This past fall we helped our daughter buy her first new car, a 2023 CX-30 Carbon Edition. I have never had a new car, but I applied a lifetime of experience to help her get a satisfactory deal closed. We turned down the first example of this model that was offered for a test drive. It had a defective windshield that had a lens effect that distorted vision through a certain area of it.
The second one offered we looked over thoroughly. We gave it an extensive test run over a whole range of driving conditions. The car was nice, we closed the deal, daughter takes it home.
She has the car in daily use, it's working nicely. I'm relieved, no more troubleshooting of her vehicle for me.
After some usage, maybe 400 miles, she calls me concerned about what she is observing. When driving at moderate speeds, maybe 40-50 MPH range, light throttle, she is noticing a definite lurch, buck, hiccup, to the point where when driving at night the headlight beam pattern can be seen to quickly tip lower and back upward. When these hiccups happen, the tach needle drops a small amount and immediately goes back up. And, there are times when she is operating under these conditions and a steady vibration is felt, like through your feet on the floor.
We were concerned, she took it to the dealership. You guessed it, they say they don't notice anything wrong. Now start some extensive discussions, different shop people, more test driving. They still say nothing to see.
So, after more research, we the customer realize this car has the notorious CYLINDER DEACTIVATION. The dealership never once brought that up. That's right, they brought it back. We have other Mazda experience, and have seen the stories of cylinder deactivation problems in the prior models. So, even after complaints years back, it is acting up again.
It definitely is tied to the deactivation, we can watch the display screen that shows cylinder function, they correlate.
The car gets much use, she already has over 8,000 miles on it, and the roughness is no better. The dealer is making the usual hollow dealer promises, but not doing anything. I, being a technical / mechanical person, am gathering what info I can before this situation gets escalated.
Anyone out there in a similar conumdrum?
The second one offered we looked over thoroughly. We gave it an extensive test run over a whole range of driving conditions. The car was nice, we closed the deal, daughter takes it home.
She has the car in daily use, it's working nicely. I'm relieved, no more troubleshooting of her vehicle for me.
After some usage, maybe 400 miles, she calls me concerned about what she is observing. When driving at moderate speeds, maybe 40-50 MPH range, light throttle, she is noticing a definite lurch, buck, hiccup, to the point where when driving at night the headlight beam pattern can be seen to quickly tip lower and back upward. When these hiccups happen, the tach needle drops a small amount and immediately goes back up. And, there are times when she is operating under these conditions and a steady vibration is felt, like through your feet on the floor.
We were concerned, she took it to the dealership. You guessed it, they say they don't notice anything wrong. Now start some extensive discussions, different shop people, more test driving. They still say nothing to see.
So, after more research, we the customer realize this car has the notorious CYLINDER DEACTIVATION. The dealership never once brought that up. That's right, they brought it back. We have other Mazda experience, and have seen the stories of cylinder deactivation problems in the prior models. So, even after complaints years back, it is acting up again.
It definitely is tied to the deactivation, we can watch the display screen that shows cylinder function, they correlate.
The car gets much use, she already has over 8,000 miles on it, and the roughness is no better. The dealer is making the usual hollow dealer promises, but not doing anything. I, being a technical / mechanical person, am gathering what info I can before this situation gets escalated.
Anyone out there in a similar conumdrum?
