Nice to drive and gives a lovely sound when opened up, but poorly made inside. Looks great, but is full of rattles after only 4,000 miles. Two in the drivers door (or one possibly in the B pillar) from day one, only one of which has been cured and the supplying dealer has now refused to do any more. The passengers side air vent started rattling and was replaced under warranty, but has now started rattling again less than 1,000 miles later. The dashboard rattles intermittently behind the instruments from cold and the centre console has now started creaking over bumps.

The soul red metallic looks nice, especially in the sun, but I think it's quite soft, or thin, as it seems to be prone to stone chips. Also, the finish seems to have sunk since I took delivery as it has an orange peel appearance. The finish certainly isn't worthy of a £650 option.

At 6,000 miles the alloys have started to corrode around the rim. They have not been kerbed and have only been cleaned using a sponge and car shampoo, just like the bodywork.

Well, that was fun! Mazda UK organised my local dealer, who were very understanding to be fair, to look at the rattles and alloys. My local dealer confirmed there was a rattle and took pictures of the corroding alloys and asked me to book it in to have more time to strip the interior down and get to the rattle. I booked it in two weeks later and the garage had it for 5 days. The rattling vent was stripped down again and the rattle has gone away, hopefully for good, but we'll see. However, the door/B pillar rattle is still there and Mazda UK haven't decided that the alloys are corroding. So I need to book it in again. My previous Nissan Qashqai didn't visit the dealer this many times in the whole 8 years I had it.

Interestingly, the Mazda 2 courtesy car I had, with 700 miles on the clock, was also rattling from the passenger air vent and other owners, including CX-3 drivers who have the same dashboard, are reporting the same defect.

Breaking news! Mazda have said to my local dealer that the photos that were submitted as part of my claim of corroding alloys weren't good enough and now I have to take the car back again for them to take better photos. Why don't they just trust the judgement of the garage?

I have to take the car back for the photos and have asked them to look at the unresolved door/B pillar rattle. It seems as though I need to take the day off work to help identify the rattle! Who builds a car in the 21st Century and then expects the customer to help sort out their build quality issues?

What an utter farce this car is. The driver's side B pillar rattle has finally been traced and mostly cured, at least to a point that I can live with, only for a loud rattle to develop on the passenger side of the car somewhere. Another trip to the dealer to have it looked at. My tenth in 10 months. Is the interior made from old yoghurt pots? To say that I'm fed up is an understatement. I found a YouTube clip of somebody else with the same rattle from the passenger side B pillar, so again it's not just my car.

The passenger side B pillar rattle was traced to the area around the seatbelt not being assembled correctly, so it was put back together and packing applied. However, after 400 miles the rattle has reappeared in the passenger B pillar, under exactly the same conditions, so it's back to the dealer again. The dealer solved it, but 9 months later it's rattling again, so I've taken it apart myself to try and resolve. What a hateful car.

Just when you think there can't be anything left to rattle, the driver's side dashboard tweeter comes loose and joins in the rattle party at 10,000 miles. Again, a common fault with this dashboard which is shared with the CX-3 with lots of forum entries highlighting it. So it's back to the Mazda dealer again. It came back with the same rattle and in the end I took it apart myself and wedged in pieces of foam, which have cured it. At 16,000 miles the whole edge of the dashboard against the window has started to vibrate and rattle over bumps, particularly in the corners near the tweeters. I only have one more year on finance and then I'll do a straight swap for something else. Utter r******.

On the plus side, my corroding alloys were replaced, but only after a stiff complaint to Mazda asking them to take the car back. I hope these ones last longer than 6,000 miles, otherwise they'll be going back as well. Well, with a little more than 12,000 miles on the clock, the replacement alloys have started to corrode again. I don't think Mazda have any form of quality control.

At 13,500 miles, the air conditioning compressor has just failed. All I got was a long, loud whistling noise, a grinding noise from the compressor, followed by no air conditioning. I've had 14 cars and none have been as dreadful as this. It's an utter disgrace and it means that I have to visit the Mazda dealer yet again to get it fixed, my 12th visit in 18 months. I might as well mention the fact that my alloys have started corroding again. According to the garage I've kerbed my alloys, which I haven't and they're refusing to pass the details to Mazda as they can't support the claim. There's no sign of damage to the tyres and the damage to the alloys consists of the lacquer starting to lift, with no signs of scars from kerb damage. How on earth can they claim that I've damaged them when there's no evidence to support this? Dreadful customer service again. How I long to see the back of this wretched vehicle.

Well that was that. It made it to 23 months and I got rid of it, not even waiting for the finance to finish. The air conditioning had just failed again at 17,500 miles and the rattles were getting no better and the infotainment/sat nav was hopeless. Replaced it with a Hyundai i30, a much better made car.

Hopeless quality all round and a waste of £16k.

I hate the damn thing and will never buy another Mazda.