Hello!

I am not sure if I am technically a Mazda owner yet so I hope you don't mind me popping in here to ask this. I do hate registering on forums just to beg for help straight away but needs must!

I am currently the owner of a Skoda Octavia 2.0tdi 4-wheel drive car and it has genuinely been the worst car I have ever owned in my life. The stress owning it has caused me as well as the financial implications have been absolutely unreal. I won't go into everything that is wrong with it but in 7 months that it has been in my possession it has had over £2500 worth of work and that doesn't account for the broken AC and regular clunking that I am still getting from the rear end of it at low speeds.

I made the decision to cut my losses with this car because it feels like every time I get into it something else breaks and it is starting to feel like a money pit. I saw a lovely CX-5 2.2 diesel with 91000 miles on the clock which I thought wasn't bad mileage for the age, slightly below average and nothing for a diesel. I thought Mazda had a pretty good reputation for reliability so I agreed to buy the car after a very enjoyable test drive and I am supposed to collect it on Thursday this week.

Last night I was looking up a few features and accidentally came across a forum post talking about how absolutely awful these 2.2 Skyactiv engines are and I am not even joking you when I say that I have done so many searches, read so many forum posts and horror stories that I was up into the early hours of this morning worrying about it. I have been doing the same this morning which is what brings me to this post.

I suppose my question is have I made a mistake? Should I back out of the sale before it is too late?

I already have a problematic car and the last thing I want is to end up with one that is even worse. The car is driven long distances so I am not worried about causing DPF issues however I am concerned about the previous usage. The car has had two owners and has full Mazda service history up until 2018 and nothing after that which is when the original owner traded it in. The second owner either did not continue with Mazda servicing or I suppose could have serviced it privately and simply not passed the receipts/invoices on when trading in the car. Looking at the MOT history it seems that the original owner did quite a lot of mileage (average of 13000 per year) and the second owner a much lower average of 6000 per year but two of those years were during Covid and the lockdowns so I suppose that has to be taken into account as well.

The dealership has given me the worksheet showing the work the car had done by them when they received it which includes an oil+filter change, a new wing mirror, new wipers and some bushes.

The test drive felt good, with no strange noises or anything out of the ordinary at all. I wouldn't have known about these issues if I hadn't accidentally come across a post talking about it.

I am aware there have been two recalls as well and I have checked and the car is showing no outstanding recalls so I can only assume that any work that needed to be done by Mazda has been done.

So what do you think? Should I continue with the sale or run a mile?

 

At that age & mileage, I would stay away from it. The diesels don't have a good reliability reputation.

 

Thank you for the quick reply! Is that still the case even with the recall work it should have had done?

 

Yes, very much so. The main recall was barely a band aid.

 

Thank you for that, it's exactly the answer I have been searching for. I will let them know I don't want it and continue my search!

 

Hello again. Thank you for your earlier advice regarding the engine issues. I have another question and I hope you don't think I am being a huge pain.

My partner has come home from work this evening and I have told him everything that I have learned about the car today and as the car we have affects us both I obviously want to make sure he is happy with the outcome as well. He feels that given our current circumstances with the problematic Skoda we already have that because the Mazda ticks all of our boxes in terms of fuel efficiency, 4x4, looks etc we might be silly to walk away from the car simply because it "might" have problems. I have scared myself to death reading horror stories about oil contamination and engine failure but he is a little more mechanically minded than I am and seems to think that being aware of the problem and ensuring regular servicing and oil changes will be enough to give us the best chance at things running smoothly. He does understand that there is a chance it could be a difficult car but we already have a difficult car as it is. We are in a situation at the moment where we must decide to cut our losses and try ouR luck with the Mazda or else get the Skoda into the garage (again) to diagnose what is likely to be another costly repair for us.

If we do decide to chance it (and at this point, it really could go either way as the two of us are in disagreement at the moment) is there anything else that we can do to try to ensure the car will continue to run as problem-free as possible for at least a couple of years? We would not be looking to keep it any longer than that.

 

This diesel engine is no good for round town or short trips.

How popular is the petrol cx-5 in your country? Is there much difference in the cost of petrol vs diesel fuel?

 

We do not use the car for short trips but I am concerned looking at the annual MOT history that the car has only been driven 6000 miles per year for the last 3 MOT tests. It seems as though the first owner did a fair amount of mileage and the second did not. I know there were lockdowns in those years and it really is impossible to determine the driving style just based on the annual mileage though. The petrol Mazda's are out of our price range.

As it stands at the moment I have booked our Skoda in at the garage on Wednesday to have our current problem diagnosed (there is a knocking sound coming from the rear at low speeds so I am thinking it is something suspension-related). If the knocking can be repaired for less than £500 then I believe we are going to continue soldiering on with it and we will explain to the dealer our reasons for not going ahead with the Mazda and apologise for wasting their time. If the Skoda is once again going to cost us many hundreds of £s then we may be inclined to continue but a decision will need to be made on Wednesday either way.