Mazda Dependability / Reliability

RX~

Member
Hello everyone, this is my first post and I’m looking for a pre owned Mazda. I believe that they had partnerships with Ford and I don’t want myself to pay at least every month. Are there certain models and years I should avoid? I’m looking between a Mazda3 Sport to a CX-7
 
I drove my 2003 Mazda Protege into the ground - 250,000 miles and I never did anything to it. Just changed the oil and a few other routine items. Sold it in good running condition to a friend. Still running as far as I know.

My 2015 Mazda3 S is so far just as reliable. No weird problems, just get in and drive. Change the synthetic oil every 7,500 miles. The only thing that's happened is a screw backed out of the sun visor arm mount. Just needed a little loc-tite. It's at 50,000 or so miles so far. I put a lot of miles on my cars and expect them to last, but I also fix anything that breaks immediately and try to do all the useful preventative maintenance. Never been to a dealer since I drove it off the lot, I have my own excellent third party mechanic.

Really love the get-up and go the 185 HP has compared to the Protege, and still excellent mileage to boot. The Skyactiv stuff is a miracle. baby it and get 400 miles per tank. Gank on it for lots of power and get a lot less, but it's fun. It's amazing how much better the car is all around compared to say, my wife's Honda Civic, which is a piece of junk at almost the same price. Interior, exterior, engine, everything.

I'd say any of the current generation years are fine, and as far as the previous gen, they don't get nearly as good mileage but they are nice cars with a lot of get up and go, and have much better visibility due to bigger windows. the only problem a friend has had with those is the at the time optional infotainment display started to crap out. Haven't had any problem with mine.

I bought both Mazda cars new.

-H
 
I would recommend that you go with a Touring trim or higher. My 14 has been stellar, although leaving the display in full sun on a very hot day is asking for a glitch. I cover my car at work and use a windshield screen for times when the car sits outside for less than a couple of hours under full sun.

My daughter's Protg was a fantastic car, as was my 89 MX6 GT. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Mazdas.
 
I would recommend that you go with a Touring trim or higher. My 14 has been stellar, although leaving the display in full sun on a very hot day is asking for a glitch. I cover my car at work and use a windshield screen for times when the car sits outside for less than a couple of hours under full sun.

My daughter's Protg was a fantastic car, as was my 89 MX6 GT. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with Mazdas.

I should clarify that I have an S-touring and I'd agree with Concept. The bigger engine is awesome, black leather interior very nice, and I really like the heads up display. Lane change warning indicator is nice. The only downsides are the auto dimming mirror is junk, it's always too bright, The navigation is junk as well, 10 year old interface. I use my phone instead on a suction cup mount. Entertainment system is OK. Wish I could name the stations that I save in my favorites, because they're all for different areas that I travel to and I have to remember what's what based on the frequency.
 
The engine in these new cars is very good. The transmission doesn’t seem to give issues in the smaller mazda3/6 (tons of reported trans failures in the Cx-5)

My Mazda 6 2.5 has 60k Miles on it and She has been holding up well so far.
 
I do use my navigation unless there is a destination that is so new that the NAV doesn't know about it. In that case I use my phone with Bluetooth connection. When using the car's NAV, my heads up display shows turn and straight arrows - a nice convenience. I am okay with the Linux software, as I don't have an android or Apple phone, anyway.
 
I commute 70 mile ea way to work for past 4.5 years, bought a 2014 touring 2.0 new, now with 176K miles. Had the dealer do complete trans maintenance at 135K. Did radiator flush and fill at 160k. Oil change every 7.5K. Plan to do spark plug change around 185K. Serpentine belt looks like new, completely inspected. Have never had a warning light come on for anything, or anything in the car fail at this point, and it runs great. Dealer says I should get 300K out of it, we will see as plan to buy a grand touring 2.5T next spring as I am sold on Mazda.
 
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