1995 Mazda MX6 from North America - Comments

I purchased the car in February of this year and my husband looked at the engine and we test drove it and it looked and sounded fine however within a very short time-

My driver's side wheel bearing went out.$200.

Both CV boots cracked and had to be replaced.

The car started stalling out and the O2 Sensor had to be replaced $300.

Then my transmission went out and it was $2000 for a used one because they are few and far between and it wasn't able to be rebuilt. I do not know how long the one put in the car will last so I hated to spend the 2 grand on it.

Also the car leaks when it rains.

I have always bought older Japanese cars and have never had a problem other than general maintenance. I did not know when I bought the Mazda that it had Ford parts.

It drives well when it is fixed and it looks nice, but the 3 months I have owned it have been very frustrating.

Just a few general thoughts.

Replacing a wheel bearing and cv boots on a car of 100+k miles isn't unreasonable.

As for the transmission. One always hopes to get more than 100k out of the drive train of a car so I can understand your frustration.

The only thing I'd add to this is that, if I'm not mistaken, this car shares it's drive train with the Ford Probe. So, while the MX6 may be somewhat rare in the salvage yards, the probe should be rather common?

Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong on this, but a Probe transmission should fit right up to this car?

MX6, 626, and probe are build upon the same chassis (floor pan). but the drive trains tend to vary in compatibility, depending on configuration. for example the CV shafts interchange:

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductGuide.aspx?mfrcode=PWL&mfrpartnumber=CV47044

but engine/trans mounts might not, consequently mounting bosses on trannies may be different. I'm somewhat of a junkyard hound and IMO junk probes with good ATs are hard to find. MTs were more popular.

I used to own a Ford Probe myself, and a Mazda protege before that. The manual trans on the protege was still kickin' good at 118K, till I crashed it... actually it still drove after that. BUT, the AT Probe's tranny went 6 months after I got it at about 111K. I've done quite some research on the Mazdas and Probes. Basically, all the AT's are really unreliable, but the MTs are unbreakable.

My '94 Mazda MX6 (MT) still going strong at over 300k. Never a problem. MY CV boots will need to be replaced soon, but the service dept says it isn't critical.

I've had the car since '96, though, and have kept it maintained throughout the years. Might make the diff.