Went to the Open Top Breakfast Club at Goodwood yesterday and photographed every Mk4 that was on display for my dealer to prove that, you’ve guessed it, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM has the roof rubbing. This is by no means bad luck or and isolated case.
Collected mine 27/8/2015. Still no rubbing!
Interesting, how many miles have you done and how often do you drop the roof? My feeling is that it is a usage issue. I picked mine up Sept 2015, 6.5K Miles later and dropping the roof most times I go out.
You’re probably right. I put the hood up overnight and then put it down when I go out (I don’t go out if it’s chucking it down), I generally try to leave the hood down while parked. This is fairly easy to do as I only use the car for shopping trips to a supermarket. I don’t have much spare time for leisure driving as I’m a full-time carer. Consequently my mileage is very, very low, just under 950 so far! I would point out that I do raise and lower the hood as per the manual and check clearance before and after each trip and after each lowering.
It appears to me to be a design error. I was finding that when I tried opening the roof whilst seated in the cockpit, it was simple enough to throw it back, but difficult to clip it down. Compared with my mk 3 which easily clipped into the retracted position. I realise now that the reason it was difficult to clip down was because it was pushing up against the roll hoops. So now, as mentioned above, when retracting the roof I do so from outside of the car, pushing it down and away from the hoops, whereby I can clip it into position without it rubbing on the hoops.
To be fair to Mazda the owners manual does tell you to do it this way, but as we all know, part of the attraction with our little sports cars is the simplicity of throwing the roof back from the drivers seat.
I am still awaiting a response from my main dealer on the issue. Thus far they seem to have ignored my query but I shan’t let it go.
[quote=Countryboy]
Collected mine 27/8/2015. Still no rubbing!
Well good for you, but as it’s the majority that are effected, then Mazda need to rectify this problem. As for stating that the manual tells you to do it from outside the car, sorry but this isnt acceptable. Mazda themselves have an official video, that demonstrates how to lower from inside the car (unless they have now removed it, but I have kept a copy of it, if any possible future disputes). When we went to the official Mazda UK VIP test day, they demonstrated the roof lowering from inside the car, so to dispute this is crazy. I like many others who ordered the car, didn’t have access to a manual before ordering the car, we bought with the belief, that what had been demonstrated to us, from Mazda themselves, would be the normal operation of the roof. However way you look at this issue, their is a very simple solution to it, that would be very acceptable to all owners, replace the rear hoop garnish with a new modified version, which gives the clearance needed. The current fix, of removing the interior panels of the car and fitting spacers, is not an acceptable fix, especially for those that are tall and have their seats all the way back. I did think about modifying the rear hoop garnish myself, as someone has done in Germany. However, I don’t think I should have to do this in the first place, but also, it would invalidate any warranty claim associated in that area.
I do believe there’s is an other issue with the soft top operation. I have noticed that when the roof has been stowed for a while (putting this into context, the roof may have been lowered for a few hours at most, while driving), when you pull the release handle, the hood used to spring up, high enough to grab the handle to pull forward. Now the roof is barely springing up, making it difficult to reach the handle. The spring must be getting stretched/tired, so this will need to be dealt with in the future.
I perfectly understand new model cars can have teething problems, it’s the way the manufacture and dealers deals with these issues that counts! I have hope, that Mazda are currently working on a new part and that it will be released sometime soon. Hopefully.
Chaucer I do not dispute that there is a problem, I merely stated that so far it has not affected me so I think your somewhat sarcastic riposte was uncalled for! I saw the same promo video, the same in-car demonstration by a sales rep. as everyone else, but after I collected my car I went home read the manual and from then on did it “by the book”. I agree that Mazda ought to put a more time and effort into finding a proper solution and fitting to all vehicles. I would also suggest that those who continue to use a method of hood raising/lowering that aggravates the problem just because they think “it should be like that” are wrong.
Just to advert any confusion some on this site seem to have (maybe they either work for Mazda or just don’t like the mx5 being criticised ? If your paranoid, you may take offence to this comment, so please accept my apology in advance) this video is from Mazda europe.
Anyone that has problems with their top, Mazda will pay for it, they cannot refuse, it’s simple really. Their franchised dealers demonstrate opening and closing from inside the car, there own uk staff, demo it like that, all the media have demo’d it that way and still do, I would guess 70% of owners do it that way and even the coporate video says it can be done from inside the car !!!. If Mazda do not want people to open and close them this way, it should have been addressed from day one, every journalist should have been told to only open and close from outside the car, every dealer sales person and events staff should have only demo’d it from outside the car, then no of the Mazda CUSTOMERS would believe, or expect to be able to open and close the roof from inside the car.
my roof touches if you open from inside the car, so I have decided not to do it this way anymore (for now, but I’m not happy about that), it also touches when opening whilst stood outside, but it doesn’t scuff the cover, as I put extra force on the rear when putting it down. I haven’t taken it in for the (temporary fix) as I don’t want the inside of my car pulled apart, only to have to be done again at some point Later. Adding a few washers is not the solution, neither is telling tall owners not to move the seat back to the bulkhead, so that its pushing on the roll hoops, the driver needs to be comfortable and the car needs to be robust enough to allow full movement and adjustability to accommodate it occupants. Either that, or ban anyone over 5’9" from driving an mx5 !!! One of the features I really liked when test driving and choosing the mx5 ND, was its quick roof operation, it’s not quick or convenient, if you can only operate it from outside the car.
the solution to this issue is to redesign the roll hoop trim so it’s far enough away from the roof when lowering and allow their (Mazda) customers to use the vehicle they bought in the way any reasonable person would like to expect. This issue has been around long enough to have been dealt with by now and yet new cars being delivered today have this issue. My car was built in January 2016 and the roof rubs, the car in the show room was built in September 2015 and the roof didn’t rub and I watched several people whilst I was in the showroom opening and closing it several times and I guess that car had had that treatment a dozen times a week from prospective customers. I might add, these aren’t roll over hoops anyway, they would not protect anything in the event of a rollover in there present form, if the position of the drivers seat can affect the movement of said part, then it’s almost certainly not strong enough to do naff all in an accident.
Progress is dictated by action.
Countryboy I’m sorry if you misinterpreted my post as sarcastic, that was not my intention, merely to state you were lucky to have no rubbing. What I did want to state, is that it’s a reality for what seems the majority of users and that Mazda openly encouraged its customers, to believe that it was perfectly OK, to operate the roof in this way. I’m not suggesting this is what I would do or anybody else, but if you were so inclined, would it not give customers grounds to return their cars, as they cannot operate the roof, in the same way as Mazda indicated in their promotion material and events!
As to suggesting that anybody that continues to operate the roof, that aggregates the problem is wrong, sorry but I don’t agree. If they bought the car in the belief, from Mazda’s own promotion material, that is ok, then rightly so, they will be disappointed or even annoyed that they had been misled by Mazda. It should been down to Mazda to either stop the owners from operating the roof in this way, by sending every owner a letter, or accept the problem exist and deal with it by changing the design. This issue has been known about by Mazda, since atleast July/August last year, as the American market had shown up this problem back then. Mazda could’ve done something about it then, to quell the notion that operating the roof in this way was not OK, but instead they came up with a temporary fix with the washers. However, if Mazda were to send me a letter telling me not to operate the roof in this manner, I’d direct them to their own promotional material!
Cropduster, I will look the video up and post it later for you.
Thanks Hovy for posting that video link.
Chaucer, thanks for your reply. But don’t overlook that fact that I was one of those who saw the the promo video, had the demonstration etc… Then I read the manual saw the difference in technique and put it down to an over-zealous sales department not talking to R + D or production, nothing unusual there. Yes I was confused and a bit put out, but never having a convertible before it didn’t bother me. But as agreed there is a problem, it needs to be sorted properly, not a piece-meal bodge job as at the moment. I do stick to what I said about using a technique which is proven to be wrong, if I can change why not others. Two wrongs won’t make it right will it. Interesting point by Hovy though about the early car not having a problem. As mine must have been one of the first “off the boat” and delivered to a customer would that be anything to do with it I wonder?
Dealer salespeople are explicitly instructed to demonstrate the standing outside the car method as described in the manual when handing the car over. If you follow this method it is likely in the majority of cases that the front of the hood when folded will be clear of the roll hoop covers.
Notwithstanding that the videos show it being opened from inside the car and this method if employed will likely cause fouling, the manual and the dealer hand over (should) contradict this.
if your dealer hasn’t done this then you need to take it up with them.
In my case I don’t recall having this demonstrated, when I took the car back the service technician ran through the process and I can consistently lower the hood using this method and it doesn’t foul. It annoys me as I view it as a retrograde step from earlier models, that’s an inconvenience though.
For info, Mazda have now issued a fix for this concern.
I am struggling to understand why anyone would defend, what has been poorly handle practice by all involved with this situation. Use your roof how you like, that’s fine, but if anyone on here would like to show me any media vids that show using the roof from outside as normal practice or at all, or even an official mazda vid that specifically says not to open the roof from inside the car, I’ll eat my hat. Every youtube vid I’ve seen (and that’s probably hundreds by now) show and applaud the easy quick operation from inside the car. Its Mazda press department and legal departments that should have insisted all media only show operation from outside the car if that’s the only acceptable way to use the car. Please don’t make excuses for Mazda, they are the ones that need to address this problem, not owners that feel they need to give advice. Just because you have chosen to only read the manual and not watch mazda’s video or any others, does not make others wrong. Yes it’s advisable to take heed once you know what the problem is, to avoid further problems, but the onus is on Mazda. mazda know what the problem is and they have the know how to sort it and have a moral obligation to too.
@ Roadster Robbie, what fix are you referring to?
Cheers
To prevent the roof contacting the roll hoops.
i believe the only one to date is the washer fitment, are you saying there is something new on the table?
Little bit aggressive no?
“Owners that feel they need to give advice” - this is a ‘discussion’ forum where people are encouraged to provide input based on their experience and contribute to a ‘discussion’.
Whether you like or agree with that while you shout from your soapbox is moot, it’s a replay of my experience and the feedback given through a Mazda franchised dealer.
There has now been a rework issued from Mazda Japan, it involves re-positioning the roll hoops forward slightly. There are Mazda supplied spaces to fit.
Many thanks for this information, my car is booked in next week to have the ‘fix’. I hope it will be done as you describe.