The only extended warranty I would buy without thinking much about it is the one from Carmax. It covers pretty much everything, and if you get a used car that has a propensity for breakage, you can definitely come out ahead.
As far as the actual Mazda warranty goes, my dealer was willing to sell Mazda's Total Confidence for $1300 after I said no a few times, which would have brought the bumper-to-bumper coverage to 8 years / 100K. Mazda Total Confidence is good at any Mazda dealer in the country, IIRC. That warranty probably costs the dealer something like $600. I still didn't accept it, but it's amazing how F&I guys are willing to negotiate when facing a little bit of resistance. Based on research that's actually a reasonable price, but the odds are generally not in your favor. If the car has known electrical gremlins, then it might be worth it, but the CX-30 is too new to know for sure. Based on the excellent reliability of the CX-5, Mazda 3, and CX-9, I don't think you're going to come out ahead on the deal.
Even then I looked up on my dealer's website and they'll sell it after the fact. Online, even—you don't have to call someone on the phone. They also had different time lengths / mileage buckets as well as zero/$100 deductible. The $100 deductible options doesn't save much at all on the total cost, so I'd ignore them.
This is what it covers according to the Mazda Total Confidence brochure:
It also has roadside assistance (which is redundant if you have AAA). Usually warranties end up being engine/transmission/AWD system insurance, and from that viewpoint you're only getting an extra 3 years/40K miles out of it since the powertrain warranty is 5 years / 60K. Is that worth what amounts to $400/year? Maybe, if the turbo explodes or the rear diff fails. Here's the list of what it doesn't cover based on the brochure:
Most of these are wear items that warranties don't cover anyway, but the one that actually concerns me? Lamps/light assemblies/housings and light bulbs. Does that mean the LED front headlights including the swivel mechanism? Because if so, that's a real downer. Those Signature headlights are not cheap. Plus, you're not calculating just how much arguing/fighting with your dealer's service department.
My last Mazda, a 2011 MZ3 2.5L hatch, was reliable from the engine/transmission/etc standpoint. I had an exhaust midpipe that had to be replaced at 90K to pass inspection—it was an $80 repair bill for an hour's worth of work. Big whoop. The actual repair issues I had were all suspension related.
- Rear driver's side shock mount failure at 75K-ish miles (this really should have been a recall on Mazda's end). My mechanic wound up replacing both shock mounts because this was a common problem on those cars and put in new rear shocks at the same time. The bill was around $450 parts/labor.
- New passenger side ball joint/LCA at around 96K. Not a failure, but it was worn out. This cost around $400 parts/labor plus a $100 trip to the alignment shop.
- The driver's side balljoint also needed to be replaced around 110K. I didn't fix it, because that's when I decided to start looking at buying a new car because:
- I had a bunch of scheduled maintenance/wear stuff that was going to be due within the year. The front struts had probably a year left before I would be unhappy with their performance, and that would be another $500 parts/labor plus alignment. I was also going to need new front brakes and tires around 120K miles ($400 plus $800 for tires/etc). Was also due for other routine maintenance (spark plugs, coolant, etc) around 120K as well. Had I done this maintenance I could have kept driving the car for another five years with little worry, but I was ready for a new car and with the way used car values are right now I decided to sell high and trade for the CX-30.
An 8 year/100K warranty might have covered the shock mount issue (it happened in January 2019, almost exactly eight years after I bought that car in February 2011), but I doubt it would have covered new shocks in addition to it. Wouldn't have done me any good on the ball joints. I had no electrical problems except those related to my aftermarket radio (and the car stereo shop that caused the problem fixed it under their lifetime install warranty).
At the end of the day the real repair costs for most modern cars are wear items and scheduled services. Things like tires, filters, belts, brakes, fluids, and spark plugs. Heads up if you're buying a turbo, because plug intervals are 40K miles (versus 75K on the NA motor). No warranty covers that stuff, and the "service plans" the dealer sells you are an even worse bet than the warranties.
Now if I was buying an Audi or BMW? I'd buy the warranty no-question if I got a good price on it. But I'll never buy a German car, so it's moot. 🙃
