What Shocked You Today

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Hmm.. mechanically they are great (within reason), but body and cosmetics wise they are not.

Very much built to a price and the point at which the axe fell is paint and rust proofing.

Wouldn't expect a 2013 to be a basket case and muddy underside suggests it had more of a coating of mud and crap than most but they are bit water soluble.

In the 3 there is a distinct difference between northern and southern cars...the general advice being if it's lived in Scotland, northern England or on the coast have a very good look indeed. Don't expect the 2 to be any different.

At the age you're looking at finding a garaged one or one from down south would be the preference unless you're happy with getting maybe 2 or 3 years out of it before rust starts appearing on the MOT.

This would be the underside of my 3 after 9 years and 80k...I'll be honest I did literally nothing to look after the underside of it..but most people don't so about standard for a Mazda that's seen snow and salt a lot.

View attachment 418713
Similar to the swift, well put together..but some low quality materials used and once they get to old age it starts to bite.

Thanks very much. The one we looked at today was quite a bit worse than that, specially around the rear spring pans. I would expect some rust around them though at that age but was surprised by the amount generally spreading around all the seams. it was much worse than our 2010 Panda which is still looking pretty good except for it's axle. I'll be taking a very careful look at the one we're going to see tomorrow. Shame is that there's a very nice Panda sitting at the wee garage just down the road but she won't even look at it - not enough street cred I think?

 

[StevenRB45]

Thanks very much. The one we looked at today was quite a bit worse than that, specially around the rear spring pans. I would expect some rust around them though at that age but was surprised by the amount generally spreading around all the seams. it was much worse than our 2010 Panda which is still looking pretty good except for it's axle. I'll be taking a very careful look at the one we're going to see tomorrow. Shame is that there's a very nice Panda sitting at the wee garage just down the road but she won't even look at it - not enough street cred I think?

Mine was solid but a lot of surface corrosion on the underside. Did have some on the seams under the bonnet at the front of the chassis legs and also behind the front bumper on the crash bar. However the pearl white makes it stick out like a sore thumb so I'll doubt you'll have any difficulty spotting it.

I'd specifically spend time checking where the bumpers meet the wings front and rear and inside the front and rear arches and along the sills. If it has skirts make sure you get your hand behind them and onto the sill beam. Water runs down the arch..and the sill cover then holds it..yay.

Otherwise just mash all the buttons and make sure everything it has works, they are well equipped and decently made but being a little bit unusual compared to a Fiesta or Polo can mean Mazda is the only place to get bits and they are expensive. A blower for my 3 was a 250 quid part, you can get second hand but it's an interior out job...so you don't want it failing again quickly. Exhausts as well can be problematic it's often cheaper to get one custom made.

 

[bugsymike]

Buying back the Jazz from insurance starting to sound the better deal Jock .
Whether Main Dealer or back street garage I have yet to find one that won't tell you black is white to do a deal.

 

[Cornish Ian]

Thanks very much. The one we looked at today was quite a bit worse than that, specially around the rear spring pans. I would expect some rust around them though at that age but was surprised by the amount generally spreading around all the seams. it was much worse than our 2010 Panda which is still looking pretty good except for it's axle. I'll be taking a very careful look at the one we're going to see tomorrow. Shame is that there's a very nice Panda sitting at the wee garage just down the road but she won't even look at it - not enough street cred I think?

I don’t envy anyone looking for a secondhand car nowadays that hasn’t a good knowledge of what to look for. Your daughter in law is lucky you can check them over for her.
So many bits like Stevens picture obviously could be a big cost later if it wasn’t noticed. I have sprayed my focus and the wife’s 500 axle with a rust proofing compound early in their life at the first signs of rust but otherwise we would probably be looking at big bills at some point assuming we keep them.

The company I used to work for were big fans of German kit, especially after buying a sprinter that seemed bullet proof.
They bought a few cars from the VAG group but were severely bitten by most of them. Octavia blew a turbo after 4 or so years, Golf had a load of electrical and a few mechanical faults and both were marginal on repair cost. Scirocco had electrical / electronic problems and was deemed unviable to repair.
MDs high end merc started to wear tyres due to excessive negative camber, according to the dealer it needed a lot of parts replacing apart from the springs to correct this. I never saw the quote but The MD opted to change tyres every 2 k miles rather than refurbish the suspension.
The infamous IMS bearing of a friends Porsche failed and landed him with a 5 figure bill.

If anyone hasn’t got it yet my point is that even cars with supposedly good reputations can sometimes give you grief.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

If anyone hasn’t got it yet my point is that even cars with supposedly good reputations can sometimes give you grief.

You're absolutely right on that one. There's just so much "stuff" on them these days something is almost bound to fail!

Regarding our situation. The deed is done and she's just on her way to pick up her "new" car as I'm tapping this out on the keyboard.

What really sealed the Honda's fate was that her insurer offered to settle for £3,029.00p This for a 2008 vehicle, in very "average" condition, but with quite low miles for the year. The fellow at the wee garage near me, a chap I now know quite well, said he'd probably have offered around £750 for it in trade in if it hadn't been damaged and it was too old for him to be interested in retailing it.

This payout coupled to available funds and a bit of a contribution from us set the budget at around £6,000.00p and we've looked at a few cars over the last few days, all pretty average or below average. Then another Mazda2 popped up on Autotrader which looked really nice but being sold by a borders dealer who I'd never heard off - remember I'm a borders lad and know many of the reputable establishments down there. So I activated the wee man in Google maps and paid a virtual visit to this business premises. Oh dear, looked like a tinker's yard! However the car looked good and daughter in law had viewed the advert and like what she saw, so we decided to go and take a look.

So yesterday Mrs J went off for a lunch date with her old work buddies and I bundled my boy, his wife and both grandchildren into the Ibiza - a pretty tight squeeze - and set of down the A703. The establishment is reached down several side roads off the A703 and as we turned the corner and started down towards the site you could see that the site had been cleared, leveled and a nice new building erected with some smart signage above the door. This is looking more like it, Google, you need to update your data!

Turns out this very pleasant middle aged chap is setting up his own business and he's got the wee Mazda in the building, which is little more than 4 walls at this time with his desk in one corner next to a wood burning stove. Out side are a few more vehicles, several of which are definitely high end - like Range Rover, BMW, etc (you get the idea) and very nice looking vehicles indeed.

He told me to examine the car in as much detail as I liked and chatted to my folks while I crawled all over it and under it. Much to his amusement my young grandson joined me on my groundsheet to look under the car (I'd taken my very bright cree led floodlight too) What a difference compared to the other one we'd looked at. It's actually an early 2015 car but on a 14 plate with mid 40,000 miles. Pretty well immaculate bodywork (one very small ding just above the O/S flasher repeater light). Very little rust anywhere underneath, certainly nothing even remotely resembling Steven's picture above. I was toiling to pick it up on anything really. The best I could manage was that the exhaust, which looked original, was quite rusty - but no blows, front pads were about two thirds worn, two of the tyres were probably under 3mm so would need changing soon. One wheel had some mild curb rash and it needed new wiper blades. Tyres are not a size I've run into before 195/45R16 (or was it 15?) I've got it written down somewhere, so I rang my "tame" tire man who confirmed it's not a very common size but found on some of the far eastern stuff in particular and he can do us some bargain prices if needed so not to worry - great! No spare though, just a can of "gunk" however it does have a wheel well and space savers were available as an extra - so a search on ebay might produce one. Engine ran very sweetly with no trace of chain rattle or other nasties. The chap jumped in the back and we went for a test drive. Lovely, Thought I could just hear a very, very slight, speed related, whine from the back somewhere, possibly a wheel bearing? but more likely something to do with tyre tread noise I think. Even if it does develop into a bearing problem I don't think a rear wheel bearing is going to cause me too much grief. By the way, sensible rear drum brakes too! Hurrah! We went round the town and then off up the main road for about 5 miles and back. Daughter in law loved it saying it had more "go" than her old Jazz (Mk1 and I've been planning on cleaning out the EGR on that this summer so that's one less "hassle" job for me).

Everything was "right" about it, even got 2 keys. He agreed to change the engine oil and filter and fit new wiper blades. The MOT was only a month old and there's quite a lot of service documentation. He told us the car had been a third car in a large local family and they were reducing to two cars so he'd bought it from them for cash. He wouldn't negotiate much on price saying he knew he'd sell it no bother if we decided not to buy - and I'm sure he would. So it cost her/us the entire budget but I believe the car is well worth it so don't begrudge the cost.

Today I rang Mike down at SRS to inquire about stuff generally and the brakes and exhaust particularly as Steven had mentioned exhausts in his post. I was told service stuff - filters, oil, etc - is readily available off the shelf and averagely priced as are the brake parts. The exhaust they don't stock in their racks but can be supplied next day if needed. Possibly a little more expensive than something like a Fiesta (for example) but with the engine being a Mazda product, they don't sell in any great volume whereas the brakes, suspension etc is "pure Ford" so in stock and I'm not to worry about anything as he's sure he can "keep me straight" at reasonable cost.

Just had a call from my boy, They picked the car up lunchtime and it ran beautifully for the hour or so it took to get back home. Daughter in law is so excited she's out driving around in it right now! Copart just rang to say the Jazz is being picked up tomorrow which makes me a bit sad as I'd got to know it really well. Now I've got a new one to make friends with!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Of course there's no Haynes Manual for it but I see there's one of their new "service/diagnostic" publications for it. Anyone know anything about them?
Haynes Autofix they call them. See here: https://haynes.com/en-gb/mazda/2/2011-2015-13-petrol-373317

 

[StevenRB45]

Sounds like a decent one.

As your man says parts wise you'll probably be ok on common service parts. It's only if you get a lesser spotted failure that it can get a bit painful. However been around since 2008 so there will be breakers available. If they have a similar electrical system to 3 even things like BCMs didn't need aligning/coding. So if they went you could plug one in off a scrap car..which didn't even need to be the same spec.

There's probably pattern exhausts out there now, there never used to be because the original ones tend to last about 10 years + so there was no reason to stock/make them.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Sounds like a decent one.

As your man says parts wise you'll probably be ok on common service parts. It's only if you get a lesser spotted failure that it can get a bit painful. However been around since 2008 so there will be breakers available. If they have a similar electrical system to 3 even things like BCMs didn't need aligning/coding. So if they went you could plug one in off a scrap car..which didn't even need to be the same spec.

There's probably pattern exhausts out there now, there never used to be because the original ones tend to last about 10 years + so there was no reason to stock/make them.

Thanks Steven. Very interesting that the BCM doesn't need coding. I was guessing that much of it's been the same since it's introduction and we have a couple of quite large yards up here - SCB and S&I Thomson - who I've frequented in the past. So useful to be able to access your knowledge. Hope I won't be needing to, for a while anyway.

 

[StevenRB45]

Thanks Steven. Very interesting that the BCM doesn't need coding. I was guessing that much of it's been the same since it's introduction and we have a couple of quite large yards up here - SCB and S&I Thomson - who I've frequented in the past. So useful to be able to access your knowledge. Hope I won't be needing to, for a while anyway.

2s are not a specialist subject, although I've driven a few and looked at replacing the Swift with one..never actually did.

However you'd imagine they do the electrical system similar ways between models. Engine ECUs do need coding if memory serves as they need to match the key it was only the one that did "comfort" stuff that wasn't picky.

They also aren't picky about batteries, bulbs etc etc as it's much simpler than a similar era VAG car. This has some disadvantages eg no bulb warnings or "welcome lighting" or automatic folding mirrors...but also means basic fault finding techniques can be used reasonably successfully.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

2s are not a specialist subject, although I've driven a few and looked at replacing the Swift with one..never actually did.

However you'd imagine they do the electrical system similar ways between models. Engine ECUs do need coding if memory serves as they need to match the key it was only the one that did "comfort" stuff that wasn't picky.

They also aren't picky about batteries, bulbs etc etc as it's much simpler than a similar era VAG car. This has some disadvantages eg no bulb warnings or "welcome lighting" or automatic folding mirrors...but also means basic fault finding techniques can be used reasonably successfully.

Thanks again. Yes, bulbs. I was impressed to see how accessible the rear of the front light clusters is. Changing bulbs looks to be a "doddle".

 

[StevenRB45]

Thanks again. Yes, bulbs. I was impressed to see how accessible the rear of the front light clusters is. Changing bulbs looks to be a "doddle".

Will depend which design of light you've got, headlamps and main ones were good.

But some of minor ones seemed to require telescopic fingers or an additional elbow as the were fitted under the unit.

Distinctly remember trying to change a side lamp following the instructions which included removing the arch liner. Having fired the car up, turned the wheels over, unscrewed and removed the arch liner..I discovered I could still see nothing. In the end I had it down to a 2 minute job if you disconnected part of the loom and moved it out of the way and went in from the top and left the liners alone. Usually it took all your knuckle skin as punishment for not following the agreed process though.

 

[Cornish Ian]

You're absolutely right on that one. There's just so much "stuff" on them these days something is almost bound to fail!

Regarding our situation. The deed is done and she's just on her way to pick up her "new" car as I'm tapping this out on the keyboard.

What really sealed the Honda's fate was that her insurer offered to settle for £3,029.00p This for a 2008 vehicle, in very "average" condition, but with quite low miles for the year. The fellow at the wee garage near me, a chap I now know quite well, said he'd probably have offered around £750 for it in trade in if it hadn't been damaged and it was too old for him to be interested in retailing it.

This payout coupled to available funds and a bit of a contribution from us set the budget at around £6,000.00p and we've looked at a few cars over the last few days, all pretty average or below average. Then another Mazda2 popped up on Autotrader which looked really nice but being sold by a borders dealer who I'd never heard off - remember I'm a borders lad and know many of the reputable establishments down there. So I activated the wee man in Google maps and paid a virtual visit to this business premises. Oh dear, looked like a tinker's yard! However the car looked good and daughter in law had viewed the advert and like what she saw, so we decided to go and take a look.

So yesterday Mrs J went off for a lunch date with her old work buddies and I bundled my boy, his wife and both grandchildren into the Ibiza - a pretty tight squeeze - and set of down the A703. The establishment is reached down several side roads off the A703 and as we turned the corner and started down towards the site you could see that the site had been cleared, leveled and a nice new building erected with some smart signage above the door. This is looking more like it, Google, you need to update your data!

Turns out this very pleasant middle aged chap is setting up his own business and he's got the wee Mazda in the building, which is little more than 4 walls at this time with his desk in one corner next to a wood burning stove. Out side are a few more vehicles, several of which are definitely high end - like Range Rover, BMW, etc (you get the idea) and very nice looking vehicles indeed.

He told me to examine the car in as much detail as I liked and chatted to my folks while I crawled all over it and under it. Much to his amusement my young grandson joined me on my groundsheet to look under the car (I'd taken my very bright cree led floodlight too) What a difference compared to the other one we'd looked at. It's actually an early 2015 car but on a 14 plate with mid 40,000 miles. Pretty well immaculate bodywork (one very small ding just above the O/S flasher repeater light). Very little rust anywhere underneath, certainly nothing even remotely resembling Steven's picture above. I was toiling to pick it up on anything really. The best I could manage was that the exhaust, which looked original, was quite rusty - but no blows, front pads were about two thirds worn, two of the tyres were probably under 3mm so would need changing soon. One wheel had some mild curb rash and it needed new wiper blades. Tyres are not a size I've run into before 195/45R16 (or was it 15?) I've got it written down somewhere, so I rang my "tame" tire man who confirmed it's not a very common size but found on some of the far eastern stuff in particular and he can do us some bargain prices if needed so not to worry - great! No spare though, just a can of "gunk" however it does have a wheel well and space savers were available as an extra - so a search on ebay might produce one. Engine ran very sweetly with no trace of chain rattle or other nasties. The chap jumped in the back and we went for a test drive. Lovely, Thought I could just hear a very, very slight, speed related, whine from the back somewhere, possibly a wheel bearing? but more likely something to do with tyre tread noise I think. Even if it does develop into a bearing problem I don't think a rear wheel bearing is going to cause me too much grief. By the way, sensible rear drum brakes too! Hurrah! We went round the town and then off up the main road for about 5 miles and back. Daughter in law loved it saying it had more "go" than her old Jazz (Mk1 and I've been planning on cleaning out the EGR on that this summer so that's one less "hassle" job for me).

Everything was "right" about it, even got 2 keys. He agreed to change the engine oil and filter and fit new wiper blades. The MOT was only a month old and there's quite a lot of service documentation. He told us the car had been a third car in a large local family and they were reducing to two cars so he'd bought it from them for cash. He wouldn't negotiate much on price saying he knew he'd sell it no bother if we decided not to buy - and I'm sure he would. So it cost her/us the entire budget but I believe the car is well worth it so don't begrudge the cost.

Today I rang Mike down at SRS to inquire about stuff generally and the brakes and exhaust particularly as Steven had mentioned exhausts in his post. I was told service stuff - filters, oil, etc - is readily available off the shelf and averagely priced as are the brake parts. The exhaust they don't stock in their racks but can be supplied next day if needed. Possibly a little more expensive than something like a Fiesta (for example) but with the engine being a Mazda product, they don't sell in any great volume whereas the brakes, suspension etc is "pure Ford" so in stock and I'm not to worry about anything as he's sure he can "keep me straight" at reasonable cost.

Just had a call from my boy, They picked the car up lunchtime and it ran beautifully for the hour or so it took to get back home. Daughter in law is so excited she's out driving around in it right now! Copart just rang to say the Jazz is being picked up tomorrow which makes me a bit sad as I'd got to know it really well. Now I've got a new one to make friends with!

As Steven says it sounds like a good one. Just shows it’s worth looking around before you take the plunge. I guess you’ll probably spray some waxoyl or some equivalent on the rear suspension at some point.

I’ve only ever bought one car in haste, prompted by my lancia unexpectedly falling foul of the brown stuff. It was an old shape Rover / Honda 416 gsi. I didn’t particularly like the car but the price was right (very cheap) and I needed transport in a hurry so I bought it with the thought of 1 years ownership then scrap it.
After a small initial problem the thing never went wrong, took me to work every day, sailed through MOTs, took us all over France then brought back 200 + bottles of wine on top of our luggage and bikes on the back, almost dragging the ground with the weight, often towed a 4 wheel trailer, once with 2 tonnes in ( 360 driver loaded it with an almost full bucket of shillet and I worked out the weight after) Somewhat embarrassed about that now looking back.
After about 5 or so years I gave in and just took it to the breakers otherwise it probably would still be running now. It was the only car I ever wished would fail but I suppose it did me well looking back.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

As Steven says it sounds like a good one. Just shows it’s worth looking around before you take the plunge. I guess you’ll probably spray some waxoyl or some equivalent on the rear suspension at some point.

I’ve only ever bought one car in haste, prompted by my lancia unexpectedly falling foul of the brown stuff. It was an old shape Rover / Honda 416 gsi. I didn’t particularly like the car but the price was right (very cheap) and I needed transport in a hurry so I bought it with the thought of 1 years ownership then scrap it.
After a small initial problem the thing never went wrong, took me to work every day, sailed through MOTs, took us all over France then brought back 200 + bottles of wine on top of our luggage and bikes on the back, almost dragging the ground with the weight, often towed a 4 wheel trailer, once with 2 tonnes in ( 360 driver loaded it with an almost full bucket of shillet and I worked out the weight after) Somewhat embarrassed about that now looking back.
After about 5 or so years I gave in and just took it to the breakers otherwise it probably would still be running now. It was the only car I ever wished would fail but I suppose it did me well looking back.

From past experience I'll never be allowed to have the car for long enough to do a proper preservation on the axle but, luckily, I have a couple of ltres of waxoyl left over from a previous job so a wee bit of wire brushing and slaistering some of it around the spring pans might be a good idea - once the warmer weather comes back. Wonder if the wee lad would like to help. He really enjoyed assisting grandad with the vehicle examination:

 

[Cornish Ian]

From past experience I'll never be allowed to have the car for long enough to do a proper preservation on the axle but, luckily, I have a couple of ltres of waxoyl left over from a previous job so a wee bit of wire brushing and slaistering some of it around the spring pans might be a good idea - once the warmer weather comes back. Wonder if the wee lad would like to help. He really enjoyed assisting grandad with the vehicle examination:

View attachment 418811

I expect he would love to help with that. Has to be good to get the lad interested in doing bits on cars even if he doesn’t make a career out of it. I would put money on him getting almost as much on himself as on the car though.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Maybe appropriate to close out this thread by saying - Bye bye wee Honda, I'll miss you, a bit:

 

[AndyRKett]

Sat in my car which I’ve not driven for about 3 weeks, noticed it had turned 90,000 miles, probably on one of the nights my wife took it to work.

When I got it I was doing 20k per year driving around for work, did this for the first 3 years, then I started getting the train to and from work which made things more tolerable than spending hours every day driving. A year later the pandemic kicked in, I stopped going to work entirely, till things started to improve then more recently I’ve started working from home so barely driving it myself at all.

The car was brand new on the 1 sept 2015, and had 17 miles on the clock then. As of the 1st of March it will be 90 months old so back to a much more sensible average of 12,000 miles a year.

What’s even more surprising is how seemingly rapid 7 years has gone by though most of that time over the last 3 years seems to have vanished into thin air

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I expect he would love to help with that. Has to be good to get the lad interested in doing bits on cars even if he doesn’t make a career out of it. I would put money on him getting almost as much on himself as on the car though.

Remembering how Waxoyl can "nip"? Probably better not to let him loose with it then.

 

[LostintheCity]

I saw a man with wooden legs, but real feet.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I saw a man with wooden legs, but real feet.

mustve been that wood effect leg paint...

 

[AndyRKett]

Ferrari have done what they said they would never ever do and release an SUV.

The Ferrari Purosangue Cost not far short of £400,000 has a V12 engine that will take you from 0 - 60 in 3.3 seconds... Ferrari used to be something special, a dedicated sports car maker that never deviated from the plan. I think Enzo would have a fit if he saw this thing, The man who would have rather gone bankrupt than see his company changed from its goal of racing, car sales to him was only so he could keep racing and racing was his passion. A big fat SUV with a prancing horse on it doesn't really fit that bill. Not really a desirable poster car like Ferraris of the past.

Then if that wasn't bad enough Lotus has also announced its SUV. The Lotus Eletre This is at least technically interesting being an electric car with a ~400 mile range and a 0-60 of <3 seconds and costs less than £100,000. Also for an electric car it has a top speed of 165mph, which makes a Tesla look slow and over priced. The down side is the lotus looks like every other Korean designed SUV right now.

Is there any manufacture left at this stage that hasn't decided to build an SUV to cash in.

In the late 90s every one wanted people carriers they where the choice car back then. Can you imagine if back then Ferrari and lotus and everyone else started building 7 seaters !