MK4/ND Buyer's advice

[Paddyman]

Great cars, love my 1.5 Icon. It’s a fast slow car, the sense of speed and excitement out ways the actual speed you are travelling at. This and the Rev happy nature and simplicity/efficiency of the 1.5 really appeals to me. I would also consider the 2.0l but got a great deal on the Icon.

Have you considered buying new through Carwow or Drive The Deal, you could get a new one on 0% APR for not much more then the £17k ish for a used one?

just in time for summer (or has that already passed)!

Simon.

 

[sunniguy]

Very proud owner of a 2l ND now. 

[OnboardG1]

@Paddyman

Great cars, love my 1.5 Icon. It’s a fast slow car, the sense of speed and excitement out ways the actual speed you are travelling at. This and the Rev happy nature and simplicity/efficiency of the 1.5 really appeals to me. I would also consider the 2.0l but got a great deal on the Icon.

Have you considered buying new through Carwow or Drive The Deal, you could get a new one on 0% APR for not much more then the £17k ish for a used one?

just in time for summer (or has that already passed)!

Simon.

 

We got a good deal on the Icon too because the dealer was out of stock of everything else. If 17k is around your price point you can get dealer ex-demo cars for around that much. If you can get one that their MX-5 specialist has had as a company car even better because it’ll have been driven properly (the local specialist has a Mk2 and is or at least was an OC member). Given that we’re around three months from the plate change I’d bet that a few dealers have some 2L demo cars that they need to shift with 16 plates.

 

[Mad_Malc]

@sunniguy

Very proud owner of a 2l ND now. 

Congratulations, now just enjoy.

[Countryboy]

 Happy “5ing”

[sunniguy]

@OnboardG1

@Paddyman

Great cars, love my 1.5 Icon. It’s a fast slow car, the sense of speed and excitement out ways the actual speed you are travelling at. This and the Rev happy nature and simplicity/efficiency of the 1.5 really appeals to me. I would also consider the 2.0l but got a great deal on the Icon.

Have you considered buying new through Carwow or Drive The Deal, you could get a new one on 0% APR for not much more then the £17k ish for a used one?

just in time for summer (or has that already passed)!

Simon.

 

We got a good deal on the Icon too because the dealer was out of stock of everything else. If 17k is around your price point you can get dealer ex-demo cars for around that much. If you can get one that their MX-5 specialist has had as a company car even better because it’ll have been driven properly (the local specialist has a Mk2 and is or at least was an OC member). Given that we’re around three months from the plate change I’d bet that a few dealers have some 2L demo cars that they need to shift with 16 plates.

 

I ended up buying the one I linked to earlier in this thread (2l Sort Nav in Soul Red). It was in immaculate condition, less than 2700 miles from new. And I managed to haggle a discount as well as walk away with almost a full tank of petrol.

 

[redmazda]

We’ll done that full tank will deliver a lot of miles these mk4 are great on full in still on my first full tank 400 miles done and still fuel left lol

[TimLockhart]

No I wouldn’t say the quality has dropped at all - all manufactures have “friday afternoon” cars as we like to call them in the trade. Compared to other well known marques there are VERY few factory recalls on Mazda cars, very few known trouble spots on the modern ones, and overall customer reliability reports are excellent. 

The wife’s Mazda 3 has never missed a beat, and bar the roof issue nor has my MX5. I also have a my 2 mx5 on my drive along with a Clio sport that i have as a toy - put it this way, the Renault wont start after a week of nto being used - the feisty green mk2 mx5 starts first time every time - even after 5 months stood and thice with snow! 

@Chris Phillips

@Mad Malc

As the cars you are looking at are still within the three year warranty period I would not worry too much about any ‘mechanical’ issues as Mazda should sort them. These include hood rubbing, hood rattles, door rattles, seat belt guides, thud noise on bumps (diff re torque), rattle/chattering noise from rear (rear callipers replaced) are some that I have seen.

The things to concentrate on are items that are ‘wear and tear’ that will not be covered under the remaining warranty. These include tyres, wheel damage, lights (the LED headlamps are not cheap), paint (easily damaged on Mazdas), interior trim particularly the seat facings and glass. If any of these are below par get the dealer to agree to fix these before purchase.

You will not be disappointed as the ND is a very enjoyable way to travel.

 

 

 

Blimey Malc, I had no idea there were so many ‘teething troubles’ with the ND !

My wife had her first new Mazda company car (a 6) in 2005, another 6 followed in 2008, then the first of our MX-5s in 2011.  Every car was superbly built, to the highest standard, with quality materials, and were totally reliable.  It really gave us a feeling that Mazdas were ‘a cut above’ most cars on the road.  No teething troubles - no niggles - we couldn’t have wished for better motors.  Ten years of problem-free motoring.

After the lease-hire period of the last Mazda company car (the MX-5) ended, and not liking the shape of the ND, we chose a VW Scirocco as its replacement, but missing topless motoring, we decided to buy another MX-5, as a second car last October, and then joined the OC.

Since then, I have been made aware of many issues with Mazdas that completely passed us by in all those ten years with the marque.  Sometimes I wish I hadn’t joined !

The thing is, is this a trend ?  Are Mazdas going down hill quality-wise ?  If we had experienced so many problems with our first Mazda, as you have highlighted crop up with the ND, we would never have got another one.

Were we just lucky do you think ?