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19 Posts
So it's been a year since I got my 06 Mazda 3s Touring 4-door. Initially loved the car, and I'd have to say that I would LOVE to still LOVE it, because it's such a nicely designed and performing car in my book. But I must have gotten a stroke of bad luck and all the right conditions for these things to happen to my car...
I'm taking it to the dealer for a massive "fix" for these problems, and I'm typing them all on a piece of paper and bringing that instead of having to stand there and convince them that it has this many problems. Some are well known, and a few seem unique to my car since not a lot of people have talked about them. What I'll do is I'll paste the text into this posting for you all to read. If you have anything to offer about it (if I should change something, if I shouldn't expect something that I ask for in it, if it would be crazy to ask for one of these to be fixed under warranty, etc.) please help me out!
And for everyone else, yeah, think of this as the results of a really good time test for average driving on a Mazda 3. Thanks everyone!
Stuff I typed up to give to them when I drop the car off:
***************************
Rick Bell – cell *** - 2006 Mazda 3s Touring, Grey
Warranty Issues To Be Repaired:
This car is one year old, and it (original tires still installed) has about 15,000 miles so far. The car is never driven hard or raced around. It gets driven to work and back and on errands; 10 miles a day at the most on normal days, mostly consisting of a short trip up the interstate and back. It's been driven by a few independent mechanics to verify these issues.
8 Problems:
Biggest problem: bad steering and bad ride – unsafe feel and handing, and horrible to drive
There is an extreme difference in the way the car originally drove, and the way it has become; this should not happen after so few miles and such easy driving conditions, and the original ride and handling was the determining factor for purchasing this car. It drove spectacularly. It probably shouldn't drive exactly on-the-money as it was when it was brand new, but for it to become this much worse is unacceptable. There is a mechanical problem of some kind. The car drives so much worse now than the base model Corolla I traded in to get it, or any car I've owned/driven for that matter, and it doesn't feel good putting a bigger chunk of money down on a worse car.
Steering has become horrible. Sluggish, heavy, non-responsive, and easily redirected by even the smallest bumps and road seams. Turing radius doesn't feel as tight.
Ride is horrible, too much yaw and lateral movement when trying to drive in a straight line, car cannot be kept in a straight line, always fighting with it to just keep it in the lane. It is literally difficult to “aim” the car down the lane now without continually “bouncing off the sides” of the lane. This is the case on windy and windless days.
Bumps, even the smallest road features, at ANY speed, are amplified so much that you’d swear you hit a deep pothole. The tires sometimes leave the road when hitting even these small bumps.
The cabin rattles excessively from these amplified bumps. Trim panels and gaps are getting loose and large on the dash and throughout the cabin. I understand this is not a German car and a cabin rattle is sometimes going to happen after a year and it's easy to bring it in and have corrected, but the whole cabin now reverberates with plastic and metal rattles from all over.
Proper maintenance has been performed on the car. Tires are properly inflated and checked, and I paid for an alignment as well, thinking it could just be bad alignment. There was no improvement on the ride or steering afterwards, and I suspect the alignment may be off again from the abrupt hits the car feels like it takes from simple bumps. I have the paperwork from the alignment.
The way the car handles literally feels unsafe, and I avoid certain roads because I would have to drive so slow on them to stay in control.
Last Fall I brought the car to your dealer for its oil change and mentioned this problem then. The service man said you tested the ride and found nothing wrong with the suspension, and I left thinking that it was just in my head. Other mechanics now share my concerns about it, and it has gotten worse, and I know that it’s not just my perception. One point: after the man at your service desk told me that, he asked me if I thought maybe it could be the steering, and I wasn’t thinking at the time that it could be a steering problem, so I said no and he let me leave. I am trusting of the dealer service people and I only expect good service and good help, but if they knew the steering had a problem, they should have told me and fixed the problem, and not let me leave with it and let it get worse.
I want to do a ride-along with one of your mechanics in both my car and another similar Mazda 3s, new or with like mileage, before and after the problem is fixed.
Noisy creaky clutch pedal
The pedal now makes a horrible creaking noise and creaking/clicking feel as it is pressed and let go. It lessens as the car is driven, but never goes away and it is distracting.
Problem shifting to reverse
The car will not shift to reverse most of the time. I have to let the car roll either forward or backward from its park position, then it will shift to reverse.
Excessive break squeak and grab
Regardless of weather conditions, the brakes squeak and grind excessively when first driving, and continue to grind and grab excessively afterwards. This problem has gone on since the car was new, and I thought perhaps it would go away after wearing in the pads.
Noisy creak sound from front suspension
There is a bad creaking and scraping sound from the front suspension when rolling over a bump.
Glove box rattles
You repaired the problem before by replacing the glove box section. The same rattle returned after just a few months. I keep the glove box empty to reduce the rattle slightly, but it still rattles consistently.
The original glove box had a fake brushed metal latch and lock. The replacement glove box has the proper black trim color overall, but it has a black plastic latch. I would like one like the proper original style as the replacement.
Dashboard Clock
The clock never keeps the right time – it loses several minutes at least once a week.
Body Cosmetics
The hood gap between the hood and the front quarter panels is perfect, but the gap between the hood lip and the front fascia and headlight assemblies is really large and uneven from left to right.
Thank you for your attention in getting these issues resolved.
Rick Bell
***************
I'm taking it to the dealer for a massive "fix" for these problems, and I'm typing them all on a piece of paper and bringing that instead of having to stand there and convince them that it has this many problems. Some are well known, and a few seem unique to my car since not a lot of people have talked about them. What I'll do is I'll paste the text into this posting for you all to read. If you have anything to offer about it (if I should change something, if I shouldn't expect something that I ask for in it, if it would be crazy to ask for one of these to be fixed under warranty, etc.) please help me out!
And for everyone else, yeah, think of this as the results of a really good time test for average driving on a Mazda 3. Thanks everyone!
Stuff I typed up to give to them when I drop the car off:
***************************
Rick Bell – cell *** - 2006 Mazda 3s Touring, Grey
Warranty Issues To Be Repaired:
This car is one year old, and it (original tires still installed) has about 15,000 miles so far. The car is never driven hard or raced around. It gets driven to work and back and on errands; 10 miles a day at the most on normal days, mostly consisting of a short trip up the interstate and back. It's been driven by a few independent mechanics to verify these issues.
8 Problems:
Biggest problem: bad steering and bad ride – unsafe feel and handing, and horrible to drive
There is an extreme difference in the way the car originally drove, and the way it has become; this should not happen after so few miles and such easy driving conditions, and the original ride and handling was the determining factor for purchasing this car. It drove spectacularly. It probably shouldn't drive exactly on-the-money as it was when it was brand new, but for it to become this much worse is unacceptable. There is a mechanical problem of some kind. The car drives so much worse now than the base model Corolla I traded in to get it, or any car I've owned/driven for that matter, and it doesn't feel good putting a bigger chunk of money down on a worse car.
Steering has become horrible. Sluggish, heavy, non-responsive, and easily redirected by even the smallest bumps and road seams. Turing radius doesn't feel as tight.
Ride is horrible, too much yaw and lateral movement when trying to drive in a straight line, car cannot be kept in a straight line, always fighting with it to just keep it in the lane. It is literally difficult to “aim” the car down the lane now without continually “bouncing off the sides” of the lane. This is the case on windy and windless days.
Bumps, even the smallest road features, at ANY speed, are amplified so much that you’d swear you hit a deep pothole. The tires sometimes leave the road when hitting even these small bumps.
The cabin rattles excessively from these amplified bumps. Trim panels and gaps are getting loose and large on the dash and throughout the cabin. I understand this is not a German car and a cabin rattle is sometimes going to happen after a year and it's easy to bring it in and have corrected, but the whole cabin now reverberates with plastic and metal rattles from all over.
Proper maintenance has been performed on the car. Tires are properly inflated and checked, and I paid for an alignment as well, thinking it could just be bad alignment. There was no improvement on the ride or steering afterwards, and I suspect the alignment may be off again from the abrupt hits the car feels like it takes from simple bumps. I have the paperwork from the alignment.
The way the car handles literally feels unsafe, and I avoid certain roads because I would have to drive so slow on them to stay in control.
Last Fall I brought the car to your dealer for its oil change and mentioned this problem then. The service man said you tested the ride and found nothing wrong with the suspension, and I left thinking that it was just in my head. Other mechanics now share my concerns about it, and it has gotten worse, and I know that it’s not just my perception. One point: after the man at your service desk told me that, he asked me if I thought maybe it could be the steering, and I wasn’t thinking at the time that it could be a steering problem, so I said no and he let me leave. I am trusting of the dealer service people and I only expect good service and good help, but if they knew the steering had a problem, they should have told me and fixed the problem, and not let me leave with it and let it get worse.
I want to do a ride-along with one of your mechanics in both my car and another similar Mazda 3s, new or with like mileage, before and after the problem is fixed.
Noisy creaky clutch pedal
The pedal now makes a horrible creaking noise and creaking/clicking feel as it is pressed and let go. It lessens as the car is driven, but never goes away and it is distracting.
Problem shifting to reverse
The car will not shift to reverse most of the time. I have to let the car roll either forward or backward from its park position, then it will shift to reverse.
Excessive break squeak and grab
Regardless of weather conditions, the brakes squeak and grind excessively when first driving, and continue to grind and grab excessively afterwards. This problem has gone on since the car was new, and I thought perhaps it would go away after wearing in the pads.
Noisy creak sound from front suspension
There is a bad creaking and scraping sound from the front suspension when rolling over a bump.
Glove box rattles
You repaired the problem before by replacing the glove box section. The same rattle returned after just a few months. I keep the glove box empty to reduce the rattle slightly, but it still rattles consistently.
The original glove box had a fake brushed metal latch and lock. The replacement glove box has the proper black trim color overall, but it has a black plastic latch. I would like one like the proper original style as the replacement.
Dashboard Clock
The clock never keeps the right time – it loses several minutes at least once a week.
Body Cosmetics
The hood gap between the hood and the front quarter panels is perfect, but the gap between the hood lip and the front fascia and headlight assemblies is really large and uneven from left to right.
Thank you for your attention in getting these issues resolved.
Rick Bell
***************
logically if someone doesn't want to entertain my post, they shouldn't entertain my post. For someone that does, I simply asked if it was reasonable to provide the dealer with this typed list/description of problems to aid in getting them all fixed without forgetting one of them while I was dropping it off at the dealer, and to share my unique experience with all of you and see if someone else has had a similar experience. Thanks for reading! 
