First off, I’m keeping my ’99 Accord LX 5-speed as my commuter / run around car and it will most likely be my 9 year old son’s car when he turns 16. It’s running great, no problems other than the damn door locks. I'm even on the original battery and I've had this Accord for over eight years (bought it in Oct. '98).

But I just wanted to ask you guys what you think about Mazdas. I was thinking about the Mazda5 which is a 6-seater as my main family vehicle. What do you think about Mazda’s reliability over the long run? Is it comparable to Honda and Toyota? I’d be going with the 5-speed manual transmission.

And yes, I know that this question doesn't directly relate to Accords but let's face it, Accord owners are in general pretty practical people - I'm asking here because I value your collective opinions.

 

sorry, I cant help w/ the kind of answer you want to hear. But I had go check out some of the mazda forums, and start learning more about them, search about thier reliability/performance, etc. btw, mazda5 are nice looking cars.

 

mazdas are crap... good thing your not looking at the rotary engine just from the aspect of having to replace the seals at 80K.. but i just dont like them... their reliability is not horrible... but it does remind me of a KIA or something like that...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sma_V6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">mazdas are crap... good thing your not looking at the rotary engine just from the aspect of having to replace the seals at 80K.. but i just dont like them... their reliability is not horrible... but it does remind me of a KIA or something like that...</TD></TR></TABLE>
That's just your opinion, give him some facts..

My dad has a mazda 626 97 I think. Never had any problems.

 

The mazda5 is and excellent car. It is very comparable to both the accord and camrey. I am pretty sure it is not quite as reliable as Honda or Toyota, but i am pretty sure it got a recommendation from consumer reports, which means it is pretty good. (they don't recommend anything without decent reliability)

I was gonna blast you for posting this here, but then i realized that you would get nothing from GDD if you posted there, so i don't blame you.

 

Um wow, no mazda's are not crap, my family and I were heavily considering a Mazda 3 as the new car over the Civic we got.

The probably you are referring to is ONLY the RX8s which was a recall.

Mazdas have a from my standpoint.

Only reason we went civic was
1) Motortrend car of the year
2) got a sweet deal on it
3) in stock

But it was a close race between the two. You should be fine with the 5.

 

Well put it this way, mazda's are kinda like nissans. They're not the most reliable japanese cars, but is still pretty damn reliable, especially when compared to most domestics. They're not as reliable as Hondas for sure though.

 

i dont know who's idea it is that a rotary engine is crap, but it isnt.

rotary engines are some of the toughest ones out there, they can take a severe beating and have less moving parts which means less chance for breakage.

And they are small for their power output

 

i would think a nissan would outlast a mazda any day(hey, what do i know ) and as for the wankel engine (rotary engine), they require more maintance then your avg. piston powered engine and are much more complex (i would not recommende it as a daily driver) besides they don't make produce 'em anymore (rotary engine). So good luck on your mazda hunt

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Heat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I was thinking about the Mazda5 which is a 6-seater as my main family vehicle. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Umm, hey guys? The 5 doesn't come with a rotary, so drop it. You aren't helping the OP. The pros and cons of rotaries could fill a whole thread by itself.

I had a 94 Miata that was absolutly bulletproof. I put 35K increadibly hard miles on that car (at least 10% of those miles were with the car hanging sideways ) and it never so much as burned a drop of oil. Tough car, so-so gas miliage. A friend has an RX8 which has been flawless for 2 years, another has a Mazda3 that has given him no trouble at all. In general they are just as reliable, but a bit coarser than a Honda or Toyota. Much sportier off the showroom floor though.

 

Dude, wankels are actually alot simpler than piston engines.

 

Allright, sounds like there's no major Mazda problems. It'll be on my list the next time I pick up a new vehicle.

As far as the rotary engine goes, I thought that it was a good engine but just had trouble meeting emissions regulations? Fewer moving parts, plus you can talk about the Wankel under your hood.

Of course the Mazda5 doesn't have the Wankel so it's a moot point I guess.

 

my dad has always driven a mazda and my buddy has a mazda 5. its nice. no problems. just remember...ford makes mazda now so gl with that.

 

My friend has a brand new Mazda 6, and I'm not impressed with it.

I kept reading in magazines how solid a platform it is etc, how nice it is, etc. And I just don't agree.

Everything shudders and rattles and creeks in that thing....it has gotten worse over the few months that he has had it. Reminds me of the late 90's GM vehicles. They felt really solid for a few months, but then the interior plastics started creeking and everything thuds and makes noises inside.

I love the way they look though, as well as the 5. Everybody I know with a Mazda aside from the rotary powered ones have had very good luck with reliability!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Pr0ject93hb &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... just remember...ford makes mazda now so gl with that.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Ford has a controlling interest in Mazda (33.3%), but Mazda is still it's own entity. Kind of.

For what it's worth, Ford owns:
Aston Martin
Ford
Jaguar
Land Rover (bought from BMW)
Lincoln
Mazda (1/3)
Volvo cars

 

I own an 89 Mazda B2200 pickup and never had any problems with it. It's only got about 92k on it and I've had to replace the fuel tank, but other than that, it's an awesome vehicle. It's carbureted and I have to pump the gas pedal about 1 or 2 times before I start it if it's been sitting a couple days, but it starts right up on the first shot. Never left me stranded.

My fiance's dad used to have a 92 B2600 and he ran that until it had about 275k on it. Never really had any major problems with it, although he was trying to fix something on the motor and never got around to putting everything together so he just gave it to the junkyard. But I plan to keep my truck for a while, or for as long as I can before the rust eats away the frame .

 

<U>Car and Driver Magazine had one as a long term keeper and they just finished out their time with it. Overall they thought it was a great people mover and a lot of guys who thought it was dorky at first grew to appreciate it. They did have a few complaints about pieces coming lose, some warranty work having to be done, a major recall (during which Mazda provided a free rental car) and other small things.

Overall the quality is just not on par with Honda and Toyota. By which I mean the look and feel of the controls BUT it is still a pretty good car and is hard to beat considering it is the only car in the sub-minivan segment.

(No the Fit doesn't count, it is much smaller as are the other five doors.)</U>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KillerElfboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i dont know who's idea it is that a rotary engine is crap, but it isnt.

rotary engines are some of the toughest ones out there, they can take a severe beating and have less moving parts which means less chance for breakage.

And they are small for their power output</TD></TR></TABLE>

toughest one out there compare to what? a piece of tissue paper?

unless you know how to fix a rotary, you can't drive it like you have an accord and expect the apex seal to last for 100k without a rebuilt. there's people that live and eat off the rotary and their are fine but in general no.

the cooling system is undersized and the seal just cooking itself slowly, and don't even talk about the renesis, they having a massive oil leak recall.

1.3 is really a 2.6, you can argue all you want but if you konw how it works, it's a 2.6.

it sounds mean and sh-t but they performs pretty average/poor for gas mileage and emission espercially if you have a snail under the hood.

I know friend with them just can't sell it fast enough, fc fd included.

gernerally speaking, the older mazda seems to last longer than the newer mazda, it's not the motor or trans is the little stuff. my dad used to have two 323 hatch back back in the late 80's, those bastard are just tough. but i can't say the same for the new one. one of my friend's protege got alot of problems, cd player stop working, seatbelt bucket broke, o2 sensor and wires melted, etc.

the good thing is they are cheap if you get it use and pretty easy to work on, except the piston-less wankel of course. get it use if you can, they do not hold up value after they leave the lots.

i'll take a toyota, nissan and honduh over mazda for sure.

 

Mazda makes good cars. Most of them are actually built in Japan. I have a 2003.5 Protege 5. It has a very nice interior. It runs well and has had zero problems so far. I think the Mazdas look better and have better interiors than Honda and way better than the crap rental car esque interiors of Nissans and Toyotas. Of cars I would consider it would be Honda, Subaru and Mazda. Mazdas tend to lean more sporty, Subaru has their all wheel drive and Honda just makes good cars. Though my friends former Canadian built 01 Civic and current american built 2000 Accord have had more problems than either her old japanese built 95 Accord of my japanese built 92 Accord.

 

I work in a shop and I do see mazda's vehicles all the time. I've only seen a few of the hundreds of mazdas that I've worked on having more than 200k miles.
As far as the newer ones, from 2000 and up, I would say that they don't feel too bad, not noisy or weak (as far as hp concerns).
The only big problem, and I mean.... a PROBLEM here.... is that mazda has been afiliated with ford, and ford... is crap, like any other domestic cars.
But... who knows.... you might want to buy this mazda 5 and tell us about it in 2 or 3 years from now.... how the car runs and feels..... and such.
Peace.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by gianinline &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My friend has a brand new Mazda 6, and I'm not impressed with it.

I kept reading in magazines how solid a platform it is etc, how nice it is, etc. And I just don't agree.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wouldnt speak to lowly of the 6, it was almost the new accord. Mazda planned to sell the design of the mazda6 to honda for a sport accord platform. Not to many people know this though

 

The best advice is test drive a couple used ones. Maybe one 2006, one 2005, one 2004.

That way you can sort of see what you are geting yourself into first hand. Not just what people say.

 

I have owned 2 Mazda's in my time. A 2004 Mazda6s, which was a V6 with a 5spd transmission and all of the goodies. I loved it, it was a beautiful car that was bulletproof, had no creaks or rattles, none of that, and sadly, outdid the quality of any Honda or Toyota i've ever owned. The only complaint I ever had with it was that the passenger side Bose speaker in the front door grew a small hole.

I now own a 2006 Mazdaspeed6 and its another work of art. I dont know who here say's Mazda is crap, lol, its not in the least if you dont buy a rotary engine. The ****** engine is one continuous headache. I also own a Honda Accord which is a piece of ****, all sorts of issues. My Fiance drives a Miata and its an awesome car, hers is a 2001 and is bulletproof just like someone mentioned earlier.

No car is flaw-less, that should be understood from the get go, but on the Mazda forums i also frequent, people have issues, but nothing outrageous, stuff mostly that the dealer willingly fixes. The aftermarket for Mazda cars is growing considerably also with the introduction of the 2.3 DISI turbo motor into three models in their range.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speedsixed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I also own a Honda Accord which is a piece of ****, all sorts of issues. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Care to elaborate?

POST 1000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

My 1993 Accord has all sorts of issues, almsot 200k, did the egr cleaning, full exhaust many times, front brake rotors blow, all four calipers, driver window and pass window motors suck, a/c compressor is on its way out, upper control arms, lower tie rods, sway bar end links, gas tank filler neck (rust), cam seals, valve cover gasket, oil pan gasket and pan, oil cooler housing, cv shafts, battery, h20 pump t belt, windsheild, countless number of things i have recently replaced in the past couple years but I love my 1993 Accord SE