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The fact so many JLR cars are in that list should be a major concern, and despite the known issues going back many years, this survey suggests there has been no improvement.
I am really glad I didn't buy an F Pace which I came very close to as an ex JLR employee, but reliability issues were a massive concern. In the end I opted for the new 2018 (G01) model BMW X3 which has been superb, and effortless with its 3.0diesel engine. Though I am bothered by the What Car report suggesting owners of 2017 onwards BMW 5 series were paying £500 on average for repairs, which considering a 3 year warranty applies, would appear to be contradiction, as non-warranty items wouldn't cost £500.
As for those who have castigated Nissan, I have a Oct 65 plate Juke Tekna 1.5dci as a company car (goes back this year, and I wont have another leased car as I get hammered on tax), and just turned over 62,000 miles. Apart from replacing air con pipes which chaffed in 2016 under warranty, the car has been utterly reliable, and I suspect part of the reliability is related to how you drive it. 90% of journeys in the Juke have been between 20 and 140 miles on fast A roads, dual carriageways and motorways, so it's never been stop-start in city traffic which is no good for cars clogging up the DPF. As for Tesla, yep, lots have believed the hype from Elon Musk, and are foolish for still doing so IMO.
Now if that Japanese or Koreans produced a mid-sized SUV with a powerful 3.0 diesel or petrol, with a 0-60 time of 7 seconds or less, that would be a game over for the Brits and Germans.
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Usual suspects in the list. Every time I get a C Class pool car from the office there is always some error message on the dash. All of them less than 3 years old. Would not like to run one longer term for sure....
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I must have been very lucky with my Jags, My XJ40 served me well (surprised me too) particularly as it was the world's first car with a full mupliplex electrical system, the XJR and XJ8 were absolutely reliable, the latter turning in over 150K fault-free miles other than the park sensor for the wiper motor + usual suspension/tyre consumables - it's still going strong with 230K+ miles on it - it's had a bit of welding and fettling these days (same owner who bought it off me 10+ years ago) but then it is 20 years old now. Engine and transmission have never been touched - and I used to thrash it mercilessly (wonderful NASCAR like sound when revved hard).
The older (1970s) Jags I had - were a bit - well, touch and go!
I've got a list as long as my arm of friends and work colleagues with major BMW car issues, particularly, engine failures.
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I have been running a Nissan Pulsar 1.5 diesel for last 3 years, air con pipes and battery repacked under warranty, both appear to be known faults. Nothing else needed apart from usual service items, can’t say I am disappointed with that. Now out of warranty will be changing soon, but to what?
Shortish list, 15k. budget,, 20k pa, 6 to 12 month old, Honda Hrv, Peugeot 2008, Kia stonic or Hyundai, equivalent, Mitsubishi asx, anymore? Petrol or diesel,, no short runs, 10 miles trip to supermarket alone, possible auto this time, something more upright. Otherwise would sreriously consider another Pulsar. 1.5 techna spec.
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The future for Nissan is to follow Mazda who cast off the tie up with Ford and started manufacturing and designing their own breed of cars.
The design of the new Mazda 3 looks an absolute winner.
But Mazda have been able to control the quality of their cars more closely by manufacturing in Japan using quality components unlike Nissan who have been forced to sell their heritage to the French State . And what a heritage , just look at the Datsun 240z !
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Aren't Mazda engines regularly slated on here?
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Aren't Mazda engines regularly slated on here?
Only the deeesel ones
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Mazda is s relatively small motor company, at least compared to the VAGs, Fords and Toyotas of this world. As such, and as a result of sharing platforms with Ford, they didn't have a ready-made diesel engine for their cars, so continued to buy in other makes' engines, spending their far more limited R&D money on developing their petrol engines as well as relatively moderate alterations to their car lineup since their divorce from Ford.
They have also been jointly developing a hybrid/EV platform with Toyota, presumably to share the cost and risk. Hopefully if they reduce their diesel engine reliance and, like Toyota, go into hybrids/EVs, then their current woes as regards diesels will largely disappear.
If they can up their game on the long-term reliability front (especially as regards corrosion proofing) and customer service, then they have a very rosy future, as they already have a great looking line-up that drive well (especially with the introduction of the gen-4 Mazda3). The first should be relatively easy to do, the second will be harder and take longer.
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Interesting. So much for Tesla 'low maintenance', if the cars are so poorly assembled in the first place.
Nissan feature a lot, which is surprising. No other Japanese or Korean manufacturers though.
Land Rover...as hopeless as ever. Yet they still sell them hand over fist. The astonishing power of brand over belief.
It does astonish me that JLR sell in such quantities, although by all accounts Jaguar are currently struggling. As you suggest, it must be branding, maybe some people really do consider a Range Rover as a status symbol.
As for Tesla, now that other manufacturers are producing competing cars, I wonder if they will survive? They do look nice though.
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they have a very rosy future, as they already have a great looking line-up that drive well (especially with the introduction of the gen-4 Mazda3).
The current Mazda 3 is indeed a great looking car but when we looked at it the car lacked many things we looked for, we never even drove it. Examples were they have a very rosy future, as they already have a great looking line-up that drive well (especially with the introduction of the gen-4 Mazda3). (compared to the Leon) poor boot space, lack of well fro full size spare, poor rear seat access, poor rear visibility. We were not expecting the engine to be stellar either, the more powerful version in the 6 was poor when we tried it compared to modern petrol turbo's.
I suspect they will remain a minor player making cars that whilst OK fall below the higher standards being set by others.
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I've been saying for a while that to survive and thrive, Mazda needs a decent long-term tie-up with another major manufacturer. Toyota would, to me, be a great choice as each brings to the party different strengths to complement the other's known weaknesses. Honda would be great too, especially as they have some excellent diesels in comparison to Mazda's unreliable units.
Both need to up their game as Hyundai/Kia is seriously on the rise globally, and in Europe the smaller names have essentially been sequeezed out of the market by the big boys. Mazda's UK sales are significantly below that from their peak around 2004 - 2007. I think that their less-than-stellar diesel engine reliability and hit-and-miss dealership experience haven't helped, and as you say, their conservative approach on the petrol engines in the last 5-10 years have meant they can't really claim the 'zoom-zoom' mantle any more.
Let's see what the new SA-X and hybrid engines can do - time will tell whether they can catch up with the turbo-petrols. Still, better than Nissan, who can't seem to shake off the poor engineering design of their cars of late - too much Renault influence in my view.
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Just found another reason why, to some extent, people aren't buying Mazdas - their change (from the cars before the divorce from Ford to afterwards) to tyre combos that are rarer than hen's teeth! Just looked at some nearly new second hand examples on my local dealership's website:
Mazda2s with either 185/65 R15 H (up to SE-L Nav models) or 185/60 R16H (Sport models), which most tyre dealers don't stock aside from a few winter tyres or cheapo ditchfinders (less than 10 in total), and those few that do charge roughly £125 and £150 each. God knows why the second tyre was fitted to the top Sport 115, as its top speed (according to my dealership's data and HJ's specs) is 129mph, only 1mph less than the speed rating for those H-rated tyres.
The same goes for the latest 3 shod on 205/60 R16 V or 215/45 R18 W - a bit more choice, but still 30% and up to 150% more expensive than the tyres on the gen-1 and 2 cars.
My old Mazda3 can be shod on either 205/55 R16 V or 195/65 R16 H or V (top speed only 116 or so) - tyre cost in the £60 - £75 and £55 - £65 range with hundreds available for both, AND the latest tyres which have better grip and mpg ratings too, including the complete ranges of all-season and winter tyres.
Why spend money on a new car that's ok in terms of performance and then have to spend £500 - £750 on tyres that aren't that good. And, in both cases, the latest cars are specced with OEM tyres that are either not available in the UK or are rare and blimmin' expensive. I could understand this if they were ultra high performance on a fast sports saloon, but not a Mazda that has a 0-60 time of 9-10 sec (Mazda2) or 8.5 - 8.9 sec (Mazda3).
When I asked a sales rep at my dealer about these odd sizes (on the 3) when I was getting my car serviced the other day, he tried to change the subject and palm me off. They're just asking to lose customers when rival makes offer cars with standard sized tyres (with no penalty in ride quality, handling or longevity), space-saver or full-sized spares as standard or as cheap options (with no reduction in boot space).
The number of times I've heard (via phonecalls to customers when in the dealership) and seen irate customers go "what the ****?!" when they hear the price quoted to change a tyre roughly the same size as mine on similar performing cars - I would hope by now that Mazda is getting word of pee'd off customers who then desert them for other brands (I notice that the vast majority of cars PXed or flogged back to dealers are Sport models on the larger rims). I wonder if Mazda did all this in cahoots with the tyre manufacturers as a money-making wheeze that has now (pardon the pun) backfired.
Mazda: KISS!
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Can someone explain how such an accomplished manufacturer could have got it wrong so badly with the Dpf problems with their Diesel engines. When their petrol engines are state of the art !
And to turn down customers requests for assistance when the engines fell apart so soon after the warranty expire .
And whether it is now safe to buy a Mazda diesel ?
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“And whether it is now safe to buy a Mazda diesel ?”
I wouldn’t. The firm have already confirmed that they don’t intend on investing further in Diesel engines so what exists now is as good (or bad) as it gets.
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I avoided the diesel engine when buying my CX-5. Some reckon Mazda finally got it right with their latest diesels, but the fact is that only time will tell and I wasn't prepared to take the risk. By the time we know, things will have moved on anyway.
Mazda is preparing to release a 2-litre petrol engine (SKYACTIV-X) with (assisted) compression ignition and supercharger in 2019, which they claim will change the landscape for petrol engines, offering a 20 - 30 % increase in efficiency over their current SKYACTIV-G engine.
The new engine produces 181 bhp as against the current 162.
Sounds interesting.
Edited by FP on 05/01/2019 at 00:09
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I avoided the diesel engine when buying my CX-5. Some reckon Mazda finally got it right with their latest diesels, but the fact is that only time will tell and I wasn't prepared to take the risk. By the time we know, things will have moved on anyway.
Mazda is preparing to release a 2-litre petrol engine (SKYACTIV-X) with (assisted) compression ignition and supercharger in 2019, which they claim will change the landscape for petrol engines, offering a 20 - 30 % increase in efficiency over their current SKYACTIV-G engine.
The new engine produces 181 bhp as against the current 162.
Sounds interesting.
My fear here is that superchargers tend to have a more limited lifespan than turbochargers. VW G60’s tended to wear out beyond 80k, the Mini Cooper S was known to burn out around the same. Mazda used to make a supercharged diesel 626 in the 90’s but it sold in small numbers and wasn’t particularly fast or economical. Mercedes seems to have it right with few issues until big mileages but they still tend to give up well before a well maintained turbo. I guess it fits with compression ratio the new Mazda motors run at and turbocharging doesn’t.
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Mazda will be having lots of new engines coming on-stream in the next few years:
- The SA-X SCCI engine mentioned above;
- A new 1.8 TDi, possibly replacing the modified PSA/Ford 1.6 that was downsized to 1.5 ltires;
- A really fancy-pants hybrid, maybe two engines, one probably similar to/same as the Prius next-gen engine, the other apparently one with (yep, they don't know when to kill it off) a hybrid w***el engine;
- Plus an EV may be on the way too...
It's noticeable by looking on their website that they are seriously scaling back their diesel offerings on their smaller cars - the 2, 3 and CX-3 (admitedly the 3 is being pared back to far less variants in readiness for the change to the gen-4 car in the Spring), whereas before about 40% of the sub-models were diesel. I would say it's down to about 10% across those three cars in total (and no 2s at all).
I suspect Dieselgate and the fallout from their diesel engine woes has scared them big time. Not sure who prodcues their new 1.8TDi (going in the gen-4 Mazda3 and likely others) - it may be another bought-in one. Personally speaking, they should've developed a hybrid far sooner.
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Mazda will be having lots of new engines coming on-stream in the next few years:
- The SA-X SCCI engine mentioned above;
- A new 1.8 TDi, possibly replacing the modified PSA/Ford 1.6 that was downsized to 1.5 ltires;
- A really fancy-pants hybrid, maybe two engines, one probably similar to/same as the Prius next-gen engine, the other apparently one with (yep, they don't know when to kill it off) a hybrid w***el engine;
- Plus an EV may be on the way too...
The problem with gee whiz new engines is that we won't know if they are reliable for a few years. Mazda didn't get their diesels right. Lets hope they can get the new engines right.
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