in Japan (US-market 3s are built in Mexico). Take that for whatever it's worth.

If CR is right then a used CX-9 (2018+) would be a steal. Now how about the CX-3. I thought it was made in Mexico?
 
Regarding Mazda reliability CR dis say the Mazda 3 was the lowest rated from the mark. I don't know if it's sold in the US or not but a friend bought his girlfriend here in Colombia a Mazda 2. I think it is assembled in Mexico. It seems to be a good enough car but has required some astoundingly early maintenance / repair (not withstanding driver behavior). She has had it for just two years. The front brake pads were used up at about 16,000 kilometers, it has required a new battery and service personnel at Mazda told her an engine mount was bad. This is all second hand information of course so not definitive.
 
I need help deciding whether to get another Mazda with Cylinder Deactivation

I have a 19 CX-5 Touring (wife driving it) and the CD recall was completed in July/19. It drives fine since new.
I am in need of another car and currently considering the 2020 3 Base Hatchback or another 2019 CX-5 Touring.
Unfortunately, all Hatchback trims comes with CD and 2.5T engine is not an option for CX-5(out of my price range).
Nothing out there I want (the 3 sedan Select trim has no CD, but it is a sedan; CR-V with oil dilution issue; Rav4 noisy engine, loud on Hwy, comparably expensive).

In light of the recent Reliability ranking from CR that placed Mazda as #2, I can assume:

1. Perhaps CD/rocker arm issues are few and far in between, otherwise Mazda would not be ranked#2.
2. CD feature is used on many Mazda models including the 6, 3, CX-5 equipped with 2.5L NA - so if CD issue is big, it would have spread across 3 product lines and Mazda would not be ranked #2.
3. CR probably completed the survey by Oct 31 and the CD fix recall was officially out mid August. I think there are about 9 months worth of survey data to collect from 2019 owners - a good amount of time.

Are my assumptions correct that perhaps CD issue is rare?
Also, the rocker arm is part of the powertrain so the warranty is 5yr/60k - long enough that if there is a CD related issue, it would have shown within 5 yrs span?

What should I do? Thanks and looking forward for your inputs/feedback.
 
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