Hello everyone.

#1
When i bought the car in October 2009, immediately i noticed a strange noise, it clearly comes from the engine area, and it starts when the car hits 120 kmh, and only when you have the foot on the gas pedal, if you let it go (even if you're above 120) the noise imediatly stops, so it's something related to the parts that are in charge when you use the gas pedal above 120 kmh (sorry for my poor mechanical knowledge).

i've made a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igZmgGUvuCY that maybe explains better then my words.

i took the car to the official repair center, for 3 times, each time they would return it to me saying it was fixed, which it wasn't and i would go back again and again, after 3 visits i gave up asking them to fix this.

#2
If that was bad, something worse came along, after them messed around, now the car makes a new noise, even more irritating, that looks like if there some hole in the car, you ear the wind whistle (above 120 or 140 depends, i can't find a pattern yet), it looks to come from the windshield area, it's where i think the noise comes, don't know where it's being made.

It's like having a 10 year old car, and a bad one, cause i had a 7 year old astra and never eard this. Again, 2 more times i went to the mazda repair center, i even made a complaint to mazda, then even schedule a test drive with the 3 of us. on that test drive, they witnessed the abnormal noise, and said, this is not normal.

The car went back to the center, and they said , "there's nothing we can do, we tested a new one, it makes the same noise", which is false, cause i know my car didn't make that noise before they put they're hands on it to try to fix problem #1.

#3
There's another problem, that went trough the same, trips to the repair center, being left without car for some days, getting the car back, and the problem not fixed again. This time, the problem is the driver seat, you guessed it, it makes a noise, something like a "crack" and you can also feel it move around.

when you make a left turn, then a right turn, the seat makes that crack sound and leans to the right, again, it's very irritating, you don't even need to make a turn, just make the wheel movement to make the car launch it's balance to the right and the seat has this behavior. I will get the car back tomorrow from the repair center, i lost count of the times i left it there, they said they oiled the seat, let's see the results.

Do you guys can share anything that can help me? Thank you.

ps: i'm in portugal

 

For problem one it could because you bought an early production 2010 model, let me explain. When cars first come out and its a new body style, new engine or whatever things are not as good as lets say the one to come out next year. Its not uncommon for a new car like yours to make strange, unexplainable noises, unfortunately for you this is how car manufactures get feedback on what are most common things to break or wear quickly when it first hits the streets.

For problem number three it sounds like someone heavy just threw themselves into your car and damaged the bracket the seat sits on, its happened to me on my passenger seat.

I dont know what you can do about the second issue, if your lucky, when you tell them that the issue was not resolved, they will take another look at it.

My best suggestion is to call mazda and report your concerns with the place your taking your car too or find another shop.

 

Which is why I'm happy to say I won't (and financially couldnt if I wanted to lol) buy any first model versions of the new Skyactiv platform, unless it was just that awesome.

 

Thanks for your answers guys.

i didn't knew that about the 1st models being like a guinea pig, they spend so much on tests, they shouldn't put the costumers to do they job, cause it costs plenty of money, and time.

about the seat, since day 1 i was very careful to not launch myself in to it, but i don't know how big the guys at the shop are, for the to many times the car was there, maybe they weren't careful as me and damaged it. the question is why are they putting oil on it?? even i not being a mechanic know that that's not the problem, they need to replace it, or at least some damaged part, the seat is unbalanced, is it's getting worse.

is there any contact from mazda international i can use and report this? maybe mazda portugal sucks!!!