Mazda Quality
- Thread starter Al
- Start date
Same for Mazda3, tank way too small.
My 1990 Mazda Protege LX w/manual was a total pleasure to drive. (Never seen a Protege of that series (1990-1994) on the road in a very long time.) In 2002 bought a used 1999 Protege LX (which I still own) which is also a total pleasure to drive. This car will easy last another few decades if I can find someone who is able to do transmission work reasonably. Mazdas are great cars. I'd buy another one in a heartbeat.
Mazdas of the past never lived too long in the rust belt. They were reliable and well engineered but boy, could they rust. We had a '95 Millenia (correct spelling) that was a nice handling and riding car. The rear multilink suspension was a thing of beauty. It got ugly, but we ran up 225k miles on it before donating it somewhere. At that point we went the hybrid route, where Mazda had not yet ventured.
I got the CX-30. As far as the gas tank: It gets fantastic mileage. 30mpg in suburban driving and 35+ on a trip. I don't have the turbo but it still has 191 HP on a 3400# vehicle and 12.7 gal tank. Thats 400+ miles.
The Mazda CX30 near me are Made in Mexico. and the dealer isn't budging on price. They appear to give a discount but some of that is added back with Doc fees.
Still a good compact car option for sure as Al would attest.
You can now get a made in Japan (Not SIA) 2025 Impreza AWD 4 door hatch with aluminum wheel package and full safety suite for about $24,500. out the door. Yes a CVT but a good one. They are much more serene on the road than the jittery Crosstrek - a big improvement over the '23 models
But not much longer to be sold at that price.
In before the big "OUCH!"
Mazda Sticker from a Dealer near me
Still a good compact car option for sure as Al would attest.
You can now get a made in Japan (Not SIA) 2025 Impreza AWD 4 door hatch with aluminum wheel package and full safety suite for about $24,500. out the door. Yes a CVT but a good one. They are much more serene on the road than the jittery Crosstrek - a big improvement over the '23 models
But not much longer to be sold at that price.
In before the big "OUCH!"
Mazda Sticker from a Dealer near me
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2021
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It’s 15.3gals. Bigger than both RAV4 and CR-V.
Yep. That’s why so many of their new models have the 2.5L engine and 6 speed auto transmission.
Very tight budget to develop new powertrains.
Propflux01
$100 Site Donor 2026
A tight budget, yes, but a proven design that simply works and is dependable. The CX-5 (2nd version) has been going since 2016, now on a 10 year ride and still best seller. There is a reason for that. It is also economically sound.
Even Hyundai is limiting its powertrains to essentially 3, the 1.6, 2.5, and 3.8.
JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
I still think rust is a problem for Mazda for those of us in rust prone climates. Nothing that can't be mitigated of course.
When I was looking at ~3yr/old vehicles, with ~36K miles on them about a year ago in this segment and price range, I really loved the CX-5. The interior feel/fit/finish, the switchgear style and layout, etc. I liked the ride and performance. Love the look of them. Of the two 2021's I looked at, the white S-model had rust dots under the most of the doors and under the lift gate. Actual tiny bits of rust. Not "rail dust". It also had too much rust for my liking on what I could see of the undercarriage. Most of which is covered by those ridiculous fuzzy cardboard-like panels. The black touring model had a rust spot under the lift gate crimp and the rusty undercarriage.
This is ultimately why I went with my 2021 Equinox. Less corrosion, comparing 3 of them with 3, CX-5s. That, and a comparable age/mileage Equinox was about $3-4K less.
When I was looking at ~3yr/old vehicles, with ~36K miles on them about a year ago in this segment and price range, I really loved the CX-5. The interior feel/fit/finish, the switchgear style and layout, etc. I liked the ride and performance. Love the look of them. Of the two 2021's I looked at, the white S-model had rust dots under the most of the doors and under the lift gate. Actual tiny bits of rust. Not "rail dust". It also had too much rust for my liking on what I could see of the undercarriage. Most of which is covered by those ridiculous fuzzy cardboard-like panels. The black touring model had a rust spot under the lift gate crimp and the rusty undercarriage.
This is ultimately why I went with my 2021 Equinox. Less corrosion, comparing 3 of them with 3, CX-5s. That, and a comparable age/mileage Equinox was about $3-4K less.
"It has a heavy hood" is one of the sillier pros I've read.
Last edited:
I swapped the prop rod on the VW for struts. It turned the heavy hood into a light hood
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Meh. Still bigger than CRV and rav4.
Yeah, "my car isn't a rolling fuel bomb" is one of the oddest complaints about a car that I've heard in recent times.
But, if that's their only complaint, that made them trade the vehicle in, that's their choice.
Apparently, some people want their fwd compact cars and suv's to have the same amount of fuel capacity as extended bed pickup trucks.
Who knew?
I certainly didn't.
But, if that's their only complaint, that made them trade the vehicle in, that's their choice.
Apparently, some people want their fwd compact cars and suv's to have the same amount of fuel capacity as extended bed pickup trucks.
Who knew?
I certainly didn't.
That's similar to how I got into Mazda back in 2011.
At the time, I owned a 2006 Nissan Altima and a 1998 Porsche Boxster.
I had the random thought of "I wish there was a car that handled as well as the Boxster, but could seat 4 people easily, and was affordable to buy."
Well, that lead me to the Mazda dealer, where I test drove a couple 2011 RX-8's, and I settled on a 6 speed manual Sport.
Loved that car.
Traded it in for a 2014 CX-5 a few years later.
Yup.
That's why I bought the Cayman in 2015, and the Giulia in 2021.
Mazda didn't offer an RX-8 replacement when I was ready to buy a sports car again in 2015, and in 2021, when I was ready to buy a mid size sedan again, the Mazda 6 was killed off, and they decided not to bring the RWD/AWD based version to market after spending so much R&D budget designing the I-6 version that they cancelled.
Mazda has wasted so much money on R&D over the past 15 years on new tech that they just randomly drop.
First there was the Direct Injection Rotary engine tech that would have improved emissions, reliability, and economy in the RX-8.
Then there was the Mazda RX-Vision and Vision Coupe concept cars.
They decided to completely drop that direction, and let the bean counters at Toyota take over everything.
I won't even talk about their MX-50 BEV thing, that was so horribly compromised, from every possible direction, and they haven't released a second clean sheet attempt yet.
The CX-70 and the CX-90 are the same vehicle, minus a third row seat.
Let me know when they put the I-6 engine and their 8 speed transmission into something smaller than a city bus.
