This started as a small annoyance and I finally decided to track it down. Inspection found several real maintenance items but nothing catastrophic. I still like the car. Do you treat the shop estimat…
Budget works for either a lightly used luxury SUV or a new mainstream model with a full warranty. I'm more worried about three-to-five-year ownership cost and service downtime than the purchase price…
Budget allows one meaningful upgrade. Current street tires are decent and brakes are standard replacements. Which upgrade helps a new driver learn more before adding other parts?
Car started pulling slightly right after a tire rotation. Alignment printout is technically in spec. Is it worth cross-rotating tires to check radial pull before paying for another alignment?
Getting a repetitive click from around the roof/header area on rough pavement. Top seals look okay and it doesn't leak. Has anyone isolated a trim/latch/felt contact noise like this without replacing…
Every few days I get a brief hesitation pulling away from a stop. It feels like the engine cuts power for half a second and then everything is normal. No stored light on the dash. Wondering what live…
2021 Mazda CX-5 Turbo, about 57,500 miles. The A/C works well with road speed but gets noticeably warmer at long lights, then cools again almost immediately once moving. Does that point more toward a…
I can feel a small click through the seat base during left-right transitions. Bolts appear tight and the seat motor works. Anyone found a common way to isolate whether the play is in the rail, frame,…
2021 Mazda CX-5 Turbo, about 88,500 miles. There is early surface rust on brackets, fasteners and seams underneath, but nothing structural. For a salt-belt car, what treatment slows it down without c…
2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata Club, about 40,500 miles. I am trying to balance purchase price against downtime and surprise repairs. Would you put the same budget into an older proven car with cash left over…
2021 Mazda CX-5 Turbo, about 55,000 miles. Battery passes a quick test and charging voltage looks normal, but after two or three days parked the car sometimes will not crank. What is the cleanest par…
2006 Mazda RX-8 Sport, about 151,000 miles. Budget works for either a lightly used luxury SUV or a new mainstream model with a full warranty. I'm more worried about three-to-five-year ownership cost…
2021 Mazda CX-5 Turbo, about 118,000 miles. Budget works for either a lightly used luxury SUV or a new mainstream model with a full warranty. I'm more worried about three-to-five-year ownership cost…
Cruising is smooth, but braking from highway speed makes the steering wheel shake. Pads still have material. Would you start with rotor runout/thickness variation, hub condition or suspension bushing…
New windshield is in and shop says the camera needs calibration. Car drives fine and no warning is showing. Would you still do the calibration immediately, and does static vs dynamic calibration matt…
2021 Mazda CX-5 Turbo, about 78,000 miles. I'm seeing the oil level fall enough between services that I now check it regularly. No obvious leak. For other turbo owners, what documentation/tests did y…
News says my model year is involved, but the VIN lookup shows no open recall. Is that usually because only certain build ranges are affected, or can the databases lag? I am in Northern Virginia. Mile…
Manual says the transmission fluid is lifetime under normal use, but the car is approaching 80k miles and I plan to keep it a long time. Curious what owners are actually doing and whether drain/fill…
I do not want to judge a tune only by how fast the car feels. Which parameters are worth logging periodically if the goal is catching fuel, knock, boost or temperature problems early? I am in Washing…
1993 Mazda RX-7 Touring, about 225,000 miles. Cabin fan works normally on certain settings and then cuts out or changes speed unpredictably on others. Before replacing the blower motor, what should b…
