Recently purchases a used 2010 Mazda 5. Great van/car, nice handling. I wanted to post this about common issues I found after I had purchased it. I did some research before I bought the vehicle but couldn’t find much negative reviews or common problems. After though, it seems like all the information I needed finally started to appear. I wanted to help others by posting what I know after having to do some repairs.
Common issues with Mazdas that I would have liked to know:
- Batteries supplied by Mazdas are crap. They corrode easily and have power losses once it gets bad enough, even when driving! However, this issues is fixed once you replace it with an after market battery.
- Suspension seems to be a common problem around 60,000 to 90,000 miles. We had to get the struts replaced (rear ones were covered by the dealer. the front struts went out shortly after, and therefore were not covered by the “we owe” contract. Sway bar and bushings are a common replacement as well. Often people get the shocks replaced when they hear clunking sounds or if their car is bouncing excessively. We had this issue and it was entirely struts. Once replaced with after market ones, the problem vanished.