The gearbox in my 2005 Mazda 6 suffered a catastrophic failure at around 50k miles last year. A pin in the diff sheared (due to a manufacturing defect) and punched a hole in the gearbox casing, effectively writing off the gearbox.

The symptoms were leaking gearbox oil and a subsequent difficulty in selecting gears.

I had a second-hand replacement gearbox fitted (from a newer car with lower mileage) and, within a few thousand miles, the 3rd gear synchromesh failed. I suspect that an expensive gearbox rebuild may be my only option.

I've not had a single problem in over 100k miles of Ford and Vauxhall ownership previous to this, so I can only presume that Mazda gearboxes are extremely poor.

If you want an idea of costs, a second-hand gearbox (2 month warranty) and new clutch cost me £1200. A gearbox from a 'pool' (12 month warranty) and clutch would have cost £2000 and a new gearbox from Mazda...? £3000 !!

IIRC, gearbox was about £500, clutch was £200 and labour £300, all + VAT.

Basically, the car was sat in the garage without a gearbox by this stage so I didn't have a lot of choice !

£500 seemed to be about right judging by prices on eBay. The main problem is that there's not many about, so even the garage struggled to source one.