NewRoads Mazda in Newmarket

[Destarah]

Word of caution for anyone that might consider buying or servicing their vehicle at NewRoads Mazda ... while I am fine with the work that the techs do on the car, the service advisors consistently recommend unnecessary and in some cases completely bogus work. For example, my wife's 2012 Mazda 3 Sport GS Sky uses the FL22 coolant which according to the service schedule should be changed at 192,000 km or 10 years and then 96,000 km or 5 years thereafter. When I called to book the 152k/76 month service they told me it was due for a coolant flush and transmission service ... the skyactiv transmission is considered lifetime maintenance-free. When I called them on it they said that they don't necessarily follow the Mazda recommended service intervals ?!? Needless to say I had a pointed conversation with the service manager.
If anyone has had a consistently excellent experience with this dealer, please let me know (in case it's just me lol)

Cheers

[Booter22]

@Destarah take it from me. Nothing is maintenance free. NOTHING. no fluid lasts forever, thats the way manufactures hope that when the car is out of warranty something will fail become expensive and cause you to get another car.. preventative maintenance is always better then to leave it and wait. the only thing for the coolant the dealer can check the ph level and see how strong it is. my 2010 mazda 3 with 199k still has the factory coolant and was ok this year. could i leave it sure. will i change it. yes, but will i also do the thermostat..most likely. and ill be all over checking to make sure the water pump is ok.

the manufacture gets out of any responsibility by that little section in the manual that deems possible Canadian weather to be severe. think of it like this. you have a furnace filter, 3M says it should last 12 months. at 3 months its ok at 6 months is nasty fully of shit. do you leave it in there for 6 more months when you have seen its dirty just because they say it last 12 months? i mean i sure hope you would change it like the rest of it. but you wait. plugged filter adds strain to your fan, now your fan fails at 12 months. hvac guy says oh your filter is plugged thats what did it. you call 3M they say well you should have checked it monthly and changed it early if it was dirty.. see what im saying?

when the transmission flush is what $2-300 + hst and the transmission is $2-3,000 + hst.. i mean if you plan to keep the car for another 150K and have peace of mind all is good.. why not change it? you car and model has been on the road for 7 years now.. maybe they know something you don't and cant say that Mazda wont ever release like a possible issue with them.. just a thought.

I worked for mazda for 5 years and ive been at Hyundai for 5 now as well..

[Destarah]

I completely understand your point Booster and thanks for the response, but the situation is a little unique ... allow me to explain.
For starters (regarding the transmission) Mazda released a Service Bulletin (No. 05-003/13) which says (and I quote) - SKYACTIV-DRIVE FW6A-EL AT with “ATF-FZ” is "filled for life" (no change intervals for ATF required) and flushing is not recommended as part of service maintenance.
If this link works you can see the Service Bulletin in all it's glory ... I think it is noteworthy that they take the time to specifically say flushing is not recommended.

Now for a little background ...
When we purchased this car new in 2012, the dealership was Dave Wood Mazda and they sold a optional lifetime drive-train warranty (Tricare product, which we purchased). The warranty only requires two things: 1) maintain the vehicle according to the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule and service the vehicle exclusively at a Tricare authorized service center. We exclusively serviced the car at Dave Wood. At the end of 2014, NewRoads purchased the dealership and we have continued to service the car there exclusively. A phone call to Tricare confirmed that NewRoads is an authorized service center.
Specifically regarding the coolant, if the car was being worked on and the tech recommended replacing the coolant after he checked it I would definitely be good with that. However, I was on the phone booking the appointment with the service advisor ... them telling me it is due for coolant replacement 4 years/50,000 km ahead of schedule is not ok, it's a money grab.
This may end up going sideways on me, but my plan has always been to own this car for 50 years or 1,000,000 km (whichever comes first) and that is why I opted for the lifetime drive-train warranty and also the lifetime warranty on the body. Only time will tell if Mazda will stand behind their assertion that this transmission doesn't require fluid changes, and I am willing to run that race :-)

I am constantly learning, and despite being disappointed in the past I remain optimistic that trusting people is generally the best policy. I have owned a lot of vehicles over the past 20 years, and I am a stickler for preventative maintenance. I firmly believe that the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule should be followed. I also am willing to believe that advances in technology have resulted in extended maintenance intervals. The recommendation for my 2018 Ford F-150 5.0L is whichever of the following comes first:
1) as indicated by the information display (equipped with an Intelligent Oil-Life Monitor)
2) 1 year
3) 16,000 km
my first oil change was at 14,000 km (5 months after purchase). I am curious to see if the winter will shorten the interval for my 2nd oil change (currently at 22,000 km). Obviously there is wisdom in checking the condition of the oil periodically, but I think it would be wasteful to just change it every 5,000 km like I did with my 1994 Pontiac Sunbird 2.0L (that was the recommended schedule) just because that's how we did it 20 years ago. Honestly, I was putting 65,000 km a year on that car and changing the oil every month ... the oil being drained was a clean as the new stuff going in. Pretty sure I could have waited longer between oil changes but no way was I going to be stuck wondering if sticking with the recommended schedule could have prevented an issue. For the record, I got 500,000 km on that engine ... loved that car :-)

[Booter22]

@Destarah

time will tell i suppose. but you got 500k on that sunbird because you changed the oil every 5k. we have a grand cherokee that has the same long oil change schedule as your truck. i change it every 3-4 months and 8K. not taking the chance. no way it will last 1 year or 16K, the oil around 8-10K is nice and black im sure a few 16K services it would be black and burned.

i didnt know mazda sold an oem warranty on drive train and body for the 2012 i thought that was a new body style warranty. but if its third party warranty.. id make sure to check all the fine print as well, they seem to always have a way to get out of coverage if they want to.

the coolant recommendation over the phone sure but who knows maybe there was a note in there from the last service. worst case have them check the ph level for you. i have seen im some of our longer life cars where around 100K the ph level is low and around -20. so its a 50/50 shot to leave it over the winters we have been having the last couple of years.