I was a long time VW owner before buying our first Mazda, current 2020 CX9. Previously bought six VWs from the same dealer from 2000 to 2020, including two for my son and daughter. Cars were religiously serviced by same dealer. Our most recent 2015 Jetta and 2015 Passat both started using oil at around 50k miles, a quart every 2k miles. Both had the same 1.8T motor which is now known for this issue.. Dealer said VW won't do anything because their threshold is one quart for every one thousand miles. When they both started burning a quart every 6-800 miles, took back to dealer to resolve issue. Long story short, VW corporate answer was I'm out of luck because cars were now too far out of warranty. I traded both in our 2020 and a 2021 CX5 for our daughter. Like stated above, lots of manufacturer non-support stories out there.....not just Mazda.
Shopping for a CX-9, should I avoid 2020 and earlier?
- Thread starter Petehammer
- Start date
I feel bad for everyone with a cracked cylinder head, and i truly hope it doest happen to my CX-9. But no brand will provide warranty work on an engine at 113 000 miles. Honda is the only manufacturer i found that has been better at accepting fault, but even then it takes then years to do so. My buddy had to replace its air conditioning clutch twice on his CR-V before Honda issued a compensation program years later. Same thing with the clear coat peeling problem on Honda’s (you have seen them on the road) that they agreed to compensate something like 10 years later. Most of those cars have been sold and resold and new owners don’t even know Honda will fix the paint for them.
I truly hope Mazda extend the warranty on the engine and cylinder head at some point. It wouldn’t be a stretch, in Canada it already is a 5 years unlimited mileage warranty and the CPO program is a 7 year warranty 100k warranty.
But people should leverage their expectations, you are very unlikely to get Mazda to pay the bill on a high mileage engine.
I truly hope Mazda extend the warranty on the engine and cylinder head at some point. It wouldn’t be a stretch, in Canada it already is a 5 years unlimited mileage warranty and the CPO program is a 7 year warranty 100k warranty.
But people should leverage their expectations, you are very unlikely to get Mazda to pay the bill on a high mileage engine.
I don’t consider 113,000 miles as a high mileage engine when it’s the cylinder head that failed. As an owner of the vehicle, there is nothing I could do to influence this defect occurring. Any abuse or lack or proper care should show up in various other failures before the head cracks. There is sufficient evidence to prove that the head on my car was leaking internally before the coolant leaked outside of the head.
With today’s technology, Mazda failed to design the engine properly. They failed to manufacture the parts consistently, and they failed to serve their customers by denying any responsibility beyond their standard warranty.
Three strikes. You’re OUT!
With today’s technology, Mazda failed to design the engine properly. They failed to manufacture the parts consistently, and they failed to serve their customers by denying any responsibility beyond their standard warranty.
Three strikes. You’re OUT!
Above and beyond the engine cylinder head cracking, the paint on the wheels has peeled off, the Infotainment screen was replaced due to “cracks” and the left second row seat won’t fold for third row access (plastic retaining clip on release cable repeatedly fails).
Embarrassing for Mazda!
Embarrassing for Mazda!
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- Plano, Texas, USA
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- Plano, Texas, USA
Yes, I totally agree!
And some people tend to treat cracked cylinder head problem as a simple engine problem but in fact it’s a rare problem for all engines and it isn’t supposed to happen at any mileage for any engine! It would cost you an arm and a leg to fix it and you can’t sell it easily like the oil burning engine problem. Just look at the recent posts by Mazda_petal who got stuck by the cracked head on her CX-9:
And if you want to compare the failure rate or percentage on cracked cylinder head, @GTA-CX9 here said the best:
By your logic the water pump failure on the Ford V6 would be in the same boat. But yet Ford never paid a dime for it, even though it could ruin the entire engine, without any warning signs, and also at 113k. Ford solds tons of those engine on their own and on other brand like the previous gen CX-9, and never offered a extended warranty or a dime. Even with class action lawsuits against them. All I am saying is don’t expect much from this industry outside of the warranty period. This isn’t only Mazda.
I agree with your three strikes. And i think in your case you should have had legal recourse to return the vehicle since it was only 3 week old to you. Definitely if you want to never buy any Mazda’s ever, by all means, I respect that and you should follow your ownership experience to guide your decision and share it to help others.
But back on topic for the OP. Yes i would also recommend not buying a 2020. And unfortunately 2021 was the only year with oil consumption problems. If you shop for a 2021 try to get one outside of the oil consumption TSB vin range or that had the TSB repair appplied.
I also have a 2011 CX-9 that experienced the water pump failure. I’ve changed a few water pumps over the years, so wasn’t too upset that it croaked at 12+ years and 188,000 miles. I did have to question the idiotic decision to put a water pump behind a timing chain cover, but that was a Ford engine in a Mazda, so my only beef with Mazda was choosing to utilize a poorly designed Ford engine (strike 1). The fact that it lasted as long as it did prevented strike 2 and 3 for me. And it’s a part that is going to fail at some point because it has moving parts. I replaced the water pump, timing chain and everything else along the way that I could (without spending too much). No reason to believe the engine can’t go another 100k+ with no worries. We are still driving the 2011 CX-9 daily since the 2016 is still waiting on Mazda to ship the new head and other parts that have been on order for 2 weeks. The lack of parts available for this repair is another indication that this problem is bigger than they are willing to admit. Go to any online parts supplier and try to order a replacement head or head gasket for the Mazda 2.5 turbo. Good luck!
The real issue with the Ford waterpump is that the gasket would fail and coolant would leak directly into the oil, destroying the engine. Yours lasted 188k without catastrophic leakage in the oil, for some it lasted 70k and bricked the engine. Happened to a ton of people, because this engine has been put on a ton of vehicle. But that is a totally different topic. We could restart a thread just on that.
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- North of Toronto
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- 2019 CX-9 Sig
I'll admit I'm prob more apt to not hold a grudge against a car company, but even within a brand one model can be great and another a lemon. Even within a model, one engine's a peach and another not.
Regardless, even at my ridiculously low km (20k, and km not miles) I couldn't see myself bothering to wait on this. We were home a lot in peak covid, and even now we prob avg about half of the days in the workplace that most do, so we are lucky to be so low on km. But I'm not waiting for my 5 yr warranty to be up, will be traded in.
Not necessarily the most prudent move financially, I at least could wait a bit longer as I've got some warranty left. But no way I'd go past warranty. I'd be dumping the car yesterday if it was Mazda USA coverage.
But am I black listing Mazdas? No. I'd buy another if it was the right vehicle. I wouldn't go with any known issues in a model but if a Mazda model was clear thus far, I'd take a chance. I'd rather take a chance on mazda than drive a dud if those were the 2 options.
So in one way I'm quick to judge (bye bye cx9) but in another way I'm very understanding (or a sucker...)
I was just thinking of starting a thread on this topic, but I suppose I'll post here as I'm considering similarly. I had my eye on a 2nd gen CX9 for a while, but it was never urgent, now that the 2nd gen is discontinued it's still on my radar (I looked at the CX-90, but it seems to have too many issues that need to be worked out, plus the tires for that vehicle cost a lot more, lol...among other things that draw me away from the CX-90 for now).
Any how, if considering a 2020 CX9, I was just thinking.. what about an extended warranty from Carmax(yes I know, given you have to purchase it from them) ? I recall Doug Demuro bought like a used Land Rover and they ended up replacing the engine like 2 times under the Carmax warranty.
I'm also wondering... despite where you purchase the CX9, if it still has some factory warranty left (under 5 years, under 60k miles), wouldn't be likely that you can still purchase Mazda's extended warranty in which the engine would be covered?(I just did some searches and I don't see an official Mazda Extended warranty)
I think the 2nd gen CX9 is still a great automobile, given that you can ensure that it has a updated motor that's good to go.
Any how, if considering a 2020 CX9, I was just thinking.. what about an extended warranty from Carmax(yes I know, given you have to purchase it from them) ? I recall Doug Demuro bought like a used Land Rover and they ended up replacing the engine like 2 times under the Carmax warranty.
I think the 2nd gen CX9 is still a great automobile, given that you can ensure that it has a updated motor that's good to go.
I have a 2020. Bought used with 2100 miles on it. Bought from dealer and got the CPO 100k/7yr used car warranty. Dealer recently advised warranty will cover any potential problems related to the cylinder head/coolant leak TSB. Now have 36K on it and have had zero issues. Great vehicle but will probably trade in before it hits the 100k / 7 year mark. Hopefully the bugs will be fixed on the CX90 by then. If someone is considering a used CX9, highly recommend spending a few extra bucks and buy from a Mazda dealer with the CPO 7 year warranty.
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That was my other consideration, getting a CPO model, like you had mentioned earlier in the thread. 7 years 100k from when it was brand new.
The 2.5 L Turbo is utilized across the lineup (with the exception of the CX-90), Mazda is well vested into it. I would hope they would finally perfect this motor and work out all the bugs, which gives me hope for the CX-9, or any other of it's vehicles using this drivetrain, that Mazda will figure it out in the coming years so they(and their customers) won't be dealing with this headache.
Automobiles are complex machines, you can get many aspects right, but if you screw up just one or two critical components it can ruin the experience. It's why I can't find myself purchasing a Hyundai/Kia (They get a lot of things right.. decent interiors, decent aesthetics, etc... but their drive trains are still a mess and not reliable, which to me matters as I like to keep a well thought out vehicle for a while).
You mean before trade-in. I got my 2021 this past August with a below-average 2013 Hyundai Sonata SE trade-in and "out the door cost" was $28k2021 is definitely safer as it should have the updated cylinder head. The 2020 2.5T isn't unreliable by any means, but the chance is still there. So, you can go for the 2020 to save $5k now, with the low chance of having to pay for the coolant leak issue 5+ years from now when it's out of warranty, or you pay the $5k more for a newer car with the updated cylinder head and you can put this issue out of your mind.
IMO, if I were buying now, I would probably just go with the 2021 - though if I were buying used, I'd be negotiating the sale price hard on both cars. Who knows, you may be able to knock the 2021's price down to $30k if you wear the salesperson down enough
This and this. I'm in exactly the same boat with a 2020 CX-9 CPO. The used CPO warranty was notably better than warranty on a new car as well.
I had no idea of the cylinder head issue before I bought the car, but so far based on my Mazda experience to date I'd probably still have bought the car. There's pretty few options out there that are above average reliable, look great, have AWD, and drive sportier than most sedans. I'm not sure you can reasonably blacklist it, perhaps take some of that $5k and put it in an Ally savings account at 4.5%.
We needed a new car and the CX-9, 3 years later has absolutely fit the bill. Knock on wood my cylinder head will hold up, but if not I've got a few years to have money set aside for that one repair. I have been doing my own mail-in oil analysis once a year or so, so I'm not dependent on the dealer oil chain tech being observant.
One thing I am curious about, what have folks paid for the cylinder head repair out of warranty? My mom's wrangler had a problem with the fuel tank there was a TSB for on her out of warranty Wrangler, and Chrysler corporate was willing to split the cost of the repair
