Hoping to buy a used 2008 CX9

Popeyecx9

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Mazda CX9 2008
Hoping to be a new Mazda owner and am doing my due diligence, would like to know if i should be getting into this or not. Have heard and read a lot about the water pump in the engine issue and others.

i am coming from a GMC that just let us very badly down and before that i've had a Lexus which i must say was the best i have ever owned, we ran that to 400+km with only routine maintenance. Thinking is that Mazda might be a good next option. looking at a 2008 Mazda CX9 with 150km for around C$6500 (with a 6 month engine/drive train warranty) out the door.

So back to the question, what should i check and test before making the decision, or should i just walk away.

thanks in advance.
 
Is it AWD? If it is I would stay away. If it's not then you would need to worry about if the main wear items have been replaced (brakes and rotors, struts and shocks, etc... Outside of the water pump the other issues that the CX9 can have are the brake booster, the lower control arms (there's a recall for it), premature wearing of the rear wheel bearings, the clog of the ac drain, the relay for the ac (simple $5 fix), it's a part of the airbag recall, the button that is located on the driver side door that operates the keyless entry falls off of the handle and potentially the transmission. Oh and you may have to inspect the tailgate to make sure that the lift support connection points are good as well. I don't know if they're prone to rusting like some of the other Mazda products have been in the past. I would have it inspected by your or an independent mechanic.
Even knowing some of these issues I still got a FWD 08 w/65k. The only reason I got it was because of the mileage and whoever had it kinda took care of it. So far the issues that it has are one of the rear wheel bearing has been replaced, the front passenger side power window doesn't auto up or down, bad passenger side BSM sensor, missing keyless entry button, the ac relays need to be changed and interior lights act funny from time to time. Even with all of that I would buy it again.
My apologies for the long post and I hope it helps.
 
it is a AWD. so the transfer case is a issue? or is it the transmission? what does it take to replace the water pump as precaution? is this big $$?

lots to digest and check. thanks though, appreciate taking the time to respond.
 
Hoping to be a new Mazda owner and am doing my due diligence, would like to know if i should be getting into this or not. Have heard and read a lot about the water pump in the engine issue and others.

i am coming from a GMC that just let us very badly down and before that i've had a Lexus which i must say was the best i have ever owned, we ran that to 400+km with only routine maintenance. Thinking is that Mazda might be a good next option. looking at a 2008 Mazda CX9 with 150km for around C$6500 (with a 6 month engine/drive train warranty) out the door.

So back to the question, what should i check and test before making the decision, or should i just walk away.

thanks in advance.



Hoping to be a new Mazda owner and am doing my due diligence, would like to know if i should be getting into this or not. Have heard and read a lot about the water pump in the engine issue and others.

i am coming from a GMC that just let us very badly down and before that i've had a Lexus which i must say was the best i have ever owned, we ran that to 400+km with only routine maintenance. Thinking is that Mazda might be a good next option. looking at a 2008 Mazda CX9 with 150km for around C$6500 (with a 6 month engine/drive train warranty) out the door.

So back to the question, what should i check and test before making the decision, or should i just walk away.

thanks in advance.


The entry point for exploration of your decision seems to start with your mileage requirement. You are looking for something having around 93,200 miles on it. That's not a walk in the park. The immediate question becomes: How well did the previous owner maintain such a vehicle? 93k for owner "A" might not be the same 93k for owner "B" given how their different approach to maintenance could be. The second issue is the historical recall nature of the vehicle and its well known mechanical fault nature reported by previous owners. Given the year that you require, that particular vehicle does have a known history of mechanical faults reported by owners and TSB issuance from Mazda. I would begin with an exploration of those two dimensions before doing anything else, just to get a proper gauge of the expected costs involved just in making the vehicle truly roadworthy.

The other factor is how much above and beyond your $6,500 initial outlay are you willing to pony-up over the full length of your ownership. In any vehicle, starting at 93k miles puts the owner at the steep end of the repair costs curve - that curve will only steepen over the full length of your ownership. At some point, depending on how the math works out, you will be faced with asking yourself the question: Would I have been better off investing that $6,500 at X-percent interest while adding to its original cost basis over time and then using that to purchase something new outright?

An example might be: If you spend $9,000 in repair costs over the next 5 years which is not impossible given your starting point with a 93k vehicle, that's $150/mo over the same 5.0 years. $9,000 in repair costs way too high an expectation, you say? Here is the part cost alone for the dreaded Transfer Case problem on a 2008 Mazda CX-9 Sport AWD:

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And, that's just the Transfer Case Assembly. That does not include additional parts and labor for a completed installation. So, it is not unfair to say that you'd probably be closer to $2,000 when the dust settles on just the Transfer Case issue, if that ever comes up. That eats up about 22.2% of that $9,000 repair cost projection.

What breaks next on the 93,000 mile old CX-9 only gawd knows, right? Well, you can look into the possible future as well to an extent. 2008 Mazda CX-9 owners have reported more than once that the vehicle's BCM suffers from water damage. Here's the BCM Front and Rear pricing:

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That brings your parts costs up to about $2,000 not including miscln parts for installation and labor costs. That puts you somewhere over $3,100 in repair costs thus far on well known 2008 CX-9 issues and 34.4% consumption of the $9,000 projected. And, this could only be the tip of the iceberg as far as repair bills go on a 93k CX-9. The 2008 Mazda CX-9 (according to my research) really begins killing off its internal parts at around the 100,000 mile marker. So, buying at 93,000 miles means that according to history, the empirical evidence thus far shows that your repair curve could steepen greatly.

Alternative? Save an additional $2,000 (or more) and add it to your existing $6,500 for an $8,500 down payment on a new Kodo designed 2018 CX-5 Sport. Monthly payments at 1.6% interest would be around $220. That's $70 more per month over the same 5 year period except that 3 of those 5 years will be covered by OEM Warranty, meaning your risk curve as it relates to repair cost curve will be completely flat for that same 3 year period. So, that $70 per month buys down your risk over the same time frame. After the OEM Warranty expires, that $70 per month shifts its weight onto to projected repair cost curve.

Essentially, what you are looking at here is how best to mitigate risk given the starting point that you initiate with a 93,000 mile vehicle as your launch pad. If money were an issue, for me personally, I'd buy down the risk by seeking either a used CX-9 with far less mileage at the time of purchase or significantly less than $6,500 acquisition cost - or both. Else, I'd consider the alternative of buying down risk with a new purchase (CX-5 pricing makes the math work) and suppressing the repair cost curve for 3 full years under OEM Warranty.

My only other option would be to play Russian Roulette with potential repair costs in the future from an initial platform of 93,000 miles. Given the empirical history of the 2008 CX-9 at 100,000 miles, Russian Roulette would not be the game I'd want to play, personally. Don't forget - over time the improved fuel economy between 2008 and 2018 will help to defer overall ownership costs as well. However, if you can find a 2008 CX-9 that was extremely well maintained to 93,000 miles and you consistently engage in the same or better level of care for the vehicle, you could land the knock punch that you are obviously looking for here by keeping your total costs down considerably. However, one should expect that no matter how well maintained a 2008 CX-9 might be, there were some inherent issues with that vehicle that at some point have a high probability for becoming necessary to address with cash.

Just one man's opinion here. Your mileage may vary. All the best in whatever you decide to do. :)
 
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