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!

petrol, i think its because of the sixth gear, only rev at 2500 at 70 where a 2.0ltr td2 petrol i test drove was about 3500 rpm

I got 56 through the M1 roadworks the other day. On an average run to Manchester and back I got 38 but i think on the real short round town journeys its about 28

New car
 

We bought a black Mazda 5 Sport, and so far so good.

It is 5 years old with 50,000 miles on the clock, the previous owner replaced the rear dampers and springs (£350+ :eek:) and fitted two new rear tyres 5 months ago.

It looks very smart in black, and seems like its going to be a great family car.

Currently considering an LPG concersion.

Thanks for the help and advice chaps! :)

Been and put a deposit on a Mazda 5 2.0d ts2 today its an 06 plate with 68k, pick it up friday as the dpf light was flashing so I wanted that fixing as i know they are expensive and it had some rust on the roof so I wanted that fixed too, ive been having a read through and have noticed some probs with tyre wear and rear shocks, I noticed some knocking at the rear when I took it for a test drive today but I thought it might have been the rear trade plate banging, I think im going to have to get them to check the rear shocks while its having the other work done, also the cam belt is going to need replaceing soon, how much would that be at a local garage? I wont be taking it to the stealers!
Ive just part exed my 55 plate Vauxhall Zafira design cdti 150, had absolutely nothing but problems with it for the 2 years ive had it, so im hopeing the mazda will be a lot better!

We have since found on the previous MOT an advisory regarding the heat shield. This is making a banging / clank type sound form the rear, so you may want to check the exhaust system if you're hearing such noises as well.

The cambelt on the diesel needs replacing at 75,000 miles and I've heard on here Mazda will charge £700 to do it, so maybe a local garage would do it for around £400?

I don't like the sound of the DPF light, it is this reason we opted for the petrol model, as diesels were much more expensive to buy, had cambelts to change and DPF problems. Of the two examples we looked at, the petrol was a massive £1.5k cheaper with less miles (OK it was also bought privately and the diesel was independent trader), but I really do feel the petrols will give less hassle.

Are you doing a lot of miles to need a diesel version?

LPG conversion
 

I have a 1.8 TS2 and considering an LPG conversion.
Anyone thought of this?

Well it turns out the knocking at the back was/is the shocks/springs, that ontop of the rust, the dpf and some of the electric windows not working from the drivers console has totally put me off this car, ive done a few hundred miles in it since I picked it up last friday and its seems to be heavy on diesel but the TS2 spec being what it is ie not even got a trip computer im not sure exactly what mpg I have been getting so I have phoned the dealer I got the car from and told them I want to swap the car for another, ive decided to go for a Seat Altea XL 1.9tdi stylance, the only 2.0tdi that they had has sold, im just currently waiting for the paper work to go through before I pick the Mazda goes back and I pick the Seat up! A bit of advice, shop around forst and try a few cars before you sign anything, im quite lucky that the dealer has agreed to swap cars for me!

Doesn't sound good, but I know the windows is a result of a flat battery, for which there is a reset procedure.

You shouldn't have any bother with the Altea, the 1.9 is rough but tough. The 2.0 on the other-hand, oil pump failures and injector failures on the 2.0 VAG TDI from 2005 to 2007 are providing owners with four figure repair bills.