Hello everyone, i just have some very important questions to ask in reference to whether buying a Mazda6 is a wise choice or not? I will be looking at either a 2004 or 2005 Model that has done roughly 80,000 kilometers (hopefully less) because that is all my money will allow, so roughly around the 14 or 15,000 dollar mark AU.

I live in Australia and have been having serious troubles with my 1995 VS Commodore over the last 2 years which has cost me roughly close to $5,000 in repairs I kind of want to get away from Holden not because all their cars are bad but because i am just a little tired of the Holden/Commodore thing plus i want to get hold of something newer that has done far less Kilometers than my Commodore which is currently at 338,000.

So here are my questions in literal point form -:

1: Are parts for the Mazda expensive and in a more serious situation such as the Transmission being replaced, what kind of cost would i be looking at?

2: What is the fuel economy like generally speaking on a Mazda6? My Commodore is currently on LPG Gas and i am about to get roughly 300 km from its 60 liter tank. How many kilometers would i be able to get (ballpark figure) from a full tank of Petrol on a Mazda6?

3: I know these new Model Mazda cars are relatively young such as 2004 onwards so its hard to assess what are going to be the main issues with them right now, but are these Mazda's reliable?

4: Someone told me that after about 200,000km that the Mazda6 pretty much starts to have problems mechanically with its engine. Is this truth or simply a fallacy?

5: Are they expensive to have serviced? I don't want to go down the idiotic route of buying a European Car due to the high service costs, hence the reason why i want to go for a Mazda even though its not Australian made anyway.

6: I am really confused about whether or not i should buy a Mazda because the whole reason why i want to get one is because i love the look of them more than ANY other car on the road right now and because i just want to get something a little bit newer and have far less problems at this given time to save on money.

PLEASE HELP!!! I really need to make the right decision here!!

Thank you

 

In short, probably no. I have a 2004 w/ V6 and manual transmission. I love driving the car, but after four relatively trouble-free years it went downhill quickly.
Had to replace the engine and both pre-cats at 81k miles. Replaced the starter, the clutch, and AC hose, axles, and the display for the stereo and climate control is barely legible and needs to be replaced. I also have a squeak in the steering colum which only happens on hot days, but has not been able to be diagnosed. I also have rattles in a couple of spots, and the amplifier on my Bose system intermittently cuts out on one channel. I spent well over $7000 in repairs last year. You want to buy one? Do so at your own risk.
Furthermore, cant speak for Australia, but here, the parts distribution network is lame, often requiring several days for the dealer to obtain parts.

 

AT LAST!!! A response!! For a dedicated Mazda forum there doesn't seem to be much dedication to its intended purpose, so thank you for your response.

81,000km is not much at all, and i was considering getting one that done 80,000 or less so this is a bit of a red flag With all due respect though, i must ask you a few questions about yourself so i may assess how the Car was driven.

Were you in habit of pushing the Car too much such as taking off quick and driving too fast? I kind of got that impression since you mentioned your Bose speaker system was playing up, so loud music, damage speaker system = fast driver.

Please don't take offense to my question because what you do in your own Car is entirely your prerogative but when you go buy a Car you normally not "only" look at the Car, you assess the age of the person selling the Car and you also assess how they present themselves so you can get some indication how the Car was treated.

Thank you again for the information!! Its certainly made me think twice about getting one

 

First off his measurments are in miles, not Km so that changes things a bit. Also he got something of a lemmon and his experience is not typical from what I've seen over the course of my ownership and involvement in the 6 community. I've owned a 2005 mazda6s (3.0L V6) 5dr for almost 5 years now and have put 83000miles (133575.5Km) on it for a total of 98000mi (15775.7Km) without any major problems. This while also having been competing in autocross with it once a month for almost 4 years. The car has been heavily modified and still the worst issue I've had has been one worn out COP (coil on pack) last year, and another this year (this is pretty normal especially for a car that sees as much abuse as mine), and a broken endlink due to my upgraded swaybars.

Now then, when you talk about potential issues with this car it's going to make a big difference on which engine and transmission option you are talking about. For transmissions manuals for all years are the same and pretty reliable, though for automatics you should avoid 03's and 04's as they came with a much weaker tranny, 05+ all come with the 6spd auto which works great and has been very reliable. Engine wise, 03-05 v6's sometimes have issues at 100,000mi with the pre-cats clogging which can lead to major issues or the replacement engine variety, 06+ seems to have fixed this issue with the ECU and exhaust routing change, 4cyls have not had any consistent major issues that I'm aware of. As for Ahan's issue with getting parts, I'm not sure where he lives, but I've never had any issue with getting replacement parts here in Houston.

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner on this, but between college, internship, and making preparations for graduation my extra time is minimal. If you have any further questions I will be glad to answer them to the best of my ability, though my responses may take a day or two.

 

I beg to differ. My car was impeccably maintains, and not beaten on. granted, I was 45 when I got the car, and pushed it a little, but less so than my previous cars. 81K miles is ridiculous to lose and engine. Mazda's corporate offices lose big points for their "go f___ yourself" attitude about the whole matter too.
As for parts, it isn't that they can't be had, but htey often are not in stock at the local dealers (Boston area), and need to be shipped in (2-7 day wait) from another location.

There are TONS of stories about 02-04 and later models losing engines. Boteh the 4's and the 6's, auto and manual.
Check out this fourm:
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f1718f9/0

The car is fun to drive, but the likelhood of extremely high maintenance costs keeps me from recommending it.

 

I think we're just going to have to agree to disagree here. Our experiences with these cars are about as opposite as they can get, though I will agree that the way Mazda treated your case was completely jacked up.