Faults:
Rear hatch pistons failed.
Sliding side door came off its rails.
Power steering pump failed while the car was in motion.
Unexpected lag or jumpiness when accelerating.
Eats front brake pads twice as quickly as other cars in its division.
General Comments:
This was not love at first sight, for us, it was more a matter of finding the right car to fit our family needs. That being 2 young children, dog, large stroller and road trips around the area.
The first week found us with a cracked rear hatch strut. The gas cylinder gave out after 4 days or 200km's. Since I needed something out of the back, I opened up the sliding door and it immediately fell off the hinges.
The next issue was my own fault. I was in line at a drive through coffee shop playing with my change, a quarter slipped through the gap in the steering wheel, and must've landed on some wires, and the horn went off. In the drive through. It stayed on for the next 1/2 hour until I could fish out the change with a coat hook. I'm pretty sure that there is still money floating around in there, and that one day, it's going to set off the horn again.
After 40,000km's, we were told that we would need brakes all the way around the car. The cost was $800 and not covered by warranty. My Honda Civic didn't need brakes until 80,000km's.
One time on a major highway when I was driving just over the speed limit of 60mph / 100km/h, the power steering failed. I could not turn the car left or right without a LOT of effort. If it was my wife driving, she wouldn't have the strength to move the car at all. If I was on a off or on ramp, there is a strong chance that myself and / or my wife and kids would've been injured in a crash. It wasn't until 2 years later that a recall was placed on these power steering pumps.
Our power steering pump required a week of service, and had to have the front of the car removed to get at it. For that week, we had no baby seats, which made transportation to and from our children's daycare difficult.
The mileage is slowly getting better. At first, it was about 11 liters / 100km. Now it is down to 7 liters / 100km.
I would not recommend any Mazda.. ever.
31st Aug 2010, 13:10
I have a 2008 Mazda 5 Sport. Currently the vehicle has about 32K miles on it.
It also had the rear hatch struts replaced, the passenger side suspension strut was starting to make noise, and the gas cap starting acting up and would not latch correctly. However, all this was taken care of by the dealer under warranty.
So far no issues with the brakes or sliding door. I did have the steering problem on one occasion, but have seen that there is a recall for this.
Perhaps your biggest issue is with the dealer, as I have had nothing to really complain about with our 5.
I forget what mileage we get with ours, but it isn't really out of line with other vehicles of its size. But you seem to be getting about 32 mpg. Of course your fuel economy will be a function not only of your driving technique but also of where you are driving. But on a recent road trip I was able to achieve over 30 mpg. Personally, I don't consider this as a negative for a micro-van.
From my experience, I have nothing bad to say about Mazda. Any problem that I have mentioned to the dealership has been addressed expediently. I find no reason to not recommend Mazda as a reliable vehicle.
Having recently owned a GM Cobalt and having owned Audis and VWs for over 20 years, you would need to partake of that experience in order to get a true understanding of unreliable and being of poor quality.