Mazda 3 Reviews

They had me get all the receipts for service records and I ended up being around 800 miles over due on one of the oil changes and on my current one, I was roughly 1,140 miles or so. I was thinking this was fine due to my owners manual saying the oil needs to be changed every 7500 miles. I assumed that they left a grace period for busy work schedules and time to make appointments around hectic schedules. So because of these overage of miles between the two oil change stated above, they (Mazda) said that the oil light that never went off was irrelevant since I was over due on the two oil changes stated earlier.

My argument is that my windshield wipers come on the second a rain drop hits the car. I have a sensor that tells me when my front right tire is low 5 p.s.i., or when I get sideways around a corner in bad weather, my car automatically stops me from spinning out of control. But somehow when I'm three quarts low of oil and Ive missed an oil change for a week or two, my oil light sensor does not come on. How is that irrelevant to my motor throwing a rod due to lack of oil? Are they saying if I would have gotten an oil change, then it would have worked?

Meanwhile, I have a rental car that I was under the impression it would be covered by warranty but since in this instance or two, I have gone past the mileage between oil changes they won't even cover my rental. And they seem like they are trained or have dealt with this problem many times with the way they avoided and changed the subject every time I brought up the oil sensor.

Is there going to be a recall on this sensor for the oil? If you look at the big picture of service records, I've actually had more oil changes than necessary because 7500 x 7 oil changes = 52,500 and my car is around 49,500 give or take. Not to mention I paid extra for the better oil. But still the oil sensor is irrelevant to what has happened.

This has happened to many other people, treated and dealt with in the same way every time. With Twitter, Facebook, MySpace blogs rants and raves, Yelp and every other way to get your voice heard, you would think that the people who obviously care about there cars and did not neglect their cars would help those in need. If they did, that person would for sure tell everyone looking for a car that they know a dealership with a reliable staff and helpful service department and a warranty that will cover you when you really need them.

Mazda of Everett would be a top recommendation but when treated like I just bought a $26,000 car, to be treated like ** and blow the motor, I will let everyone know how they treat the people that make their paychecks. They will just rip up your warranty and kick you while you are down and stick you with the bill for everything because nothing can be relevant if you got caught up and were a little late on you oil change. Because by doing that, nothing will have to work the way it should because this is their out.

I will never buy Mazda again. Where is the class action lawsuit? Where is the recall on the oil sensor that does not light up when the engine is 3 quarts low? Where did the three quarts of oil even go? Did Mazda accidentally not put enough in, just like I accidentally was a little late servicing my engine?

But everything is irrelevant except the fact that you were late changing your top shelf oil and that you have been screwed by your local Mazda dealer.

My car has 33,000 miles on it and is only a little over 3 years old! It's ridiculous!

I complained to Mazda USA. They also said that the car comes with the remote. A few days after, they came back and said I needed to talk to the dealership again. I did. No result. I am paying a very high price for the financing of this car and I feel cheated! If it was a car from back in the 1960's, I would understand. But a 2011 model?

Oh, by the way, I’m 46 years old, have over 30 years of licensed driving experience and about 6 years beyond that driving on a farm. Never have I burned out a transmission before. I've even been driving a car older than I am for 10 years with a V8 engine, and the transmission is still strong. Mazda has obviously built an inferior transmission (due to the number of complaints found online at any given time). Like I said, I’m a good driver, a gentle driver and I don’t "get on it" while driving.

He was transferred to Pittsburgh, PA for military school and one day noticed very bad discoloration of the paint on the hood, roof, and right hand side of the vehicle. The car is still under the original Manufacturer’s warranty. We took pictures of the paint defect which was later sent to the Mazda Corporation. My son took it to a Mazda dealership where he was living and was told it would not be covered under warranty because they felt the car had been repainted. My son told them that not only did it never get repainted, but since acquisition it had only been out of the garage for several months (while he was driving to his new assignment in the military). They promptly told him to get out and they would not do anything for him. His contact was with the dealership’s body shop manager.

We went back and contacted the dealership who we purchased it from in Minneapolis who put us in contact with the District 4 Service Manager. We sent the pictures to him via e-mail. The original dealership told us the car could not have been repainted prior to purchase since they only had the car in inventory for one day before they sold it to us. He sent me documentation on this. He then emailed the pictures to the District 4 Service Manager out of Minneapolis, MN. The Service manager (who only had the pictures) told us that this was not a paint defect and it was caused by some "external condition". We asked what he meant by an "external condition". He told us that it was most likely some kind of acid or salt corrosion. We argued that a two year old car should not have this kind of paint damage from any external weather related condition like road salt. He told us he was sorry but Mazda would refuse to do anything about this under the warranty.

We then went back and escalated this through the original Mazda dealership GM. He then referred us to the Mazda Corporate people in the Pittsburgh area. (Along with the pictures of the car) We were told that someone would actually inspect the vehicle out there, (where my son was now living) and they would contact my son to make arrangements for this. It took over 3 weeks of prodding to get them to call my son. The person finally left him a message but never left him his phone number to call back. We finally got the number and my son called him. He was also with Mazda Corporation. He told my son that he sided with the dealership in Pittsburgh who looked at the vehicle in Pittsburgh. He refused to look at the vehicle and made his decision based on only looking at the pictures that were sent to him.

He told us that it was not a paint warranty issue and also told my son that he believed the car was repainted by my son. In fact he told my son that he was 100% sure the car had been repainted. He also told my son that, according to their records, the car had been brought in before for paint issues based upon their service records. My son asked for a copy of these records, (as he has been the only owner of the car) and had never brought it in for any paint related issues prior to this. He refused. He told my son that Mazda would not fix this under warranty. He refused to give us his full name, contact number or who his superiors were.

I went back to the dealership we purchased the car from again and told them we would pursue legal action if Mazda didn't at least look at the vehicle from an impartial Mazda representative. We told him that if the car had been repainted, it could only have been repainted by either the dealership or by Mazda Corporation prior to us receiving it. He sent my email back to Mazda HQ again and we have heard from no one since then. This car has been meticulously taken care of. Either Mazda Corporation repainted this vehicle prior to delivery to the dealership, or has a serious paint defect that they refuse to stand behind the warranty.

Mazda Corporation has refused to even physically look at the vehicle or give us any kind of consideration under the warranty. Mazda has many paint related complaints posted on the internet regarding premature corrosion issues. We also sent them this documentation. We are in the process of getting some independent assessments of the paint damage from neutral party body shops. Once we know what the damages are we plan to sue Mazda Corporation and the original dealership. We would also like to look at pursuing a class action and punitive damages.

After doing a lot of research, I see this problem with Mazda's transmissions are not rare but more common. I don't think Mazda is being fair by continuing to sell their vehicles knowing they have faulty transmissions. With these many problems, Mazda needs to do something about it. I am currently without a working vehicle. My Mazda was my way of getting to school everyday and taking my little ones to school as well. Since I am currently still making payments on my car, I am not able to save up the $2300 it's going to cost me to fix it. This has caused me to put my education on hold as I have to get me and my kids to and from school.

This car was poorly constructed. I want a new car but preferably not a Mazda. I had no major problems with my previous Mazda 3. I hate paying for a 2009 squealing machine. It was so embarrassing, so loud & the dealer wasn't telling me anything! I was not a happy customer.

I would go for about a mile or so, and it would eventually go back to blowing cold air. The last time it did so, my car started making a loud noise from underneath the hood and when the air started blowing back to cold, the loud noise went away. I've taken it over to Moffitt Mazda several times for this problem. The first time, they told me there was no problem and that it was just because I had dark interior and it carried a lot of heat! The second time or third time, they changed the thermostat.

After having it back for about a week or so, it started messing up again. I just took it back over there again on 8/17/09 to get the oil changed and tires rotated. And I mentioned the problem again to them about my air conditioner and they told me that they would look at it again. When I went to leave, they told me that they ordered a harness for it. I'm at the point to where I will not ever buy another Mazda if they do not fix the problem. It's a brand new car!

It's the dead of winter with bad weather and I have to drive my other vehicle which is rear wheel drive. Scares the hell out of me every time I have to take that car out in the snow or ice. I hope I can stay safe until I get the front wheel drive car fixed. When winter is over, I will sell the unreliable piece of... Can't sell it now as it is. I am also going to have to pay to get the tranny fixed right at Christmas time, personal property tax time and real estate tax time to boot. I have always owned Japanese cars, but Mazda gives them all a bad name. I really believe a class action suit is what it will take. Even if Mazda fights, the press alone will make their sales dwindle and maybe they will start standing behind what they produce. There are plenty of pissed off Mazda owners out here that I am sure would join in, myself included. CLASS ACTION!!!

No car do drive....2500 to rebuile the transmission and I am still making payments in addition.

Car was unusable at ambient temperatures over 82F. Sat in garage all summer, except for nighttime use. Traded in when only a few months old at a financial loss.

They notice right away the car is almost completely out of oil. This seems impossible since the car is serviced with synthetic oil and is maintained regularly. After further investigation by the dealership they determined the cause of the oil leak was a crack in the canister that houses the oil filter. This was not a small leak. When they put oil in it was pretty much flowing out. We had never had an oil leak in our driveway so we must have been somewhere other than home when the crack and drainage occurred.

The dealership continued to try and work with the warranty people. They sent out their 3rd party investigator who looked at the car and took pictures. They went back and forth for awhile as to whether or not they were going to cover this. They told the dealership that the car would need a "crank kit (sp)" in order to be fixed. The dealership argued that they felt the entire motor needed to be replaced, rather than given a temporary fix.

The warranty people said that in order to prove this, the dealership would need to tear apart the rest of the motor (this was quoted to us as our expense until warranty approved payment, and this would require approx 20hrs of work at 95 pr hr). Once the motor was fully exposed, they would send out another investigator and see if they agreed that the motor was in need of full replacement. Knowing that there is not always immediate and obvious damage to a motor, and feeling like it was not our responsibility to figure out what all needed to be replaced at this point- we declined to have this done and said we would accept the crank kit as their initial fix and see if that worked. If it did not work, we would go from there.

The dealership went on to order the kit and days before it was going to be installed, the person working for the warranty group asked the service person assigned to our car at the dealership to open this top section of the engine (excuse the lack of terminology but I don't know all the technical terms) and if there were metal shavings in there then he would know that the entire engine did need to be replaced. So they went ahead and did this and that is exactly what they found. So the warranty people sent out another investigator to take more pictures. The next day they contacted the dealership and said they were fully denying the claim at this point.

Now stating that the damage to the motor was due to oil starvation and that there was service bulletin that had gone out stating that if you over torque you can crack the canister. The service person from the dealership tells this warranty person that this is not the case in this situation. The oil was changed in late December and this occurred in late March. If this crack was caused due to being over torqued it would have happened sooner. He questioned as to why were back to cause of failure, when they had already passed that process and were on to what needed to be repaired.

The warranty person then stated that he had to review it with a supervisor and that he would be in contact with the dealership again within 24 hours. KEEP IN MIND AT THIS POINT I HAVE BEEN OUT OF A CAR FOR ALMOST 5 WEEKS WITH ONLY 6 DAYS OF RENTAL COVERAGE IF THIS CLAIM IS APPROVED. The next day the call the dealership back and tell them that they will cover $2357.03 of the engine repair (approx $8,000.00) because they feel that we knew something was wrong with the car and continued to drive it which caused the damage to the engine.

I called the supervisor at the warranty department myself and of course he would not take my call until her reviewed the 500 lines of my claim. When he called me back I said to him, just to be sure, you are denying full payment of my claim because you believe that we knew something was wrong with the car and continued to drive it? He said yes because that is what the oil shavings show us is that it was driven when there was damage. I told him that we had no idea something was wrong with the car and if we had, we would have brought it in for repair right away as we have done in the past.

There would be no reason to wait since we have this extended warranty. He then asked me if we had the car towed to the dealership when it broke down. I said that no my husband pulled over and called the dealership but he was only two miles away and they told him to bring it in. He "well, if you would have had it towed it would really have helped your case." I then asked him if he was saying that the 2 miles my husband drove to the dealership cause this damage to the engine- he wouldn't give me an answer- just repeated again that if we had towed it to the dealer it would have helped our case.

Looking for help now. I either have to pay the remainder of the 6k to have the car repaired or pay for the 6 days of the rental car I had ($180) plus the fees for the dealership investigating and take my car home without a working engine. I have a loaner car from the dealership right now but I have a feeling they will call me today and ask for it back until this is resolved. I work full time, have two children and my husband works full time 12 a day and his schedule rotates every week from days to nights. It is IMPOSSIBLE for us to car pool. Suggestions? I have been without a car for 5 weeks now. I am continuing to make payments on a car I can not drive.

The only reason we knew this was one of my neighbors had their car get stuck in the snow and were in front of my house at the time, The called the fire department and rang our door violently. fortunately we had a fire extinguisher close by and put the fire out before it spread. The fire department came and said this was not vandalism, it started in the passenger rear reversing light, shorted out and blew out the drivers reversing light which caught fire. The car is still at Mazda where they are deciding who is at fault. I told My insurance adjuster if they even try to blame this on this on me I will plaster them across the 6:00 news before I sew them. Do you know of anyone else with Mazda 3 problems as I think they are going to try and make me keep the car since the damage did not total the car. I also feel for the family who lost their home and animals because if circumstances were a bit different I could also be homeless or loss of life.

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I drive off and then a few days later notice that my brakes are making thumping sound. The thumping sound turns into a grinding sound. I take my car back to the dealer exactly one week later. They take about 2 to 3 hours to investigate and find that nothing is wrong. The service associate stated that new brakes make sounds in the beginning and they eventually go away. I drive off thinking this will eventually fade. Two weeks later, the grinding, thumping sound becomes louder. I drive back to the dealer for the 3rd time on a Saturday morning and the associate notes that this dealer only has apprentices that work the weekend and they are half-staffed. He suggested I come on Mon.-Fri. between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

I ask my husband to take the day off of work to bring my car in since I can't take time off at the time. The car is brought to the dealers at 8 a.m. on a Thursday morning. Almost 4 hours later, the servicing associate states that the brake pads were cracked, thus causing a groove in the brake discs. The technician replaced the brake pads and had to 'sand out' the groove on the disc. After waiting another hour for the paper work that never arrives, the car is ready to drive off in. However, the sound recurs. About one week later, the grinding, thumping sound is back. I am in the process of trying to ask for a full refund if they cannot fix it. The associates were not attentive at all. I have had to visit this dealer about 4 times already and my problem, which wasn't there to begin with, is still not fixed. DO NOT take your car to get serviced at Mazda of Orange.

Their service takes too long, is expensive, and the staff is unprofessional. In addition, they offer life time warranties on the brakes but cannot even replace them properly and do not care about the consumer.

I have driven the vehicle in every possible manner of driving. slow. fast. automatic only. 74.5 miles 5.1 gal=14.6 mpg manual only. 94.8 miles 5.6 gal=16.9 mpg automatic manual mixed. 136.5 miles 9.0 gal=15.1 mpg city only. 111.0 miles 7.1 gal=15.6 mpg highway only. 105.0 miles 5.5 gal=19.1 mpg in each case i completely gased up and then drove it in that manner. All total i have driven the car in every possible way.

Now Carson City Mazda wants me to let them drive my car and run one tank of gas using their driver. The problem i have with this is this. I asked them,what if the car still gets 16.0 miles to the gallon with your driver, what then? The answer was we will deal with that then.

I think that if i let them put another 300 miles on my car then i will be stuck with a car that gets 16.0 miles to the gallon but now has 300 more miles on it. I love my mazda 3. I just cannot live with 16.0 miles per gallon on a car i bought with the promise of 26 to 34 miles per gallon. What are my options? please help me. sincerely: william **