buying advice required
 

Hi,

Just joined to get some quick advice.

Wife's car should be sold this week, and she is keen on the 5.

We've seen a diesel Sport, but its got 63000miles on it, I see from another thread that the cambelt will be needed at 75000, which is expensive so this may put us off, does the diesel definitely have a DPF? and does the 5 take this mileage OK?

Also considering a petrol, I asked about a 1.8 and was told it didn't have a cambelt, but a chain, is this true, or are they just trying to sell it?

Is the TS2 better than the Sport on tyres? and what is exactly the tyre problem on Sports I've read?

Is there any other advice, things I should be asking sellers?

Many Thanks

Martin

What age of car Martin - I picked up a 2lt Sport in November on an 2007 plate with 39K on the clock and the things i checked for were unusual tyre wear especially on the front, leaking shocks and service history is essential. If the car has brand new tyres on ask if they were changed due abnormal wear. Check everything works internally especially the cd player as these are prone to eating CD's (take an old one you dont like much to try)

I love mine though mate. We shied away from the 1.8 as it is rumoured to be underpowered but its a question of what you want her for.

Hi Martin,
The diesel will carry on way after 63K miles, mines at 86K and still feels like new. You are correct though, the 75K service on the diesel will be in excess of £700, certainly at a Mazda dealership. I think the petrol engines do have a chain as you have been advised - any petrol '5 owners can confirm?

Tyre wear is well documented on this forum - long story short, check the inside edges of all 4 tyres for extreme wear, if the tyres are new, be suspicious, ask how many miles the old tyres did and how evenly they had worn across the tyre. You can read the tyre wear thread for hours if you think it might help! It has mostly affected the 5 Sport.

Yes, the DPF on the Sport has been an issue for some owners. Not had any problem myself, but I do mainly long motorway journeys. Reading through the forum it would seem that owners of the diesel Sport who only do town driving suffer the worst with DPF problems.

One thing to look out for is leaking shock absorbers, that has been an issue on the 5 Sport. I had to have both rear shocks replaced at 75K, took my service bill to over £1000 !!

Let us know what you decide - it is a really good car, people don't post in the forum when things are going well, so you may be getting bad vibes, but it is a lovely car to drive.

Dave.

We have an 08 model and love it!!! here in the States there is a recall on the power steering for 07-09 models, not sure if it for the U.K. models, maybe there is a web site y'all know to look this up across the pond? and yes it's true that the gas (or petrol) engines have a chain instead of a belt. what is DPF?

Hi, and thanks for the replies everyone, really good information there.

I have two Sports to look at, one diesel, 63k miles, 2007, and the other is petrol, 50k miles 2005.

The petrol is £1.5k cheaper, won't need a cam belt change, and doesn't have a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) which will just get clogged up because wifey drives round town etc.

InWlf, the DPF catches all the soot you sometimes see coming out the back of diesel cars and trucks. It is then supposed to burn it off, however if the car is driven in a way it doesn't get up to a good hot temperature for a sustained period the filter blocks, and the engine goes into limp home mode, it is causing a lot of problems with people doing short trips to the shops etc.

DPF will be compulsory of diesel cars this year (I think) to meet emissions, however prior to this, some had it, some didn't so people like me are unsure whether cars do or do not have them. They are just something else to go wrong, and this relatively new tech hasn't been perfected yet (IMHO).

InWlf, the DPF catches all the soot you sometimes see coming out the back of diesel cars and trucks. It is then supposed to burn it off, however if the car is driven in a way it doesn't get up to a good hot temperature for a sustained period the filter blocks, and the engine goes into limp home mode, it is causing a lot of problems with people doing short trips to the shops etc.


Oh, ok. we don't have many diesels here (or I'm not very familiar with them anyway)... so basically it's a filter for the exhaust, like a catalytic converter on the gas (petrol) engines, if I understand that correctly.

Oh, by the way... the name is LNWLF... but don't worry, no offense is taken, it happens all the time.

"Oh, by the way... the name is LNWLF... but don't worry, no offense is taken, it happens all the time"

Thats why i call everybody mate - its easier than decoding everybodies avatar :D:D:D:D

mpg?
 

Sorry lnwlf, wasn't reading properly, lnwlf makes more sense.

The DPF is in addition to the CAT, located after the CAT I believe.

I think we are going to get the 2.0 Sport.

We were looking at a 1.8 TS2, also in black, but the Sport looks so much better!

What mpg are people getting from the 2.0?

Hi, I have 2.0ltr furano and i'm getting avarage of 36 mpg on bit of everything driving, soly round town about 30 mph but it does have a six speed box instead of a five

Is that petrol or diesel? If petrol I'm impressed!