Mazda 6

It took along time for me to decide I wanted to buy a brand new car, it took me months more before I had decided on this particular car. As this was to be my first new car I wanted to get the best for my money. I had numerous test drives and when I eventually chose this particular model being the Mazda 2.3 sport, I was looking forward to trouble free fun driving. Not the start of a nightmare that has gone on and on.

I should have known this was not going to be good when the original day of collection was changed, it was lucky for me that I phoned them before going straight to Mazda. It was something to do with it not being registered, so as a goodwill gesture they told me that they would fill the petrol tank when it was ready to be collected.

Eventually I collected the car at the end of March 2003 and yes I really enjoyed my prized possession, trouble free driving oh so much fun in my new car. The car itself is a five door hatchback, front wheel drive, with 2.3 litre engine giving an acceleration of 0 to 60 in about 9 seconds, duel stage front airbags, curtain air bags both front and rear (these are fitted in the sides of the car), cruise control, electric brake force distribution (EBD), Anti-lock brake system (ABS), Emergency brake assist (EBA), traction control, dynamic stability control, trip computer, electric heated mirrors, electric sunroof, remote central locking, Thatcham cat one alarm and immobiliser

That was up until the 10th of October 2003 when I started to have loss of power, well not me the car. I took the car to the dealer. They did not tell me what was wrong, but wanted to keep the car, I was only given a courtesy car because someone who was due to bring their car in for a service that morning had not turned up. They told me they phone me to tell me what was wrong with the car, but that never happened. I spent the next three days phoning them and being told they would get back to me, but that never happened.

The Clutch of the matter…..

I was told it was a faulty clutch plate, so they decided to replace the whole clutch for me. I might add that since this time I have had a letter from a Mazda dealer, who told me the clutch had in fact been worn out and in a performance car this can be achieved in an afternoon. The letter goes on to quote this can be achieved by motoring journalists. I consider myself to be a careful driver, although I enjoy top gear I am not Mr J Clarkson.

When I collected the car a few days later, I noticed the trip computer was not working, (this rectified after a few days) and there was a lot of oil on the nearside front wheel. The oil gave me a lot of concern, I had not been happy with the treatment of my prized possession by the first dealer, so I took the car to a different dealer. They told me the oil was the result of a CV boot being split all the way round, the mechanic told me this should last for at least 80,000 miles. The first dealer gave the reason that this was caused by an external factor i.e. a stone or similar, now call me stupid but how could that happen while the car was in a dealers garage undergoing repair!

A few weeks later on my drive to work, I heard a very loud bang, this was a very frightening experience it was the result of the sunroof shattering. I gave a very careful examination of the shattered sunroof to see if I could see any reason for the it to shatter, I could not see anything, no stone marks or point of impact, it had simply just shattered. The dealers could not find any reason either, the new glass had to be ordered and took a couple of weeks before it arrived and therefore could be fitted.

I also had problems with the steering, it made strange noises when I went round corners. At this point they were looking at offering me another at my request. They had top mechanics look at the car to try to rectify the endless list of faults. I do not want to name individual names as it was not individuals themselves who caused the problems, I do feel I had a poor car and was treated poorly. I eventually took the only course of action that I could, that being I swallowed my losses and sold the car.

When the car was working well it was a dream to drive, purred like a kitten with the growl of a tiger. Fantastic road holding and an overall joy to drive. I would not however recommend this as a new car, maybe a second one as any faults may have been ironed out.