Hi all,

I'm looking to become a Mazda owner very soon and need some advice on whether or not i should.

I've been looking to replace my Mondeo TDCI 130 with a 2006 Mazda 6 TS Diesel [143]. I found a nice one locally and have made an good offer on it which has been accepted. I haven't purchased it yet but thought i'd do some research on the cars common faults first, only to find that there is a lot more negative feedback about the car than there is positive.

Is this really a car i need to stay as far away as possible from or the reviews i've read unjustified?

( I really do want this car, i't drives much nicer than my Ford )

 

Gav: most of us are not familiar with the diesels. I hope someone with real world experience will be able to answer your question. I was test driving a Mazda 6 2 weeks ago and I was impressed by the handling. It had the 4 cyl gasoline engine.

 

Apparently the engine is made by PSA group, and is used by Ford and peugeot etc. I have no experience with older mazda diesel or old 6, but here's some stuff I have picked up somewhere.

First interest always goes to DPF, since it's somewhat expensive part. Take it for a ride, do a little higway and so on. If DPF light shows up, use that for bargaining. If there's a receit of changing the DPF recently, you don't have to worry about it.

Read any test results of gas companies diesel products, dpf regen can remove only soot. Any ash will collect up in there and inevitably result in need to change the filter, with clean diesel this need might become well after the lifetime of the car. Discreetly ask where the last owner usually refuels and make conclusions.

And as always with mazdas, check for rust, poke suspicious spots with a screwdriver, if it goes through, find another car. Usually these shouldn't rust that badly but if it has seen a lot of wet and salted roads, anything is possible. (Where I live the common advice is to rustproof any car you have intention to keep over 5 years, exept maybe Volvo or Audi which have proven to be a little more resistant to corrosion than others, at this area Mazda is one of the worst)

Check oil level too, if it's over the mark, it means diesel is getting into engine oil. That itself isn't alarming but the fact that seller didn't check it before tells you something how the car's been looked after. Of course if the level is way up or oil looks weird (not homogenous or has white goo in it) concider finding another one.

Diesel specific, the startup requires a lot more energy than a gas engine, so see that the battery is in good condition and if it has been replaced, it has been replaced with one with same or better capacity than the original.

Remember that people who write reviews are more often those who've run into problems. Others are happily driving their cars.. I
Mazdas are generally reliable but in northern regions rustproofing is essential. Diesel engine is mostly normal turbodiesel with no big surprizes in there. If you drive it hard (up the mountain etc.) let it cool down on idle for a while, broken turbo will cost a lot.

Do also see how the engine starts cold and hot. I had VW Golf TDI and it had sometimes trouble starting again after being driven for 5-10 minutes and that's one kind of a problem you don't want to start chasing around with any kind of engine.

Some of this you might already know and there's also a lot more to check when buying a used car. Youtube can be really helpful there.. Personally I have no intention ever again buying car driven more than 20 000 miles as I had a somewhat negative experience with my last car. Also I have no resources to do required maintenance and repairs myself and with older cars it shortly costs more to pay someone else to do the work than it would've costed to buy a car in little better condition.

 

Great advice there buddy. Thanks for giving the time to respond in detail.

Cheers.