lurcher

Well he're my statistically useless anecdotal - in 6 years with my MX-5 I've had

Radiator fan failed after a few weeks (not too much of an issue here in chilly Scotland fortunately )
Timing belt slipped about 5k miles shy of scheduled replacement

The latter took my local Mazda place a week to figure out (how???) so I got that one for free even though the warranty had by then expired... it happened just after Xmas when the car had been off the road for a week or so in cold weather. No doubt I pushed it a little too hard when the engine was still "stiff".

SA22C

If you want to see what Mazda quality is all about, take a stroll on over to www.rx7club.com . There are thousands of 1st and 2nd generation RX-7 owners on that board with hundreds of thousands of miles on their respective cars. By and large, these cars still run well and have minimal problems, especially considering that they range from 15 to 25 years old.

m477

As others have mentioned, the jd powers results are worthless.

Find some Consumer Reports with reliability ratings of cars that are 5+ years old. Find any mazda in any issure that is 1)built in japan and 2)non-turbo (to get the most similar comparison for the RX-8). Miatas, NA RX-7s, etc. all have always gotten the highest ratings for long-term reliability.

dawurst

Ozbot...I don't think so, at least not after reading similar complaints here and elsewhere.

Hymee - I called Mazda about the condensor Yesterday morning and expected a call back from them some time today. I'll give them a buzz tomorrow afternoon if I haven't heard by then. I told them that it doesn't sit well with me to fork out that kind of money after 2,000 miles due to the design issue. The lady, who was very friendly, said she would see what can be done and get back to me. At least they didn't deny it right away, but I guess time will tell the outcome. I do plan on pursuing it for as long as they will take my calls. I would certainly encourage others to make calls to them as well...power in numbers.

ptiemann

fully agree. I cannot believe that Mercedes ranks so low. Must have been bogus complaints.


Please keep in mind that Mazda gives you a 5 y / 50000 mile warranty!!! They must have great confidence.

Nubo

At the risk of turning this into a Miata thread, but it does relate to Mazda quality...

Took delivery of my Miata in fall of 1990. It now has 150,000 miles. The car has NEVER let me down on the road. The only thing that ever came close was the clutch went at 90,000, but still got me home and subsequently to the shop under its own power. I'd consider this normal wear and so I can say that this car has had NO unscheduled maintenance ever. In fact I am still vacillating between the RX-8 and a new Miata!

My wife has leased 3 Mazda vehicles. The 1st 2 were 626 models and we were very pleased. The most recent is a b3000 pickup and it does well enough but I do see some Ford influences. The RX-8 is manufactured in Hiroshima and hopefully will have as little Ford DNA as possible.

Keshav

Mine sure did.

neit_jnf

My intake and exhaust modded 12A 1984 RX-7 engine lasted 130,000 miles. Failure was due to over revving for too long periods of time, while the engine was still cold and because of overheating. I liked to see my header glowing red!! My second one that is because I melted a hole on the first one ( I was 18 and because of this driving behavior I had to change the suspension bushings on the exhaust side more than once because they melted too!) The interesting thing is, none of my seals or housings were damaged but I needed new rotors because the apex seal's grooves opened up and could not hold the apex seals into position. Having to rebuild the engine gave me the oportunity to do some bridge porting and exhaust porting but I couldn't take advantage of it because a month later I was rear ended and sandwished between a p-up truck and a car, totalled. I still miss that car.

SpacerX

I'll add another data point: my 1993 PGT has a Mazda drivetrain, and it's lasted 180K miles on the original engine, tranny, and clutch... still runs very strong, does not burn oil, and gets better mileage now than when new...

BRealistic

My 01 B3000 was reliable and fun to drive (but had some questionable interior and exterior quality/assembly), but keep in mind that is 100% a reskinned Ranger built alond side Rangers. Calling it a Mazda with Ford influence is a bit of an understatement. But those trucks are cheap- great trucks for the money.:D
I have owned nine Mazdas, with two being reskinned Rangers. (82 GLC, 85 RX7, 86 323, 90 323, 90 B2600i, 92 Miata, 97 Protege, 01 B2300, 01 B3000). I drove all the vehicle hard even though they had alot of mile (besides the Protege and B2300 and B3000- purchased new), and none of them let me down. The Miata is currently being driven by my brother in Atlanta- still on original clutch at 135k miles. A great car that will probably be remembered as one of the most reliable real sports car ever made. My 85 RX7 has 177k miles, and is still on the original unopened engine and trans- and it runs superb.:D

Supercharger

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=13763

6speed8

First of all, if you look at the JD Power chart you see the top 5 are luxury nameplates. Generally speaking these cars are used by older (read: more mature) people who tend to NOT drive so hard on a car. Toyota gets on there for mainly Camrys and Corollas, again mostly older people. The other thing is who and how questions/reporting of problems is interpreted. I'm sure you've all heard (or may have said) - t's a great car, no problems, except it needed a new A/C or Transmisssion or whatever. Some people do not think/report all problems because they either don't recall having them, or they just feel it is 'normal' for these things to fail. This is especially true if say that person has owned 3 Camrys and had to have the struts replaced at 40k miles for each one, well they might then assume - hey it's not a problem, it has happened to all three at around the same mileage so it must be normal wear and tear. Most of the 'top' brands have repeat buyers.

The best car I ever owned for longevity and minimal problems was my 1990 Protege ( a first year model). I traded it in for my 1996 626 Ex V6 Auto with 151,000 miles with the original clutch. I did all scheduled maintenance and the only 'failure' on the car was the radiator at 105,000 mile. My 626 was traded in at 50k miles without ever having a single item needing or being repaired. My 1999 Protege was traded in at 25k miles with only the steering wheel being replaced (the covering came loose). My 2000 TOYOTA Celica GT-S spent a total of one month in the shop for various failures - CD player replaced, Belt tensioner, Throttle body, 6 speed transmission (was replaced at 49k miles). In short my one Toyota spent more time in the shop than THREE Mazdas
with a combined total of 225k miles. So if I was asked which cars are reliable, I would truthfully have to answer Mazda.

Oh and by the way I drove my 90 Protege harder than my Celica because The car I had before the Protege was an 85 Camaro Z28 IROC which had 115k miles when traded for the Protege. The Z28 had the original clutch, but had gone through three water pumps, a starter, an exhaust system, a neutral saftey switch, leaking T-tops which eventually ruined the front seats due to water damage, rattles galore, the stereo died at 40k miles, the rear disk brake calipers needed to be replaced at 49k miles - a very expensive job. The front struts were replaced at 19k miles. The Camaro started using 1 qt of oil every thousand miles (valve seals were shot). I could go on and on, but I won't, I think you all get the picture.

loco4rx8

Speaking of Miatas, my '92 had 175,000 miles when I sold it. Still had original clutch. A terrific car!