I bought my 2.0 Sport Cabriolet Coupe as a once in a lifetime treat after years of owning sensible small cars. After 6 weeks I got a local Mazda dealership to look at a leaking rear brake light, a squeak in the dash and a grinding noise from the gearbox. They fixed nothing but washed it and covered it in scratches! It went back 4 times for them to fix the paintwork - once looking like it had been intentionally vandalised. It never looked right even after 4 attempts - it ended up covered in circular polishing scratches making it look like a much older car than a few weeks old. The dealership were unprofessional and even got aggressive when I refused to accept all was ok.

It then broke down twice, once leaving me without power in lane 3 of the M3 with the hard shoulder coned off because of roadworks! Mazda initially refused me a courtesy car the second time it broke down!

I demanded a replacement car but the dealership and Mazda UK wouldn't entertain my reasonable requests (I even asked for an ex-demo rather than a new replacement). Consumer Direct said I'd weakened my legal position because I'd taken the car to a different Mazda dealership for the warranty work than the one I bought it from (because they didn't have a 3 month waiting list). Despite this, I'd expected some goodwill from Mazda UK but they were dismissive and useless - their customer service skills are awful.

Then a hit and run driver hit it one night, so I took it to a Mazda approved bodywork specialist but even their repairs were sub-standard and they also covered the windscreen and undamaged side of the car with dull oversprayed paint. Even the interior was covered with some kind of sticky mess! Under the bonnet was full of sanded filler and the inner wings covered in underseal clearly showing a major repair had been done thus making the car worth less!

At my wits end I traded it in on a Toyota Yaris for a substantial loss - I couldn't even sell the MX5 privately.

I will never buy or recommend a Mazda to anyone - it still amazes me how the MX5 does so well in various customer satisfaction surveys - like rubbing salt in my wounds!

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