Mazda 3 Problems

Some Mazda 3s built between 2007 and 2008 did, indeed, suffer from a loss of power-steering assistance and were fixed by Mazda as part of a nationwide program. Mazda pulled up short of recalling these vehicles, arguing that even if assistance was lost, the car would still have its steering.

In any case, your car was built after this troublesome batch of cars, but I’ve still heard of a few, later, Mazda 3s suffering the same problem. One suggestion I’ve heard is that the power-steering fluid becomes thick and can’t flow properly. From what I can gather, the only real fix is to replace the power-steering pump, hoses and fluid. That won’t be cheap, but suddenly having the steering lose assistance can’t be much fun. Or very safe.

Like you, Monty, I’ve also heard of power-steering problems caused by electrical faults (sometimes as simple as a lose battery terminal) but I think those apply to later cars with electric power-assistance. Electrically-assisted power-steering didn’t come to the Mazda 3 in Australia until 2014.

Try a Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3, or a Ford Focus. All would seem to fit the bill.

Go for a car from a well-respected brand, such as a Toyota Corolla, Mazda 3 or Hyundai i30. All will give you economical motoring, low maintenance, and should hold their value quite well for the next couple of years or so.

Transmission Control Module (TCM) faults are not unknown on these early Mazda 3s. Symptoms usually involve erratic shifting, a failure to select gear at all and having the car go into limp-home mode. The good news is that there are companies out there who can repair your existing TCM, which gets you around the need to buy an expensive replacement. By the way, from what I can gather, any replacement TCM should be plug-and-play with no need to have the new module coded to the car’s other systems.

It’s also worth noting that Mazda in the USA issued a Technical Service Bulletin (like a recall but not for a safety issue) for automatic 3s from this era fitted with the 2.3-litre engine. In some cases, the shift solenoid could lose fluid, leading to harsh shifts and shuddering when driving uphill. The fix was a revised solenoid design but the catch was that the unit lived inside the transmission, so to whole gearbox had to be removed and taken apart to replace the part in question.

There are lots of cars that would be reliable and within your budget, but none would have a turbo. Turbos are not the thing you want for reliability, and any you might find within your budget are more than likely to be old and to have been thrashed. I would suggest a four-cylinder model from a respected brand such as a Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30, Mazda3 etc.

Capped price servicing is a good way to keep a lid on running costs, or at least know in advance what those costs will be. In the case of Hyundai and Kia cars, they come with capped-price servicing as part of the deal, so provided the car has been servicing correctly by its original owner, you should be able to tap into the capped-price schedule. The catch will be if the car you buy has any gaps in its service history as this could easily render it ineligible for the capped-price package.

But really, Jason, what you need to consider is whether cheaper and less frequent servicing is actually going to save you much money. Then put those figures into the context of what it will cost you to change cars in terms of stamp-duty, registration change-over and perhaps even higher insurance costs, and see if it still makes sense as a strategy.

If dealer servicing is getting your wallet down, don’t forget that you can change to an independent workshop that might be cheaper than a Mazda dealership. Provided the workshop has the correct certification, it can still stamp your service book and keep your maintenance record (and, therefore, your warranty) intact.

Certainly try and get your money back, or get a replacement vehicle, but you’re unlikely to succeed. At the very least Mazda should supply you with a loan car while they fix yours, and they should tell you when you could expect to have your car back.

The best approach is to buy a car from a well-respected brand, and stick with an Asian brand such as Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai or Kia rather than an European one. Models to consider would be a Toyota Corolla, Mazda3, Hyundai i30 or Kia Cerato.