[Frishkorn]

Hey everyone!

Loyal Toyota / Scion customer checking in. I've had or still own, 97 Corolla, 99 Corolla, 12 Corolla, 14 FR-S, and 16 iA.

The iA was a great car when I first bought it, especially given it's price point (paid only $13,000 for it brand new with incentives and rebates). I was driving a 97 Corolla I had bought second hand as a winter beater and the FR-S in the summer. But given I drive so far to work I wanted something more reliable since I could afford the payment. But at 51,000 miles now I can definitely tell this is a Mazda 2 built in Mexico. The car has been having bad vibrations while in drive at stopped at 500 RPM's since 15,000 miles or so but doesn't do it all the time, so the dealership hasn't been able to figure it out. Also sometimes the car doesn't respond to the throttle input like it should and is sluggish for 3 seconds or so which has been happening since day 1. And at 49,000 miles now when in drive and stopped with my foot on the brake there has been an occasional rock in the dryer sound which I feel is coming from the transmission.

Oh and somewhere in the back (rear passenger) with a hit a small bump in the rock it sounds like a little pebble hitting metal. I've had to keep the radio turned up to block it out.

I gave my first car the 99 Corolla to my brother and has no issues with 349,000+ miles on it. These Mazda's sure aren't built like Toyota's

 

[patchleishman]

Hey everyone!

Loyal Toyota / Scion customer checking in. I've had or still own, 97 Corolla, 99 Corolla, 12 Corolla, 14 FR-S, and 16 iA.

The iA was a great car when I first bought it, especially given it's price point (paid only $13,000 for it brand new with incentives and rebates). I was driving a 97 Corolla I had bought second hand as a winter beater and the FR-S in the summer. But given I drive so far to work I wanted something more reliable since I could afford the payment. But at 51,000 miles now I can definitely tell this is a Mazda 2 built in Mexico. The car has been having bad vibrations while in drive at stopped at 500 RPM's since 15,000 miles or so but doesn't do it all the time, so the dealership hasn't been able to figure it out. Also sometimes the car doesn't respond to the throttle input like it should and is sluggish for 3 seconds or so which has been happening since day 1. And at 49,000 miles now when in drive and stopped with my foot on the brake there has been an occasional rock in the dryer sound which I feel is coming from the transmission.

Oh and somewhere in the back (rear passenger) with a hit a small bump in the rock it sounds like a little pebble hitting metal. I've had to keep the radio turned up to block it out.

I gave my first car the 99 Corolla to my brother and has no issues with 349,000+ miles on it. These Mazda's sure aren't built like Toyota's

Are you in a automatic? I've heard several people having issues with their automatic transmissions. I'm almost at 30k with a 6speed and have no real issues. Some slight vibrations when stopped in neutral but nothing crazy.

Side note, how is that FR-S? Is that hard to daily drive? I'm looking to trade my iA in a few years for a BRZ / MX-5

 

[iAoperator]

yes it is hard drive on american autobans and she/he is in automatic/stupid

 

[Frishkorn]

Yes it is an automatic and now that warmer weather is here the noises and vibration have stopped completely. I'm guessing that means it's related to cold and could be as simple as low fluid (hate that modern cars don't have a stick to check). Going to take it in early for it's 60k service and have them service the transmission and hopefully it won't come back.


I love the FR-S and no it's not hard to drive at all as a daily. Just wanted to take care of it and with as long as a commute as I have, those miles rack up quickly. So the FR-S sits in the garage on bad days and comes out when it's sunny.