Think i boght it (assuming the replacement title actually appears and no glaring reasons to run away from this thread or something).
2004 mazda6 wagon. V6 auto. From texas.
Its scruffy in places, but 160k, drives pretty good, rust free, two grand, amd the ac and cruise work. Vin is IYVFP82DX45N69378 if anyone wants to run history or options.
It'll be my dd while i do a LOT of service to my truck, as well as the backup family car and loaner to family members while i fix their junk.
If its not this car, i think I've settled in on the early mazda6 as the next beater with a heater for us.
So what do i need to know, look for, run away from, etc? And cheap and easy upgrades for handling, fuel economy and power?
I always thought the Mazda6 wagon was really cool, mainly because I don't see them very often–aside from the one that lives a few houses down on my street.
I haven't seen a buyer's guide for the Mazda6 in the archives, but I'll keep poking around. If I find anything, I'll post it here.
Flipping love them! They drive great in my opinion, so much better than the Camry and Accord of the era. I've nearly bought a couple different ones but there was always some issue with them (price, miles, maintenance history).
The wagons and the hatchback ones are especially cool. Double wishbones, decent power, great steering, nice size.
Had a 2008 GT manual wagon until about 2013. Absolutely loved it on the highway... Sold it when I retired, and my wife wanted an automatic to deal with commuter traffic. Still look at the for sale listings but everything here is too rusted out.
My only complaint was how the rear shocks are mounted in the wagon... I think you had to drop the rear subframe to access the upper mounts? (can't remember exactly)
Enjoy....
I had a 2004 5-speed manual that I loved. Traded it off for a Volt when it got just a little too old for kid duty. I love the Volt but the Mazda was definitely more fun to drive. I had to replace the fuel pump on mine. I think it was a bad batch of gas as the station I bought fuel from closed the next day for remodeling so they were probably using up their dregs and I paid the price. I did the front ball joints and that is a pain as there's six of them and they're extremely hard to break loose. The OTC ball joint separator worked but it was so tight it even damaged that some. The starter is in the intake valley but it's not as hard to get to as some. I did the coils and plugs when I was trying to figure out the bad gas issue. The rear plugs you have to pull the intake for easy access. Other than that I think rear brakes and some tires and I put tens of thousands of miles on it.
Good times:
They had big rust issues, not sure how much of an issue that would be with one that hasn't lived in a winter climate.
The front end can be kind of goofy to work on but they sure are nice to drive. The hatchback body style is super practical and cool but mine has issues with leaks.
That looks like my mother's old car.
Great cars. No big issues with them that I am aware of.
At one point, my friends owned one, my wife owned one, my mother owned one. My sister had a mazda protégé 5 at the same time.
Have fun with it!
rande
New Reader
11/12/24 5:06 p.m.
Wasn't there an issue with the front subframes rusting out?
In reply to rande :
That was the second gen I believe
Cooper_Tired said:
In reply to rande :
That was the second gen I believe
Having been under a few... it's definitely a problem for the <2009 cars. And you can't really see the spot it usually starts unless you pull the undertray.
Loved my sedan. IIRC, the V6 models could end up with engine damage when one of the cats self destructs, and chunks can somehow end up in the cylinders. I could be misremembering, though.
In reply to eastsideTim :
Yep that's talked about in the other threads I believe.
I think if I had my pick I'd take one with the 2.3 and the 5MT, just to avoid some of the above mentioned issues with the V6, but I wouldn't turn down a well kept V6.
Seems like all the headliners sag.
Yeah, seems that the precats break up and get sucked in by egr. Gutting the one precat solves it. Not sure if theres a cel solution there though.
And with the size of this headliner, it'll be a pay the man problem.wjen it happens.
Subframe rust; any exa.ples so i know where to poke on a southern car?
Im pretty excited about this one. Not gonna lie, i have my hopes up.
1kris06
HalfDork
11/14/24 12:24 a.m.
In reply to Dusterbd13 :
I've had a couple, last was an 04 V6 5spd.
Just the converters clogging and breaking up which has been mentioned. I had no major issues, other than what I caused. May have some random spare parts around if needed/wanted, if you end up buying.
In reply to 1kris06 :
Assuming this goes through I will happily take you up on that! And you bring up a good idea of posting up a thread to clean out people of their spares for these cars that no longer own them if this one works out. Really hope it does cuz it'll be a good backup for my wife and her Scout Troop and my daughter as a new driver and one car I actually want to own for me
Dusterbd13 said:
Subframe rust; any exa.ples so i know where to poke on a southern car?
Gotta look on the top/inner part of those joints. Seems to be more of a problem on the passenger side. Might not even be an issue on a car that hasn't seen salt and snow.
I have nothing useful to add beyond wanting a 5-speed wagon with the four cylinder which I don't think was imported to the USA. As far as I know all wagons were V6's.
Wonder if, assuming it passes the rust checks, it's worth liberally applying Fluid Film all over the underside of the thing.
I had a 5 speed wagon v6, I regret selling it.
suspension/platform wise (while there have been major updates lets say) the serviceability is the same. it seems all mazda3/mazda6 and CX5/CX50 have a very similar suspension and brake design so they are pretty simple and robust. The subframe rot is something to check on any of them but more common on the 2nd gen and can affect the front or rear subframe.
like any 20 year mazda look for rust, especially rear wheel well area
ON THE OTHER HAND
prices of these have bottomed out and so have the mazdaspeed6 so the time to AWD 6 speed turbo swap a mazda6 wagon is right now.
In reply to fidelity101 :
I wanted a Mazdaspeed6 until I found out that it shares no all wheel drive components with the much more common Fusion that shares the chassis.
