We have a Subaru WRX clone that we bought new in 2005, and it still runs like new. No engine work required at all.
Subaru boxer engines are very reliable. I suspect the lower reliability you hear about has to do with turbo WRXs being driven hard and modded for more power. One potential weak spot is the timing belt which should be inspected around 80k miles if I remember. If it fails it will trash the entire engine. If you are buying a used Subaru with over 100K miles you should check if the timing belt has been inspected or replaced.
But lots of Subies out there are over 250k miles and still going strong.
Mazda had a problem with rust in their bodywork years ago, but I’ve been told that problem has been fixed.
Data Point: 2005 Subaru Outback needed a head gasket at 170,000, transmission rebuilt 210,000, Started falling apart and taken out of service at312,000 miles. Other non-maintenance services but nothing excessive for this mileage (ball joints, CV joints, wheel bearnings, alternator, A/C condensor is what I recall)
I suspect so – our 2007 CX-7 doesn’t have a spot of rust, and it’s spent its life in the Chicago area, with all of the road salt that gets used around here.
Another reasonably satisfied Mazda owner. Had a 1987 323. Kept it for well over 20 years and 220k+ miles. Loaned it to one of the kids who needed a car for a bit … and that was that.
Probably not relevant to today’s Mazda but the one thing I found most wanting was the sheet metal on the body was a bit too thin.
I have also owned two Corollas (a 1998 that we sold almost 2 years ago to downsize and a 2001 still going). I once owned a Honda Civic way back when.
I would rate Mazda a bit better than Honda and just a hair under Toyota.
Another plus for Mazda. I have a 2016 CX-5. Comfortable, plenty of amenities, and zippy performance. Also 30mpg highway at 60-70mph. The GPS sucks, but Mazda has dumped the TomTom system. I’ve never been in a Toyota that didn’t make my back hurt after about three blocks.
Now that I think of it, interior noise, especially at highway speed, can be quite loud. Nothing a little AC/DC at volume can’t cure, but it’s incredibly loud compared to my old Crown Vic, but then again, almost everything is.
On the plus side, the “smile” bumper is a nice open spot for decals.
I don’t have the current rankings handy, but for the 2019 and 2020 model years, Consumer Reports ranked Mazda as the most reliable new car brand, tied with Lexus and above Toyota.
That is one minor complaint about Mazda – their infotainment systems are inferior to other makes. And they were way late to the party with Apple Car Play / Android Auto. My 2019 MX-5 doesn’t have it; IIRC they finally adopted it midway through the 2019 model year.
I’d missed that page when I looked at the 2022 issue: this year, Subaru has the top overall brand rating (rating of 81), and Mazda is tied for 2nd place with BMW (78); Honda is 4th at 77, and Toyota is in a three-way tie for 7th at 74.
Note that that ranking is based on one, very specific measure: what percentage of the vehicles from that brand are still being driven at 200,000+ miles. Longevity is certainly an indicator of overall reliability, but it doesn’t necessarily take into consideration how much in the way of maintenance and repairs go into getting to that point, and even the top-rated brands on the chart in that article are only seeing ~2% of their vehicles making it to 200K.
My sporty manual car got totaled, so I bought my kid’s base model Corolla. Drove it for years and years, and I felt like all the fun of driving would get sucked out of me until i was the same color as the car (“Dirt”).
Mazdas ARE cuter. Local car guy says they can be expensive to own, repair-wise. But he says Miatas are better.
I’ve had 2 Subarus (a GL and an Impreza) and 2 Mazda 3s. I think if you go with either of those brands, you’ll get a generally trouble-free vehicle that will last a long time. I wasn’t a fan of the GL, but I had it for 6 or 7 years, the Impreza was about 12 when I gave it up, and my first Mazda was 10 when I traded it in on my current car, which is a 2014. I expect to have that for at least 4 more years. The Mazdas are definitely more fun to drive and I think they are a good value.
I had the head gasket problem with my 2005 Subaru Outback, but otherwise it’s been great. I see numerous identical (2005-2009) models on the road every day.
No, the ‘perception of Mazda’ is also based on the disgusting way they (mis-)treated their customers (‘suckers’) back then. I was one of those ripped-off, and I wouldn’t buy a Mazda if it was the last car on Earth!
These were all different times. Nobody in America had much experience with them when they were new. They experimented with weird engines for a while but that was mostly rotary engines. the RX-8 is the only rotary model Mazda has sold in the last 25 years in the U.S. – don’t buy that and the problem is avoided. Mazda shared engines with Ford for a while (which went both ways - Ford used Mazda engine designs in some products and Mazda used Ford engine designs in some products). On the whole, all those engines were and are fine.
I own a 16-year old Mazda now, which is my third. They’ve all been Miatas. This one has 135,000 miles on it. It’s had weird failures that I wouldn’t expect from a normal car, including an unusual evaporative emissions problem I can’t track down (no, it’s not the gas cap), finicky window switches (very common on this model), failing seatbelts, a failed steering column bushing, and a few other fiddly things.
But the worst thing is that Mazda hasn’t worked out premature rust. Perhaps on the Miatas specifically, they assume they will be mostly run in fair weather and not subject to very wet or salty road conditions but I see lots of other 10-15 year old Mazda models on the street with rust issues. I see comparable age Toyotas, Hondas, Nissans, and domestics that don’t seem to have the same problems.
Auto repair/maintenance pro here, 49 years in the field. I advise my customers that Toyota and Honda are the best in terms of reliability, and Subaru and Mazda are very close behind them. Very close. It’s hard to go wrong with any of these makes.
2010-2013 is getting pretty old already, and I can’t remember when I last saw one of those “smiley” Mazdas out in the wild. That would give me a little pause, but if the price/mileage is right then maybe it’s a no-brainer.
I replaced a VW Passat with a Mazda 3 and as far as maintenance and reliability it’s been night and day. They were/are both fun to drive, especially compared to their Toyota and Honda equivalents, but the VW was a total diva. Nearly everything broke at one point or another, from window switches to the heater core to seatbelts to door locks to the suspension, though amazingly I never had any problems with the engine or transmission, go figure. The Mazda has been rock solid by comparison. That said, even though it’s much newer and has more goodies, it does still feel cheaper. That’s not all bad, it’s 500 lbs lighter so that gives a noticeable improvement on performance and handling, and while I do miss a few of the “nicer feeling” VW things, that’s not worth the insane amount of service the thing needed. If I could change one thing it would be to improve road noise, but I understand they made some good headway on that in the 2016 model year (I have a 2014).
I bought a 2017 Mazda 3 hatchback new and I have no complaints, other than it came with really awful tires, which I immediately replaced. Besides gas, oil changes, wiper blades and tires, it’s cost me nothing. I switched from having Civics for a long time to Mazda because Civics went to touchscreen crap, and the Mazda still has buttons and dials for everything. The heated steering wheel on the Mazda was the best when I was still commuting to work in the winter. The paint has held up way better than any Civic I had, whose hoods got constantly chipped up. I don’t think the Mazda has a single chip. I know several people with Subaru Outbacks and they love them. I’ll be looking at those when I’m in the market for a new vehicle. Since I don’t commute any more though, the Mazda only has 50-60k miles on it and it’ll probably be a while before I start looking. I guess the one thing I wish it had (like Civics do) is the automatic speaker volume change between when there’s more and less road noise.
I owned a Mazda 626 many years ago (I think it was a 1993 model), and in 2015 bought a new CX-5.
The 626 was a good family sedan, and I finally sold it in … 2008, maybe? It had a couple of major issues that I can recall, the most significant being a complete failure of the steering column, but otherwise was a good car.
The CX-5 was a dream. I wound up selling it in 2017 (not by choice; life issues), but it was probably the best vehicle I’ve owned in my adult life. Great mileage, good pickup, good cabin space, decent rear storage. Only one minor issue, with an on-again / off-again minor rattle in the back trim someplace, but otherwise an outstanding crossover-type car.
