[OGD888]

Mazda tops ‘Consumer Reports’ Best Auto Brands ranking for first time

And, oddly enough, it's joined in the top ten by more non-luxury automakers than usual

driving.ca

I can certainly echo this trend. My 2020 M3 GT AWD was quite trouble free, there were just a handful of delivery defects. My 2021 M3 GT Turbo had even less, a total of 4 so far. None of the defects affected the operations of the cars. Mostly annoyances and fit and finish issues. They had proved to be the most reliable and trouble free new cars I owned, especially the 2021 Turbo.

Kudos to Mazda Japan, they had done a bang-up jobs on design and manufacturing.

 

[iwolffy]

Personally I care less about these rankings; even in the same country there are different results from different studies (CR vs JD Power for example).
For me it's quite the opposite: my 2019 Mazda3 is my second Mazda with engine issues in 1st or 2nd year of ownership and will be my last Mazda.
Now I have to replace under warranty the coolant control valve as I posted here.

My trouble free ownership was with two VAG products

 

[[email protected]]

Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw. My 16 Golf had a major, can't drive it, electrical fault within the first month of ownership. It happened in another city. It had to be flat bedded to the local dealership and I had to arrange our own transport home. Working with corporate engineers, it took the dealer 3 weeks to fully diagnose and repair, the first attempt resulting in another road failure for the same fault.
I badgered them till they offered to credit the purchase price for a replacement, but that would not include my original 3k dealer discount. I was supplied with a loaner through most of the ordeal but it took some urging. Corporate sent me $300 calm down money.
I will say that after that the car was trouble free for the next 3 years of ownership, but man what a rocky start.

Ultimately the problem was traced to a speed sensor, but they first needlessly replaced the entire engine wiring harness, which had to come from Germany.
The dealer claimed that there were no corporate service records of this fault having occurred anywhere before and it was not properly coded by diagnostics.

 

[OGD888]

Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw.

I couldn't agree more. I have had my share of semi-lemons through the years and come to the conclusion that as a general rule of thumb, Japanese cars are far more trouble free than their European counterparts. The Koreans are coming on strong, manufacturing cars that is closing in on the Japanese in the reliability area, but not quite there yet. Another consideration is the drastic depreciation for Korean cars, in there, reputation and historic resale value counts, and I do not see that improving in the short term.

My strong experience with the 2020 M3 is what caused me to bite the bullet and traded it in, after only ~14 months, for the Turbo. One of the best decision for that dreadful year of 2020.

 

[iwolffy]

I agree also with what you said as it depends also with luck.
For me it was not only the failure of the part but also the customer experience that I had dealing with Mazda now. I suspected I had an issue with thermostat and when I called the dealer, they said they won't do anything if there isn't a light on the dash and if I do want to proceed with that and they find no fault code, they will charge me $160.
The dealership is ~15 miles from me, they wanted to drop the car and ubering out of there and back would have added another $100 (including tax & tip).

I had to get a OBD-II interface and do some measurements myself to have data to support and go and try to even convince them to have a look at it; of course they found the problem and they came with "well, you were not crazy".

So even for this warranty claim I would have to spend ~$200 for ubering there (~$100 for dropping the car for them to do diagnostics and another round trip for the time when they are going to get the part and replace it).

Why don't they send me surveys now?

 

[trooplewis]

Mazda tops ‘Consumer Reports’ Best Auto Brands ranking for first time

And, oddly enough, it's joined in the top ten by more non-luxury automakers than usual

driving.ca

I can certainly echo this trend. My 2020 M3 GT AWD was quite trouble free, there were just a handful of delivery defects. My 2021 M3 GT Turbo had even less, a total of 4 so far. None of the defects affected the operations of the cars. Mostly annoyances and fit and finish issues. They had proved to be the most reliable and trouble free new cars I owned, especially the 2021 Turbo.

Kudos to Mazda Japan, they had done a bang-up jobs on design and manufacturing.

If I had a "handful" of delivery defects on one car and "a total of 4" improvement on a second car, I would be pretty ticked off. Dealerships have Delivery Specialists and get paid big money for Pre-Delivery Inspections (PDI's) by the factory to avoid those issues. Not acceptable, I would not be buying that brand again.

 

[[email protected]]

I agree also with what you said as it depends also with luck.
For me it was not only the failure of the part but also the customer experience that I had dealing with Mazda now. I suspected I had an issue with thermostat and when I called the dealer, they said they won't do anything if there isn't a light on the dash and if I do want to proceed with that and they find no fault code, they will charge me $160.
The dealership is ~15 miles from me, they wanted to drop the car and ubering out of there and back would have added another $100 (including tax & tip).

I had to get a OBD-II interface and do some measurements myself to have data to support and go and try to even convince them to have a look at it; of course they found the problem and they came with "well, you were not crazy".

So even for this warranty claim I would have to spend ~$200 for ubering there (~$100 for dropping the car for them to do diagnostics and another round trip for the time when they are going to get the part and replace it).

Why don't they send me surveys now?

I see where you are coming from. Bad personal experience trumps any and all surveys. "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...." well, nobody wants to be fooled twice.

 

[Hatch-it]

If I had a "handful" of delivery defects on one car and "a total of 4" improvement on a second car, I would be pretty ticked off. Dealerships have Delivery Specialists and get paid big money for Pre-Delivery Inspections (PDI's) by the factory to avoid those issues. Not acceptable, I would not be buying that brand again.

I'd look for another dealership, in this case, before I'd abandon the brand.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[trooplewis]

I'd look for another dealership, in this case, before I'd abandon the brand.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

OF the 45 or so previous cars I have owned, only 3 have been Mazdas. A 1971 Mazda 1200 (4 cylinder, no A/C, no power Steering, Manual trans), a 1986 RX-7 (new) and a 1985 B2000 truck (new). Never had to bring any of them into the dealership except for normal maintenance. Hopefully that trend continues with my 2021 3 Hatchback.

 

[MeteorGray]

I've owned two Mazdas: a 326 in about 1990 and my current 2015 Mazda3. Once I left the dealer's lot, there was no reason to go back, nor to any other mechanic, so far.

 

[civiletti]

Mazdas come out super-reliable in consumer Reports' ratings, all except for the Mazda 3.

 

[OGD888]

Mazdas come out super-reliable in consumer Reports' ratings, all except for the Mazda 3.

Ironic, isn't it......

 

[10Break]

Personally I care less about these rankings; even in the same country there are different results from different studies (CR vs JD Power for example).

And as far as this particular company goes, google "Consumer Reports and Suzuki Samuari: for a fun blast from the past.

 

[daniellee003]

Mazdas come out super-reliable in consumer Reports' ratings, all except for the Mazda 3.

I think most of the unreliability can be attributed to the 2019 Mazda 3 (owning it was hell for me). I believe it was Mazda's first 7th-generation vehicle (major refresh of infotainment, control modules, interior/exterior trim & electronics), so there were a lot of kinks that needed to be worked out over a year or two. Mazda probably deliberately chose to refresh the 3 first because they didn't want major flaws and recalls on their crossovers & SUVs which make up most of their revenue.

 

[Tric]

Consumer Reports and Suzuki Samuari

Haha I had one of those it was like a Tank! Great off road vehicle!! So many Mod's for the Samuari.