Sorry to hear that. Mazda did it to me when I had the vibration problem on my brand new CX-5 GTR last year which turned out to be extra rubber gum on the front tire. Mazda told me to bring up my case with the tire manufacturer when I requested for a replacement tire. I’m saying goodbye to Mazda.

 

Are you going to sell both of your CX-5?

 

Just my Sonic Silver, the one with the “extra rubber gum" which Mazda pointed finger to the tire manufacturer. My wife loves her Soul Red CX-5. If my jumpship to a Korean import is good, I may trade that too. We are both retired and we don’t really need two big SUV’s.

 

The car will be at the dealer today for the start of the diagnostics. I'll keep the updates coming as I receive more info. They told me it might take 2-3 days to complete, as they need to run a whole gamut of tests... It's confirmed there's a problem, they simply have no idea what it could be... From my POV, it has to be something related to the transmission...

 

Mazda may point finger to the transmission manufacturer! Are they still using Jatco transmissions?

 

So as expected, Mazda confirmed it's a faulty transmission. They're ordering a new one to have it replaced.

Again, brand new car, first heard the noise at around 80-90KM, when I first drove without any distractions like talking to someone or playing music... It confirms that this car left the plant in Mexico with a bad transmission... I'll leave it at that if anyone is still debating the quality issues at that plant...

 

What does your window sticker say about the country of origin of the transmission and the engine?

 

Not sure where it was manufactured. But we know where it was assembled. We know where it was QA'd. For all we know, it could be a faulty installation that broke as soon as it hit the road. The mechanic alluded to it.

Bottom line is, this isn't a territorial battle. Facts are facts. The car assembly culture in Japan/Korea vs Mexico should not even be debated. It takes a long, long time for a country to develop the necessary education, skills, culture, expertise, etc. in top tier car manufacturing and assembly. To assume Mexico can achieve all that at the levels of Japan in a fraction of the time is dishonest. Just read about what Honda went through with their Fit manufacturing in Mexico. It takes many years to achieve even an "acceptable" level of output quality. What's actually making it possible today is the high level of automation in those new advanced plants. Still, labor continues to have a big impact.

But like I said, I knew all this when I bought the car. I took a risk, and unfortunately, I got struck by lightning. I know my case is rare. I'm angry also at my dealer because it's obvious they did not diligently road test the car. An attentive mechanic should have automatically picked up on the issue.

 

What I am saying is that you really got bad luck. In the recent past, I owned two cars manufactured/assembled in Germany according to European Standards, and both had serious issues; my latest car was assembled in Mexico with zero problems in the past 5 years of my ownership. Of course, it will take some time for a factory to settle in, but they really made a lot of progress given how many different companies have opened factories there. In your case, I think the first model year of the CX-30 is a bigger factor compared to the assembly location. Anyways, Mazda is replacing your transmission and I hope everything works out well.

 

The CX-30 maybe assembled in Mexico, but the transmission is not.