Hi all,
I recently purchased a 1.8 Euphonic (2004) which has just turned 28,000 miles on the clock. I’d been looking for ages and finally decided to take the plunge between Christmas and New Year (see my post ‘Just bought a Euphonic’ in the New Members Forum).
However, something that I’d been looking forward to immensely is currently making me pretty miserable. I bought the car from a well know UK dealer network and it was sold with a 3 month warranty, brand new MOT and had tax until the end of January.
To summarise:
On the test drive I noticed it was pulling to the left and asked them to investigate/sort this before I finalised the deal.
After drivng away from the dealer and having a quick blast, the pull to the left was still there.
I'd specifically gone for the Euphonc in part due to the 6 speaker sound system. It turned out that 3 of these speakers (including the 2 main door speakers) are inoperative. I'd put the stereo on during the test drive but hadn't twigged at that point for some reason.
There is quite a lot of mould on the inside of the hood.
The rear brakes are binding after the handbake is left on overnight.
I managed to spin the car at low speed at a junction after a couple of days of ownership which has made me very tentative since.
As I am currently working down in the Leeds area, I didn't have a chance to take the car back to the dealer I purchased from due to the impending New Year break for them. I subsequently placed a call to cite my issues before I was travelling back down from Scotland and they said I could go to any of the dealers in the network and have these problems looked at. Fair enough so far.
So today, after ringing round several of the dealers in their network in Leeds, I found one who would look at the 5 (different manufacturers are not all serviced by all franchises apparently) . I went along this morning and was given a courtesy car which I had to shell out a £10 admin fee for and left the 5 with them for the day. About 3pm this afternoon I got a call saying that the car was ready. To summarise again:
They reckoned the pull to the left was due to low tyre pressure in one of the front tyres (24 psi). I'd already equalised them all at 26 psi to eliminate this as a cause.
They said the rear brakes were not grinding when they drove it (I'd stated that they were binding, not grinding).
They said that there was probably some connection problem with the speakers but as they had no audio technician they could not fix it.
They mentioned that the rear discs are corroded an that the pads only have a few mm left on them.
I have to say that at this moment in time I'm not a very happy bunny. I almost feel like just taking it back to the dealer and trying to get my dosh back although this is unlikely. I just wanted to be able to enjoy the car without all of these problems cropping up. I realise that some of the issues could have been mitigated by more diligance on my part but the speaker problem and lack of rectification has really annoyed me. I can live with the car pulling slightly to the left as I'd like to get proper geomotery/alignment done on the car anyway. The mould on the inside on the hood seems symptomatic of the lack of care paid to the car during preparation.
My current intention is to call the original dealer and at least get them to agree to get the speakers sorted. If this means me taking it to any audio technician and then getting them to shell out to cover the costs then I'd be a bit happier. I'm not holding out too much hope though.
I want to love the 5 but at the moment I'm verging on the opposite. Apologies for the rant and the nagtaive tone of only my 2nd post but I'd welcome any informed comments from anyone who's listening.
Cheers,
Tony
It’s a buyers market at the moment, get the car back to the supplying dealer and get them to sort all the problems to your satisfaction. Don’t take the car back until then and make sure they supply a courtesy car FOC.
You could always use your rights under the sale of goods act and ask for a full refund as the car is not fit for purpose.
Always remain Calm but firm. If they won’t do anything or not what you expect just tell them that you wish to speak to the dealer principle and also make sure that they are aware that you will speak to trading standards if needed
Sorry to hear about your problems with the car. I’m with FergyUK on this one, go back to the dealer and be firm but remain calm, don’t back down and i’m sure you will prevail.
Please don’t write off the MX-5 as a whole. A decent example(which i’m sure yours is, just a few teething problems at the moment) is just so much fun and after owning a few other cars i really can’t see me going back to anything else in the near future. Please give it a chance!
As for your fourth point about losing the back end, this happened to me a few times when i first got my 5 as i’d only ever previously driven front engine front drive cars. Going to rear drive front engine was a bit strange at first but you get used to it and when it ‘clicks’ it really is a magical feeling!
Good luck and please keep us updated with how you get on.
Cheers fellas,
Thanks for the advice. I’m going to give the dealer I bought it from a ring tomorrow and see what they say. Unfortunately I bought the car in Glasgow and it’ll be a few weeks before I head back up from Leeds and even then that’ll only be for a weekend. If I’d still been there I’d have been back straight away for a few words. I’ll let you know how it goes.
I really want to give it a chance as I’ve heard so many good things about them. I managed a blast up to Loch Lomond and back before I had the spinning incident and it was fantastic. I’d not let the faults get to me at that point or had my confidence shaken by the spin. I’d like more of the same.
You’re right Ben. I forgot I was in a RWD car (which I’ve never had before) and stuck the foot down while taking a right hand turn at a junction on a slightly damp and cold road. I won’t be doing that again in a hurry!
Thanks again,
T
My Mk1 has had loads of problems, but I just have to keep getting them fixed. The problem is, you do end up falling in love with the car, and then all common sense and “economic viability” go out the window.
I agree about the RWD issue. Once you get used to the handling, and explore the limits, you will manage fine and really enjoy ti compared to driving other more utiliatarian cars. I go by the rule that you apply the brakes just before you enter the bend and accelerate out of the bend, but don’t brake or accelerate ON the bend or you end up in the ditch! The back slides out in this situation, I learnt to my cost. Especially on country roads where there is grit or loose material on the road surface.
Also bear in mind that the brakes are not brilliant on the 5, at least on the older ones. Mine does not even have ABS, and have had a few near misses, when I have had to swerve to avoid hitting something in front as the car just does not stop in time, and the wheels lock up and it skids forward. If you are aware of this, then you can at least try and brake sooner.
Don’t give up, and I hope you manage to get the garage to fix the problems. One thing I have found, is that as soon as one thing is resolved, another thing goes wrong. I have also learned that frequent oil changes and good maintenance is essential on a car of this age (mine is an H reg).
Hi everyone,
I thought I’d post an update on the situation with my recently acquired 5. The pull to the left should hopefully be resolved when I get a 4 wheel alignment done as I believe this is probably the issue. I’d therefore decided that I could live with the other minor niggles but was really not happy with the inoperative speakers.
I called the original dealer through the week to explain the situation and he was actually quite helpful. As the place I’d went to in their network couldn’t fix the audio problem I stated that I’d like to take it to a technician and have it charged back to the warranty. He said to take it to a Mazda main dealer (which he gave me names for) and as it was such a low mileage car, ask them to look at at under goodwill. Like me, he realised that this would probably be a longshot but if they could at least look at it I’d have a ‘fighting chance’ at getting it fixed under warranty. Not ideal but not sure how else to proceed. I haven’t had a chance to try this yet but will do so in due course. If I don’t get anywhere I’ll be straight back on the blower. There was mention of this sort of thing not being covered under warranty but I won’t be accepting that.
The other option I’ve considered is trying to figure out what is wrong myself and save the hassle. I’ll post a message in the appropriate forum and see what that brings. I’ll update again if I get anywhere with either option.
Cheers again,
T
Stick with it and it will be worth it. My Black Mk1 broke down on the way from Bristol to Stafford in torrential rain returning home after buying it. The hose to cluch cylinder burst in Stafford at a VERY bust roundabout at 12.30 on a Saturday. The only way home was to start her in gear and pray as I just drove into the traffic congestion. I still have grey hairs.[:|]
The point of telling you this is I adore my car now 2 years later and we have great fun together despite a rocky start.
Stick with it, it will be worth it. And Black is the best colour too.[:D]
The thing i’ve found about owning an MX-5, is that whilst i’ve had my Mark 1 any rational thoughts of economic prudence get shoved out of the window due to my love for my car!
I do think once you get the speaker problem sorted on your car you will fall in love with your 5 and never want to let her go
Good luck with fixing the speaker problem and let us know how you get on.
I can relate to your email - I bought mine last summer and since then i’ve had broken electric windows, seized brake callipers, oil leaks, washers not working, heating not working, stereo not working but I love the car, mine’s 14 years old so I guess they do need a bit of tlc. but they are worth it.
I reckon it’ll totally click for you in a couple of months when you have the hood down everyday - then they really are heaps of fun.
helpful to read the comments about the spins - i’ve done it twice now (once last weekend - nearly lost it on a country lane) but now I realise it was down to accelerating hard too early in the corner - won’t do that again (cheers for the advice!)
Hi Smith,
Aye, your list of issues certainly puts mine in perspective [;)] The chances of getting the hood down at the moment are pretty remote. I cleared over a foot of snow off it yesterday as it’d been sitting for nearly a week without being moved. I wasn’t happy with all that weight on top of the cloth. I haven’t driven it during the recent weather as the road that it’s sitting on hasn’t seen a gritter at all as far as I can see and I’m not willing to take the risk.
I’ll be happy enough once I get my broken speakers sorted, a nice clear crisp day and some top down action on the go. I managed to get some clear repeaters and reflectors on it a couple of weeks ago which look much better against the black bodywork so at least I can’t be accused of not making an effort [:)]
Thanks to everyone for the encouragement.
T
Seriously though there are two things to know about 5 driving…this time of the year is PERFECT for top down motoring, it’s dry, it’s crisp and makes you feel alive. (My personal motto is ‘if it isn’t raining then the hood isn’t going up’)
Regarding the whole scaryness of spinning…I had a similar thing…first time it was icy and i took off on a squiggly set of traffic lights the back end gave me a bit of a shock…since then, never had a problem. Just remember to be careful on icy patches and you will be fine! (i.e move off in second gear and not first!)
