Hi everybody,

First of all: I'm from europe, so excuse my English...

I've got two problems with my Mazda Millenia S (european Xedos 9):

1) As everybody know's there are three stages of turning your key to start your engine.
1. deactivates steering lock
2. activates the battery
3. Starts the engine

I've recently noticed that when I turn the key from stages 1 to 2, I can hear the starter engine work, but the engine doesn't start. When I continue the turning the key to stage 2, the battery activates, but the starter switches off. Finally when I turn the key to stage 3 the engine starts without a problem. This seems to be a faulty ignition timing or a malfunctioning key...

2) My second problem is more worrying. It seems to be running on 5 cilinders. I've noticed the car stutters a lot when idling, there is a great loss of torque and the fuel consumption is off the charts. I've contacted the dealer and they suspect one of the ignition coils or sparkplug is faulty.

Is there a correlation between the two problems? Or does anybody have any tips on how to solve the problems?

Thanks