Jeremy,
I too commend you on extending our warranties but the warranty seems to be only as good as the dealership that honors it. There seem to be a lot of Mazda dealers who know very little about the 8. It is kind of scary how little some know, even the basic stuff, for example I got into an argument with my dealership here in MAINE about oil, they insisted that synthetic oil must go into my car I had to argue with them over oil, come on! So I guess my question is what does Mazda NA do th educate service departments on the rotary engine?

Is It Offered In Canada????

little technical glitch guys. Jeremy had a problem posting- which of course never happens here:)- he'll try again in alittle bit. seems he tried an RG length post and of course the server bombed on him:banghead:

subscribed!

quick hello
 

Sorry guys -- as Zoom said, I think I confused the server with too much PR speak... I'll try again, and break this into a couple of posts.

I'll do the best I can to answer your questions, but please understand that there are some things I simply cannot address or answer. I will be honest with you, though, and tell you when I can't tell you.

Stay tuned...

Jeremy Barnes
Director, Product and Corporate Communications
Mazda North American Operations
(just so you know I'm a car guy, too, I raced an RX-7 for about 12 years, a MAZDA6 for 2 and now have a Spec Miata. I'm one of you...)

little technical glitch guys. Jeremy had a problem posting- which of course never happens here:)- he'll try again in alittle bit. seems he tried an RG length post and of course the server bombed on him:banghead:

Welcome to the forum Jeremy.

Mr. Barnes' presence is SO huge that it's crashing the server. ;)

here goes...

- Canada: yes, the warranty will be extended for Canadian customers. Stay tuned, you'll soon be notified by Mazda Canada with the details, but you will be covered.

- oil: the only oil recommendations i can make are the ones in your owner's manual, including both viscosity, type (dino oil only) and change interval. it should not be necessary to pre-mix at all -- you have a sophisticated metering pump on the engine that injects a precise amount of oil into the engine. The SpeedSource Grand Am 3-rotor cars DO use Castol Syntec, but they pre-mix. Oh, and their 3rotor is quite different than your 2-rotor RENESIS!

- nav system: sorry, due to confidentiality and competive reasons, we cannot share the source code for the nav system. check with your local Mazda dealer for possible updates to the mapping software. they may have to check with their tech hotline for assistance, and it depends on the year of the car, but it may be possible to get you updated maps. I cannot tell you what this may/may not cost, i'm afraid.

- R3 nav: sorry, as the R3 is a top-line sports package, we made a decision to not offer it with navigation. the factory system cannot be retrofitted back into the car as the wiring harness and center console is completely different.

- dealers: as you all know, every dealership is an independent business, neither owned nor operated by us. as such, they all run slightly differently. you are not obligated to return to the dealer from whom you purchased your car for service, nor are you required to service your car at a Mazda dealer. You are, however, required to maintain proof of maintenance of the car (per the maintenance schedule) if you wish to receive warranty service. I'm sure you can understand this...

More in the next post. Moving on to P2 of questions...

Jeremy.

I also want to personally thank all involved on the warranty extension. It is a nice surprise and appreciated. It is also an action that speaks louder than any words.

This was especially meaningful to me because about ten years ago I had a problem with Ford in which a factory defect was shortly discovered after the warrany broke. I was barely acknowledged. To this day, I will not consider another Ford product.

I was slightly skeptical about Mazda's relationship with Ford but knew the RX8 was solely Mazda developed. This action reaffirms even though Ford has a stake, Mazda is making the decisions.

A very big thank you from the Canadian side of the boarder. It's been tough reading through the post the last few day's and wondering if we were included in this . :icon_tup:

subscribed

Jeremy Thanks for taking time to view our aches and pains. You must have been lurking on these forums for a while as your join date is August 2006. Have you been keeping Mazda head quarters informed of all the issues you have read on the forums since your join date? Also, I have been using the BG product line oil/fuel injection combustion chamber cleaner that was refered from this site. When using the fuel additive my car runs smooth with no hesitations, however if I don't add to every fill up my check engine light comes on and the car don't want to run. One dealer said I needed a new engine, 2nd dealer said a mfg rep ( could that be you? ) personally looked at my car and said to replace the engine mounts and that was supposed to fix the rough idle and hesitation.... has not be the case. Have never used anything but premium fuel ( reciepts to prove every mile ) 3rd dealer ( now local ) said they would call me in a few weeks when the mfg rep was going to be in town to look at my car... that was this past November... still waiting on that call. I have more trouble when the temp outside reaches 78+ degrees today it's 97 since summer is here the car is parked! Why do the rotary engines not run right when it warms up?

Strong Suggestion
 

As the franchise holder, Mazda ought to increase the requirements of the dealers in order to raise the standards. I know there are several ways to accomplish this, whether punishment or reward. Perhaps they should be notified that undercover customers (Mazda Moles) will be visiting from time to time to test their performance.

I know that Mazda is already aware of these concerns.

Paul.

Jeremy, thanks for taking the time to post here. I certainly don't want to shoot the messenger. But, if you plan on taking any feedback to Mazda from this exercise, I'll offer my opinion that "dealers will be dealers" is a bad defect in the Mazda corporate culture.

Thanks!

Mazmart Paul has a reasonable suggestion. As I recall, a while ago the RX-8 customer satisfaction ratings were removed from their overall ratings for service during the initial "teething" problems but I don't know our satisfaction ratings were re-instated in the program.

Jeremy, we really appreciate whatever information you can share with us. As I am sure that we can also appreciate that you may not have answers or may not be able to answer other questions.

^they are counted again. though, oddly enough, I didn't get one after my last service.

Follow-Up Appreciated
 

Thank you, Jeremy. I wonder if you might be so kind as to ask one of your best rotary engineers to review some of these questions. As you may be aware, Mazda has modified the Renesis for 2009 to include two additional oil injectors aimed at the center of the apex seals. This is why some have considered adding premix on our older Renesis engines. Also, when you speak of oil viscosity recommendations in our owners' manuals, please note that our owners' manuals are not consistent. For those of us in the US, a thinner oil is recommended than for owners in other countries. Is that because of CAFE legislation in the US? Is there a higher incidence of engine failure in the US?

Thanks!

Being in a distributor sales business... If my company has a complaint by a customer regarding product line/service to a mfg then that mfg will come to investigate the customer's complaints with my company if complaints continue some vendors would pull their line from out distribution center. So with regards to this topic. No Mazda don't own independent dealerships however the dealership SELLS and SERVICES.... Mazda products so therefore in the eyes of a consumer the dealership is MAZDA and as a consumer who paid close to 30k for my car I do expect knowledgable service for my car. When I know more about my car than the "certified technician" there are problems that need to be addressed.

just so you guys know ssince the thin oil seems to be a popular discussion topic. I used to be in the ford asset program, and the ford line for why so many carys run 5w20 in the us is because it allows the engine to build oil pressure faster on startup where like 90% of all engine wear, and bearing wear occours.

What? that's it??? Thanks for posting Mr. Barnes. Am glad that the warranty extends to us Canucks as well. So it seems that 5w20 dino oil change per manual is the way to go then. No premix, no 5w30 nor synthetics.

Yeah, I don't understand the oil issue either. I have several dealers in my area and they are all very inconsistant in the way they treat issues. When my alternator overcharged and fried my abs unit, battery and power windows World Car Mazda here in San Antonio said that it was the factory battery, they replaced it and when that did'nt work they said it was the battery cable/fuse and when that didn't work they said I needed a new battery again before they could figure out what the problem was. They seriously tried to convince me that I would need a second battery put in before they could diagnos it further. I took it upon myself to take it to a alternator shop and it took the guy all of five minutes to determine the alternator was overcharging. Then I took it to North Park Mazda here and they fixed everything under warranty. I was refunded the cost of the battery I bought at Autozone too.
Early on I gave up on Legend Mazda because when my car was four days old they tried to tell me that my water filled tail lights were not covered by warranty. IPAQ Mazda and Northpark Mazda are the only two I would recommend in San Antonio.

hint, he is not allowed to make that kind of recommendation, especially as a mazda rep.

Thanks Mr. Barnes for the extended warranty! I haven't yet and hope I never will have major warranty issues but "in the back of the mind" security is nice to have regardless.

My question is why is the monetary bar is set so high for a Mazda dealer to become a Mazdspeed dealer? I would love my local dealer to be able to sell me a MS 3 (or MS 8 hint hint!), for example, but he can't/won't be able to due to the costs involved from Mazda. And I won't drive 50 miles away to buy/service one at the next closest dealer.

Please make the Mazdaspeed brand a normal Mazda brand that all can sell, so we can all buy one. Thanks.

Could you give some examples of how Mazda encourages dealerships to be knowledgeable, helpful, and reasonable? Or like you said, is that completely out of Mazda's hands for the most part because they do not "own" the dealerships. I should say I am pleased with mine by the way, but I am curious.

Thanks for the warranty too, I am 18 and this is my first car. With the extended warranty, you have given me all the more reason to buy and trust Mazda in the future.