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Changing tires will do nothing for the cold weather clanky/crunchy suspension issues. I had the same issue for some time. There is a service bulletin for this issue as has been mentioned previously (see all bulletins at http://www.finishlineperformance.com/store/pages.php?pageid=17) requiring replacement of the bushings on the front lower arm and/or front/rear stabilizer bushing. I had mine in countless times for front and back. This is the first winter with no problems (so far anyway!).
Hmmm... maybe Cerberus should get out of the business of trying to make cars and just sell antenna masts?
-- lots of fun to drive
-- vibrates at ~50 mph
-- plastic creaking noises from base of windshield
-- rear suspension creaking noises started yesterday
Have any of these been successfully addressed by Mazda?
My dealer, while polite, has been less than helpful.
http://www.finishlineperformance.com/pdf/mazda3/bulletin/01-047-08-2000.pdf
2 weeks ago yesterday my 2007 Mazda 5 with less than 45K on the odometer caught on FIRE. We called Mazda to report it and their response was: Report it to your insurance company - we can do nothing; the same type of response from the dealer and so on. My wife is very upset. We have maintained the vehicle w/ care and diligence. Oil Changes, Repairs done at the Mazda dealership and the vehicle passed inspection less than 2 weeks prior to the fire. THERE IS NO REASON FOR THIS TO HAVE HAPPENED. NEVERTHELESS IT IS SAD FOR US TO SEE HOW THERE'S LITTLE THE MAZDA DEALER, CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SERVICE ADVISORS HAVE DONE TO TRY TO GIVE US A REASON OR INVESTIGATE. That was the last Mazda Vehicle we owned. We are going straight to a TOYOTA dealer. NO MORE MAZDA's for me or my family. No more fire hazard.
2 weeks ago yesterday my 2007 Mazda 5 with less than 45K on the odometer caught on FIRE. We called Mazda to report it and their response was: Report it to your insurance company - we can do nothing; the same type of response from the dealer and so on. My wife is very upset. We have maintained the vehicle w/ care and diligence. Oil Changes, Repairs done at the Mazda dealership and the vehicle passed inspection less than 2 weeks prior to the fire. THERE IS NO REASON FOR THIS TO HAVE HAPPENED. NEVERTHELESS IT IS SAD FOR US TO SEE HOW THERE'S LITTLE THE MAZDA DEALER, CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SERVICE ADVISORS HAVE DONE TO TRY TO GIVE US A REASON OR INVESTIGATE. That was the last Mazda Vehicle we owned. We are going straight to a TOYOTA dealer. NO MORE MAZDA's for me or my family. No more fire hazard.
My cousin had a Toyota. You know what happened? It caught fire! On the freeway. He managed to pull off quickly and managed to put the fire out. I once saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee burn to the metal in front of a gas station. All the extinguishers in the gas station could not put it out. It's just sad. They keep making them out of flammable materials.
You know what doesn't burn? A horse. (or maybe I'm wrong) Did any of the Yugo's burn?
Now, Mazda could have handled it better. They could have pretended they're interested in "learning". The car was out of warranty. You bought it used. Who knows? It's not like Mazda Mazda5's are burning out there. Yours was an accident. The insurance company is the proper place to call. I hope you got some money for it!
From what I read and experienced, Mazda does not have the most helpful customer service out there. But they’re not the worse. I'd say average. I heard Honda is excellent, but their cars put me to sleep.
Let's not forget they're a small company. There is some risk in buying from a small manufacturer. They can't be too generous. Their bottom line is rather thin. But then again, that risk is alleviated by the small price compared to quality/performance of the product.
I would not blame Mazda for the fire, or suspect that Mazda cars are prone to fire. Squeaking is another story.
The time for the new model year came and went (almost), there is no inventory of MZ5 left, dealers cannot order it (any year) anymore and Mazda is mum about it!
Does anybody know anything?
I am waiting to buy one, but if this drags for too long, I'll have to just buy something else. I have a pregnant wife and a kid. Walking would work for a short time only.
Having said that since 07 Mazda has been always late for launching the Mazda5 in the US (and Canada) so I doubt there are any 2010 around yet...
Now, using Autotrader (which allows to search them nationwide at any distance), brings 194 available nationally, all 2009, so there are some, but none are 2010 yet...
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/searchresults.jsp?doors=&systime=&position=top&mod- - el=MAZDA5&search_lang=en&style_flag=1&start_year=2009&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&- - search_type=new&highlightFirstMakeModel=&distance=0&min_price=&rdm=1253580575040- - &drive=&marketZipError=false&advanced=&fuel=&keywords_display=&end_year=2010&sho- - wZipError=n&make2=&certified=&engine=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&- - body_code=0&transmission=&default_sort=&max_mileage=&address=61455&color=&max_pr- - ice=&awsp=false&make=MAZDA&seller_type=b&num_records=25&sort_type=yearDESC
This situation is stagnant since the early August. That must affect the sales figures. I mean if I could have found the car I want, I would have bought it.
SO since then (middle of August) dealers told me there are no more 09 coming and the 2010 are not coming either. Why is that? If the 2010 is not ready to be introduced, make more 09.
I know a great deal of planning goes into what goes into production and what not, but I think this is a huge gap - two months and growing - without the car in showrooms.
As much as I love this car, if it doesn't come soon, I'll have to find a vehicle somewhere else.
Ford is advertising a "sun and sync" 319/mo lease for a Edge with pano moon roof and sync.
VW is having 0% 7 years loans on almost everything. I mean, c'mon!
That's not what I want, but I have to be able to make the doctor appointments and so on.
As I understand, post C4C, dealers are having serious difficulties to move their inventory (no surprise there) so before you move on submit offers to each of the dealers around you and see their responses, I'm sure they want to sell the leftovers before the 2010s arrive
If you like at the prices paid around very few have really paid MSRP for them
What's C4C?
We have a few iron clad requirements:
-interior has to be "sand" leather (cannot be black)
-exterior cannot be black
Because of the way Mazda groups the interior and exterior colors, our choises narows the selection.
The only qualified car in SoCal is a Red GT with an MSRP of over 29k (I don't know what they put inside that car).
I was looking for pay around 21k for a GT, so no nav, dvd or sat.
Most of the cars left have black interior. We have a CX-7 with black interior and that's it for us. Our previous Freestyle had sand leather and it was MUCH easier to keep clean (babies and milk spils, etc.)
So there. At some point, probably they'll sell the 29k for 21k, but I don't think that they'll do that this soon.
Plus, what if the 2010 has the new engine? I also REALY want that. I'd like to see what that car looks like... since I've been waiting/dreaming for years for this car.
BTW, here are the specs for the 2010, not many changes. The new model might come until 2011 (with a new engine I believe):
http://www.mazdausamedia.com/content/2010-mazda5
So just the DSC. I've seen parts of that PR on other websites, but it seemed that they just re-used the last year review.
Good! I want a manual tranny, too, but Mazda has reasons to believe that the leather on the seats gets cought between the gears.... :shades:
Feel like trading it in now. Beware.
But hey, don't trade it now, you just put CAN $1256 in it
Usually a transmission flush is 100 tops, an oil change can be 40 (high). Let's say 300 per shock. That's 740. That leaves 500 for replacing the rotors and pads? There is nothing to adjust, deglaze or turn. Everything is new. Three screws out, three screws in.
Besides, my cousin has a Camry. By the 40.000 miles she had master cylinder failure, rear break piston failure, a set of tires and other scheduled maintenance, plus some interior ickies. How does it compare?
Uuu! And a battery, too.
Best Car Ever for small families or empty nesters! I see the "emply nester" ads for the Toyota Venza, but I believe the Mazda5 has it beat--if for nothing else than the 6 seats rather than the usual 5. And then there's the difference in price! The options on the seating/hauling are excellent! The main reason I first considered the car was for the 6 seats. Yes, the back two are best for children, but my 6 foot son climbed back there to check it out. As he put it "I would't want to go on a family vacation back there, but it wouldn't be all that bad to go across town to dinner." My sentiments exactly, as you can't take 6 people if you don't have seats (and seatbelts) for 6! It works! And for four adults, each has their own seat with armrests and cupholders, and a bunch of room for luggage--much better than almost any other small car. But you do make a choice for hauling stuff--it's either 6 passengers and no stuff, or more stuff and fewer passengers. This last week I went with my son on a family vacation, and went out with 2 adults and 1 child, and a lot of tents, chairs, food, etc. I came back with 2 adults and 3 children, but less stuff--but I still brought back an ice chest, 2 chairs, a tent, 2 sleeping bags with bedding and pillows! And for those who care, I got better than 30 miles to the gallon on the trip with the air conditioning on!
Lets talk about mileage. I am getting 20 to 23 miles per gallon in town (Southern California) with the air conditioning on. It's more like 20 if I really put my foot into it, but always at least 20 and most often 23. The 5 speed automatic is just astonishing. If you are trying to save gas, you can get all the way up to 50 mph with less than 2000 rpm's on the tach. More normal acceleration is easily attainable with 2500 rpm's. The interesting part is if you put your foot into it, you can go over 4,000 rpms in each gear, and get very fast acceleration. I bought the automatic sport as I thought I would be using the "manual" shifting option a lot based on automatics and sticks I have owned over the years. But I actually am using it very little, as the transmission shifts right where you would want it to, depending on the acceleration you want to achieve--when you let up a little on the accelerator--perfect, smooth shifts! The car actually down-shifts automatically as you accelerate out of a corner or on a hill without jamming your foot down on the accelerator--just as you would want to do if you had a stick. Very impressive.
I purchased the Sport Automatic model, as it has all the options I really needed. My car looks great without the spoiler and the lower body moldings. Yes, I would have liked leather, but the nylon seats are really nice! You slide in and stay put, with easy to maintain fabric. It feels really good! Beyond that, the car has cruise control, power windows, power door locks with remote, vanity mirrors on both sides, a nice stereo (that can plug into my smartphone), temperature-set automatic heat and air conditioning (it works great), excellent power steering, 4 wheel disk brakes, and mag wheels. I would like to note here that some reviews complain of a harsh ride on the Mazda5, but with the Sport's 16" wheels (rather than the 17" found on the the Touring models), I believe I get a better ride with the deeper tire profile--you'll note that both tire outside diameters are the same. The handling is great (especially for a wagon), the sliding doors are super nice for adults and kids alike (even adults with disabilities can get in the back seat easily). All these features are "options" on many cars, I don't feel like I'm driving an "economy" car at all.
I would highly recommend this car to all who need it's multi-talented features. As one of my kids said "This isn't a car -- it's a Transformer!" It has economy or plenty of power--you choose. It can haul a lot of stuff or a lot of people -- you choose. Great quality everywhere; it's solid, comfortable (high seating positions) and easy to drive. The only other Mazda I ever owned was a second-hand GLC wagon many years ago. Mazda ads said the "GLC" stood for a "Great Little Car". That car was indeed a "GLC", but I believe the Mazda5 is an even better "Great Little Car". If you have questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability at mccrjk@gmail.com.
We had problems getting a tow hitch for the Mazda5- they were consistently backordered. We also had problems when we towed the trailer loaded with 2 canoes and no other cargo until we learned about loading the tongue heavily to balance the canoes hanging out the back end. Since we were novice trailer folks, it took awhile to learn to balance the load over the axel.
I wish I could post a picture here. This has been a great way for us to carry light loads long distances.
Well....I still have my, or should I say our CX-9 which we only use occasionally for those long family trips full of luggage. However, I missed my old Mazda5 so much that I was able to afford and pick up another used 2006 Mazda5. This is one though is a lot better...
"2006 Whitewater Pearl Mazda5 Touring 5-SPEED Manual w/Navigation"
Yes I know that the Mazda5 is not perfect with its rear suspension noise, tire eating appetite, frozen sliders, et. al. but neither is any other car and I totally love my Mazda5.
By the way, for those that would like to know...Auto vs Manual trans is like night and day difference. This little wagon should have been offered only in manual, it comes alive and it never feels lethargic.
Anyway, nice to be back!
We didn't want another Pilot -- they have only gotten bigger, uglier and more expensive. While our experience with Honda had been superb, we found they really didn't have a car that suited our small, urban family--the CRV has too little seating, and the Pilot and Odyssey are WAY too big and WAY too expensive, especially since we were getting only $12,000 for the totaled Pilot (a fair settlement, but the downside of totaling an older car). We needed something kind of in between, so that we could haul the family, plus kid's friends and/or stuff. My mom wanted us to get the Odyssey, and she wouldn't stop going on about until I told her it was only 1" less in length than the interior of our city garage. Enter, the Mazda5!
My wife was completely skeptical before we test drove it. "It's too small!" When we got to the dealership, and I opened up the sliding doors, the 9-year old leaped into the 2nd row captain's chair, reclined the seat, and proclaimed "this is it!" My wife was quickly won over, too, when she saw the 3rd row seats and the flexibility in the 2nd row--being able to recline and move the seats back and forth is a real plus. The test drive was flawless -- sometimes a car just "fits" you to a tee, and it's obvious from the start. We test drove a few other cars that day, but we couldn't make it back to the Mazda dealer soon enough and buy the Mazda5, a GT in clearwater blue.
That was 1 month ago, and we are very happy Mazda5 drivers. I am only now beginning to get my driving time in, after recovering from the injuries caused by the accident that did in our Honda Pilot. It feels great to be back in a more reasonably sized vehicle. The interior layout and design make the Mazda5 surprisingly fun and comfortable to drive. Although the car IS small, the front seat interior is well designed enough to avoid most of the elbow clashes my wife and I usually end up in when driving smaller cars. The only point of contention is the location of the front seat cupholders -- too low, too far to the rear, and too close to the seatbelt buckles. The quality of the interior work is impressive, the climate control works great, and the moon roof is fun. I'm impressed by and enjoying the "manual" transmission function. We ARE still waiting for the fuel economy to improve -- we drive almost exclusively in Chicago, and we have seen it tick up slowly, but it's still well below the advertised mileage, at least according to the dashboard computer.
As others have said, this vehicle has a flexibility and utility that are unmatched, without the extra price and size of virtually every other SUV and "mini"van on the market.
Thoughts??
thanks
With the Mazda 5, we've always been amazed at what fits inside, love driving it, and love the gas mileage compared to my Sienna. There's no comparison between the responsive steering in the Mazda5 and the sluggish, oh-did-you-want-to-turn-here? steering on the Sienna.
Good luck with your decision!
Anyway, hope this helps. Even with all of the above mentioned, I love my MZ5 and I would never trade it for a "Minivan" (Sienna, Odyssey, et.al)
chuck
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Plus we now have a hitch in back installed so that we can put two bikes in back.
Overall enjoying our Mazda5 a lot. It's a lot of car for the money. Love the smooth shifting manual and the sporty handling.
So far really like the car, we moved down from a Town and Country.
Nice to see Mazda #4 in reliability ahead of Honda and Toyota, M3 best small car which I’m guessing has the same engine and transmission as the 5?
Front bumper cover, left fender, left mirror, left front and rear wheels, and left rear quarter panel, rear bumper cover... :mad:
$4300 in total labor and parts. I am still so pissed off!!! I had just bought my new to me 2006 MZ5 that I looked for a long time to find...a clean white manual touring and not even a month of ownership this happens.
Hang in there. What about getting a new 2012? Mazda loyalty bonus of $500. 1.9 apr. And sometimes you can get steep discounts on the manuals.
My local dealer had a screamer ad for a 2012 Mazda5 manual at $4000 off list. That would put it at about $16300. Freaking lotta car for the money.
Thus, with the upgrade to the 2.5 liter engine not occurring until this year I think it would be at least 2014 before Skyactiv would come to the Mazda 5. It would be strange to have the 2.5 liter engine for only 1 model year on the Mazda 5 (2.3 liter 4 until this new model -- Mazda 6 had this engine through 2008, the Mazda 3 had the 2.3 through 2009). Also, the long-term goals for Mazda are to make the SkyActiv the mainstream 4 cylinder engine on all its cars. As the Mazda 3 makes up more than 50% of total sales in the US it is likely they will discontinue one of the two engines (likely the Mazda 3 base 2.0 liter engine -- the 2.5 liter is on the higher models) and ramp up SkyActiv production. The Mazda 6 will also get the SkyActiv engine and has had the 2.5 liter engine since 2009 (for 3 model years). It is confirmed in Car and Driver December 2011 issue that the Mazda 6 will get the DIESEL Skyactiv engine option in about 18 months (turbo diesel but same skyactiv technology) and the new 2013 will get the SkyActive engine standard first (gas) and the diesel engine (later) ..............note that the Mazda 5 is also the last new model introduction to use the Nagare styling (smiley face) -- all new models will have the new styling that comes out first on the CX-5 next spring (2013 model) ....
First the seats which felt so form fitting and firm, took a bit of adjusting and still need something to make them really good, my wife in the passenger seat was really uncomfortable half way though the first day. Second the area from where the windshield meets the hood back to the outside of the driver side mirror is a bit of a blind spot for me even with the little window, especially at night, it might be where I am sitting and should get better as I get used to it. Third the brake peddle has too much “play”, when coming off cruise control, the cruise cuts out immediately but the peddle feels like it has too far to travel to get to serious braking. I am going to talk to the dealer about that. Also when I floor the gas sometime the transmission takes a bit of time to find the go gear, sometimes has to search for the right gear, a bit disconcerting when trying to hit a closing window of opportunity. The cruise control works great, the speedo is a little off relative to the gps, at 70 gps 71, at 75 gps 77, you might want to check yours.
Sounds like I had a lot of problems with the car, not so , we really like the car. It drives like it is on rails, you have to pay attention all the time (a good thing) we felt safe and made adjustments to the above which I am sure will get better with time.
Now for the really good stuff. We got all our “go to Florida for the winter” stuff into the car without blocking the rear window. The car had about 900 miles when we left. The trip was 1688 (odometer) and we used 57.5 gallons for 29.3 mpg. I am really happy with that. Mileage was taken off the trip meter, each tank filled until the first click turned off the pump. Speeds were 72 for first part of trip, 77 for second half, air was on for only the last 4 hours.
One note about the Scangage e, going up hill under hard acceleration pushed the gauge to read 9999 mpg, like we were coasting, shortly after it read abnormally high mpg on a flat road, it did readjust after a while.
A happy M5 owner
chuck
Would have posted a picture of it loaded but too lazy to figure out how
Everyone that likes Mazda vehicles is excited about the SkyActiv engines (currently just added as an optional engine to the 2011 Mazda 3 and will be the standard engine on the new 2013 (spring 2012) Mazda CX-5 compact CUV).
However, keep in mind that the Mazda 5 was just updated and it is a niche vehicle (sales in the 20,000 range) in the US. So, this engine will make it to the Mazda 5 (as the 2.5 liter engine and the 2.3 liter engine before it were shared with the Mazda 3 and Mazda 6) but the Mazda 6 will get it first (and the diesel variant of SkyActiv) as it up for a new redesign in 18 months.
Honda has only recent Acura models (TL this year) with a 6 speed automatic (even the new 2012 Honda Civic redesign stuck with a 5 speed automatic and was panned) and has zero cars at this point with direct injection (Hyundai, Kia are leading this race but came in 3rd in a new Passat/Camry/Sonata comparison in the December 2012 Motortrend (in 3 separate tests for the 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder and fuel efficient models -- Passat is TDI diesel not hybrid) to the Passat .................
Note that Ford is introducing the C-Max (a direct platform cousin to the Mazda 5) this year and it has the same sliding doors (but power option I think) and can seat 7 (has the seat insert option in the 2nd row). Ford, however, backed out of offering a gasoline version in the US (Hybrid and plug in hybrid versions only) and I am not interested in a hybrid at this point (I have kept my 1990 Mazda 626 hatchback for 21 years and a hybrid won't last that long).
I am interested in the SkyActiv (both gas and diesel) down the line ............
This replaced a 1996 Olds Cutlass with 185K miles on it. The Mazda's engine seems OK and gives some nice zip for a 4 cylinder, but my 6 cylinder Olds gave smoother power and fuel mileage. In comparison, the Cutlass averaged about 26 MPG. The Mazda does about the same. The Cutlass' parts wore out at intervals one would expect. I'm finding the Mazda to be a lower quality vehicle and I'll likely not buy another.
Immediately after purchase, I had to replace the rear shocks which improved handling. I made the replacement myself and observed that the shocks are pretty dainty - they're long and skinny similar to the hatch pistons. There's not enough mass there to sustain the vehicle so I expect that they'll require replacement again at about 60,000 miles.
Mazda soon after had a recall on the power steering pump which improved steering greatly. I'd suggest that any Mazda 3/5 owner make sure that this recall has been completed.
This past summer, I had the Mazda dealer flush the transmission. Since then, I've noticed on warm days over 90 degrees F or driving in the mountains that the transmission has a hard shift between 3rd and 4th gears. I believe that this is more around transmission cooling than the transmission itself. Similar to the rear shocks, Mazda engineers may have underspec'd the cooling for the transmission. My next step will be to try a transmission flush to see if it resolves the shift issue.
One of the rear hubs seized up and I replaced this myself, again observing that the part was dainty. In the case of a hub, I believe that it just doesn't have enough mass to cool warm bearings.
I'm at just over 60,000 miles now and the front struts are in need of replacement. I'll probably replace the front struts and rear shocks at the same time. It won't surprise me if they're undersized, similar to the rear shocks.
I've always driven GM cars and ran them to about 200K miles with standard wear/tear issues that one would expect. I bought the Mazda hearing how much better Japanese quality is, but I'm not seeing it. Instead, I see a vehicle with very questionable engineering quality.
After this experience, I'm unimpressed with Mazda specifically and will further question Japanese brands' quality in general.
Engineering quality:
Build quality:
Fuel economy:
Overall: :lemon:
Shocks = normal wear and tear part
Bearings = normal wear and tear part
Transmission shifting = there is a TSB make sure it is done already
Wow really?
+ + = :lemon: ???
GM= :lemon: 's
I agree that they're normal wear & tear parts, but they seem to wear & tear faster on Mazda since they're undersized.
The tranny has been to the dealer's shop 3 times now with no resolution.
My 2 year experience with my single Mazda isn't impressing me as much as my 30 year experience with the 7 GM's I've owned.