Pissed off with Mazda Dealer! But I won! And it appears that Mazda cars are garbage.

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markuszoom5

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Mazda 5 Sport
So I made an appointment with my Mazda dealer for 8:00 am and showed up this morning. I explained that my front brakes shake the steering wheel I break if I am going around 55 mph or higher. This was mentioned and admitted as a fault in the rotors by Mazda in a TSB bulletin that came out in March 2011. I even showed them that paper. They said that they wanted $200 for skimming/machining the front rotors because they are not under warranty anymore. My car is a little over 1 year and 13000 miles. I would be OK with that if there was no TSB, but come on even Mazda admits it. After arguing for 20 min and insisting that I will wait until the general manager comes, they come out to the waiting room and say that they called Mazda and that Mazda said that they will pay for new rotors. Now, spank my ass and call me Charlie. I knew I was right and I knew they only wanted to rip me off, but I was persistent and I won. Dealers are nothing but trouble and after they sell you a car they forget about you and neglect you, unless your money grows on trees. They did the same thing to me when I had a VW Jetta, also bought brand new. I concluded, you can buy Mercedes, Audi, Lexus what ever, it will still be a badge and you will still dish out $1000s of dollars. I can say that my 2001 Oldsmobile Alero was the best car I ever owned, and easy to fix. They don't make them like that anymore. Mazda is apparently a piece of crap too. Should have listened to my wife and bought a Honda.
 
Brakes and rotors are wear and tear item. Personally you can warp rotors on your own pretty darn easy. I guarantee you Honda would put up the same fight.
 
Warped brake rotors and you dub the Mazda as crap? LOL Unrealistic expectations much?
 
Well to address the Mazda as crap comment, obviously you are fairly new to the brand and maybe you should have purchased a Honda. But you would probably call the Honda crap too as they are recalling the majority of the models for faulty air bags!!!! Maybe you should move on to Toyota
 
Well, the worst steering wheel shake under braking I've ever got was in my 07 Odyssey EX. My dad's old Camry had blown transmission. My 03 Nissan SpecV chewed up 2 steering racks in a year. Maybe you'll have better luck with Lexus? But that's where the price comes in. Warped rotor is nothing to complain about at Mazda price point.
 
...Dealers are nothing but trouble and after they sell you a car they forget about you and neglect you, unless your money grows on trees. They did the same thing to me when I had a VW Jetta, also bought brand new. I concluded, you can buy Mercedes, Audi, Lexus what ever, it will still be a badge and you will still dish out $1000s of dollars. .... Should have listened to my wife and bought a Honda.

You were making sense. At first. But then?!?!?!?! Do you really think Honda dealers are different from anybody else? And, by the way, the title of your post should have been "Pissed off with Mazda Dealer! But I won! And it appears that car dealers are...".
 
Well I guess I was a little heated!

What I am trying to say is that this is the time of super advanced computerized cars but they can't get a round piece of steel right (that is the rotor), shame on them. Then charge me more. I had that problem with a brand new 1998 Kia Sephia LS but they fixed them for free and I would have expected low quality anyways. Yes, should have bought a Honda. After 5 years all I did to my wife's Honda is change pads and rotors after 4 years. I am sick of living in a fantasy and saying oh its just a bearing, it's just misaligned, it's just warped. No, it's a piece of crap and garbage after 1 year. And it's going back for every TSB and noise and recall and weird behavior. In the end I am the one that paid all that money for it. Zoom-zoom back to the dealer's waiting room!
 
You have unrealistic expectations (so did I). Prior to an older '91 Miata, I've never had any Mazda products before. Comparatively, when positioned next to the Japanese big three, Mazda being a smaller shop, sets itself at a lower price point and the by produt is cheaper material and poorer network to absorb that cost. Since you came from a a VW, Germans focus more on interior/material and design quality -plush/study feel is how I'd describe it. You would be happier if you step up to any entry luxury brand. Materals used are much better and the dealerships treat you MUCh better. Try owning a Suzuki (car) and let me know how they treat you.

Aside from another Miata, I prob won't buy another Mazda product. Well, unless the sky engines/transmissins are really that impressive.
 
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Yes you are right!

You have unrealistic expectations (so did I). Prior to an older '91 Miata, I've never had any Mazda products before. Comparatively, when positioned next to the Japanese big three, Mazda being a smaller shop, sets itself at a lower price point and the by produt is cheaper material and poorer network to absorb that cost. Since you came from a a VW, Germans focus more on interior/material and design quality -plush/study feel is how I'd describe it. You would be happier if you step up to any entry luxury brand. Materals used are much better and the dealerships treat you MUCh better. Try owning a Suzuki (car) and let me know how they treat you.

Aside from another Miata, I prob won't buy another Mazda product. Well, unless the sky engines/transmissins are really that impressive.

I picked the car up this morning and found out they machined the old rotors. There is no judder but if they were really fair they would have put on new rotors and pads. Customer service 0/10. I am officially off of this board and going to start lookin for a Honda and trading this pile of metal for something else because I am not gonna be treated like crap for the next 4 years. Good bye.
 
Dude get a Toyota at least of you're getting an automatic. Honda's automatic transmissions seem to have a higher failure rate.
 
maybe you shouldn't buy brand new anymore......

Or do like Top Gear says, " Buy an Alfa."

Then you'll know what a good car is :p
 
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I'll laugh when you warp the rotors on your next car. And LOL at a Oldsmobile being the best car you ever owned..so great 1.) Oldsmobile doesn't exist anymore for a reason 2.) GM needed a bailout because nobody would buy their bad cars.
 
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My mazda 5 hasnt been the best thing either.

However, i think what you are dealing with is a crappy dealer.

This has all been fixed or replaced on my 08 Mz5 with no cost to me.

-drivers side window motor replaced
-transmission resealed (was oozing fluid)

below is all from one issue... a funny clunking sound in the front right wheel area
-replaced both front control arm
-new front rotors
-new front callipers
still didnt fix it, but gave up.

at 35500 miles (just shy of the warranty ending)
-replaced front pass wheel bearing
-replaced drivers side axle (welded to the wheel from the heat caused by the bad bearing)
-replaced rear shocks (are also a wear item... but still replaced for free)
-replaced rear sway bushings (started making lots of noise after the shock replacement)

then, the brakes felt squishy. noticed the pad wasnt completely in contact with the front pass rotor (the replaced one)
they checked again (now this is the 4th time ive complained about that side) and found the hub was out of round.
-replaced the entire front pass wheel assembly. (new hub, rotor, calliper... everything)

finally... everything was pretty much back to normal.

so... your little rotor problem is weak.

and it comes down to your dealer sucking. not saying mine didnt as well... since they never agreed that something was still wrong... but they always replaced things (even wear items) free of charge under the bumper to bumper.
 
I picked the car up this morning and found out they machined the old rotors. There is no judder but if they were really fair they would have put on new rotors and pads. Customer service 0/10. I am officially off of this board and going to start lookin for a Honda and trading this pile of metal for something else because I am not gonna be treated like crap for the next 4 years. Good bye.
amazing. warped rotors make the whole company bad.

machining rotors is an industry acceptable solution to your issue, although I would agree that if they said they were going to install new rotors, they should. but anyway...

perhaps you don't realize that your OWN DRIVING HABITS could have/probably did cause the so-called warped rotors? if you are still here, do some research on what causes warping and you'll see that it can happen to any car.

FWIW, I just did the brakes on my own because the rears were toast after 31K. new drilled rotors and new pads all four wheels $150. never had any vibrating, just wear.
 
damn. ive never been so happy to see someone say there going to sell there mazda. lol

dont blame the car for what a bad dealership does. dealerships arent owned by mazda directly. get a clue, and stop being a douche. have fun with your honda. :)
 
I am depressed to hear that you are extremely disappointed with your recent dealership experience.

There is always difficulty when you have a wear item go defective. You don't want to pay the cost of the repair, the repairing shop does not want to pay, and the car manufacturer does not want to pay. You are considered guilty until proven innocent. This gets even more difficult to prove when you have an item that is subject to customer abuse from driving habits or improper installation.

There is no sense keeping an item that you are so unhappy with, that has been so unreliable, and that frustrates you so much. Life is too short! Hope you have better luck with the next vehicle you choose.
 
i've owned lots of different cars/truck/vans over the years...dealers are dealers, but all manufactures have issues...my son's 2005 honda odyssey has a known issue with the transmission and they won't do too much other than "flash" the ecu with some new programming...of course it doesn't help...i must say, i've had 3 mazdas/fords in the last 11 yrs and have little to no issues....egr on the protege at 18k miles, but other than that 0 other issues other than normal wear and tear. even the local mazda dealer fixed the egr after explaining that because the car was "heavily" modified he didn't have too (exhaust/intake and springs)...it's kind of a crap shoot, but i've been impressed with mazda quality at this price point!
 
Perhaps you should've bought a Honda and paid them at least $5K in advance for rotors that allegedly last forever.
 
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