It’s well known that Toyotas and Hondas usually go 250,000 miles without needing major engine or transmission work. But my sister’s 2009 Corolla was just totaled in an accident, and she’s looking at a 2010-2013 Mazda 3 to replace it instead because they’re cuter. I know Mazda was considered grossly unreliable at one time when they were the new kids on the block, sharing parts with Ford and were experimenting with weird engines, but now my sister claims “the internet says they’re as reliable as Toyota or Honda now”.
Also, how are Subarus. I know they had a reputation for engines that would blow up at only 100,000 miles, but are they better now and what about the rest of the cars? We’re probably going to get a Toyota or Mazda because we don’t like how stiff and uncomfortable Honda seats are, but she thinks Subarus are cute with their bright colors.
I have nothing but good things to say about both Mazda and Subaru.
We’ve owned two Mazdas: a 1992 Protege, and a 2007 CX-7. Both of them have (“had,” past tense, in the case of the Protege, which I sold in 2002) been generally very reliable. We had an issue with the CX-7’s turbocharger dying three years ago, but that was the first time that we’d had any trouble with it at all, and that was after 11 solid years. The CX-7 has about 120,000 miles on it now, and we have no plans to get rid of it any time soon.
I think that Mazdas generally compare well with Hondas and Toyotas, without being overpriced (and they typically also do well on Consumer Reports ratings). While this is a small sample size, I’ve shopped for both Hondas and Toyotas in the past, and I found the dealers to be very difficult – they know that they will sell every car on their lot, easily, and they have no interest in working with the customer. The two Mazda dealers from which I’ve bought, OTOH, have been reasonable human beings.
We also had a Subaru Outback (about a 1996), which, again, was tremendously reliable, and lasted forever. We sold it in 2008, when we bought the CX-7, and at that point, it was still running well.
Yes, in the 1970s, when Mazda used the Wankel rotary engine across their line, this was probably true. Other than in the RX-7 and RX-8 sports cars (which were discontinued in the U.S. in 1995 and 2012, respectively), all of their cars have used traditional piston engines since the late '70s.
So, the perception of Mazdas as being unreliable is based on old data, and a powerplant that they haven’t broadly used in decades.
When we bought our Outback, our good experience with it influenced my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law, and a friend of mine, to all buy Subaurs. All of them had excellent experiences with their cars, as well, and all of them drove those cars for well over a decade each.
My wife had the Mazda MPV from around 2004. It was not a well built or designed minivan. There was a repetitive Engine issue that other cars of the generation just didn’t have. Mazda felt is was reasonable for this problem to occur more than once. In general the pick up sucked to used a tech term.
A 4 year old was able to pull the handle off the back of the passenger seat just using it to get into the car.
The spare tire storage was a crappy design that didn’t work correctly when needed at 4 years old. One thing for an under vehicle mount to fail after 7-10 years, but 4 seems might short.
We had a power window failure at about the 5th or 6th year we owned it. Thankfully that was a fairly easy DIY fix.
Lots of little things that showed Mazda was a clear step down from better car companies.
Toyota, Honda and Subaru are all clearly better than Mazda. I would also rate modern Ford & Hyundai higher.
I had a used 2004 Mazda3 (bought in 2006), which I upgraded to a 2014 (bought in 2016). Both cars have been completely problem-free besides standard maintenance. The first I put about 130K miles on; the current one is only at about 60K. When I bought my first Mazda, I was in the market for a Toyota or Honda, but the dealer showed me the Mazda and I fell in love with it. Doing research at the time before buying it, I found it was considered one of the most reliable cars, and that reputation still seems to hold, as Car and Driver listed the Mazda CX-5 one of their most reliable cars for 2022 (though it seems the Mazda 3’s reliability had fallen to average beginning with the 2019 models with the redesign. I’d look more into that if the 3 is the one you have your eye on.)
As for me, I’m not brand loyal in general, but I’ve been so happy with my Mazdas that when the time comes for my next car (probably in about four years), it’s likely to be a Mazda again. Oh, and it is fun to drive, especially given the price point.
Some Subarus used to be prone to head gasket failure. In the case of my GF’s car, that meant she needed a rebuilt engine. However, they say they have fixed the problem. Her current Forester does seem to need more minor repairs than my Toyota Corolla, however.
We had a 2002 Mazda Protege5 and now have a 2012 Mazda5. They were and are reliable vehicles.
I have two complaints, which may apply to other makes as well:
The vehicles are so low to the ground I can’t get under them to perform maintenance. I had to jack them up or use ramps for anything.
The low profile tires Mazda seems to like. Maybe they look cool in temperate climates, but they are useless in a Minnesota winter. I had to buy snow tires for both vehicles.
I did a lot of search before I decided, and the Mazda was the clear choice. I had driven one from Zipcar a bunch of times when I didn’t own a car and it left a good impression. Even after test driving a brand new Matrix and a Fit, the used Mazda 3 I looked at was still the clear winner.
Usually. But not always. The transmission on my 2007 Camry went kaput after only 80,000 miles. But in hindsight, it turned out that many people had problems with that model year.
I’ve owned 3 Mazdas–a '81 GLC, a '08 Mazda3, and currently drive a CX-5 with 146K miles on it. All have been reliable, although the CX-5 has a weird problem with the rear hatch not opening in cold weather.
Although the Mazdas have been perfectly fine (and the '08 Mazda3 was really fun to drive), I liked my '89 and '98 4Runners a lot more. Unfortunately they’ve been out of my price range whenever I’ve been in the market.
I can’t speak to current production, but I owned a '93 Mazda 626. I put 330,000 miles on it before I put it out to pasture in 2018. It was still on the original engine and clutch (!). It was burning a quart of oil every 3000 miles or so at the end. No major work. Completely reliable.
Us, too, except we bought ours new. That was when our 1998 Subaru Outback was totaled by our then brand-new-driver older child. These are the only two cars we have purchased new in our 35 year marriage.
The Subarus of that vintage had reliability problems with the original head gaskets, but other than that is was no more trouble than any other car. I have several friends with newer Subarus (this is Colorado, where you can easily lose your Subaru in a parking lot full of them), and they love them.
The Mazda 3 has been trouble-free. One advantage it had over Toyotas–we looked at both makes when we were shopping in 2012–is rear seat headroom. At the time, our son was 14 and growing fast. He has a very long torso and relatively short legs, so he and I are nearly the same height standing, but he’s about 2 inches taller when we’re both seated. He could not sit in the back of a Toyota without his head touching the ceiling. The Mazda was no trouble at all. Subarus also seem to be a little roomier than Toyotas.
Toyotas may still last longer–we haven’t tested our cars out to 250K miles–but Mazdas and Subarus are certainly good cars over at least a decade of use.
I’m on my second preowned Mazda 3 hatchback in a row. Great cars, no problems that I can blame on Mazda*. The first was a 2004, bought in about 2009. That one got traded in at the end of 2018 for a 2013. So far, great car. If I got totaled today, I’d be looking for my next Mazda 3 hatchback tomorrow, I can’t recommend enough.
*The earlier one started throwing up check engine lights. The codes were contradictory, both too rich & too lean, something like that. It ran fine but it was going to make me fail my emissions check required for registration. I wound up replacing a $45 part (PVC valve, maybe?) in the street in front of my house without any special tools, a piece of cake, really, and the car had 140k+ miles at the time.
One the current car, I hit a 6 foot long 4x4 piece of wood at about 50 mph and it dented the oil pan to the extent the seal was broken and leaking trans fluid. I had to take it to a shop for that but not Mazda’s fault at all.
I own a 2022 Mazda CX-5 and absolutely love everything about it. Since it is just over a year old I cannot speak much to its long-term reliability, but it has so far been a dream to own and to drive.
I did a ton of research before choosing it. The other vehicle on my short list was a Subaru Forester (which I have a feeling I would have also been very satisfied with).
Just as another random data point I have a 2016 Mazda6 and have been pretty happy with it. No issues yet outside of standard maintenance and getting rear-ended twice . Very nice handling (nicely weighted steering), which was one of my search criteria when I am looking for a new car.
The navigation system in my model IS a little sucky, even beyond the lack of real-time traffic. It’s adherence to “as the bird flies” distance weighting mean it can send you down either a cascade of side streets or route you to out-of-the-way sub-optimal freeways. Google maps is quite a bit better.
So, I just remembered that I have this year’s auto issue from Consumer Reports. I’ve looked up the Mazda3, which @LivingGhost371 mentioned – it’s listed by CR as one of the best used small cars, being consistently rated as reliable. The used Toyota Corolla also gets very good ratings, but is typically a bit more expensive.
A number of Subarus also are on their lists of best used cars (the Impreza, Legacy, Crosstrek, Outback, and Forester).
My only real issue with the car is I bought the sedan and not the hatch, and that’s on me.
It was the right price, and it had everything I wanted in a used car, it just wasn’t the hatchback. I kind of needed the thing in a hurry so I had limited time to shop around. The first good Mazda 3 I found I just bought. The hatch is definitely more popular than the sedan, but still, I’ve gotten constant offers for it since I bought it, and not just from dealers.
. Very nice handling (nicely weighted steering), which was one of my search criteria when I am looking for a new car.