One thing to remember in your assessment - and this is key for any new members and guests browsing these forums - is that people join forums for very specific reasons. They want to learn about a car they are considering buying (or just bought), or they are looking for answers regarding a problem their car is having. Very, very rarely will someone join a forum just to praise the car.
What this means, then, is that on any given forum, you'll see that a lot of the forum threads mostly discuss problems and how to resolve them. That means you'll see a lot of stuff like engine complaints and problems, but it only accounts for a very, very small sample of the cars out there. So yeah, you'll see lots of reports on coolant leaks and cylinder deactivation woes, but it isn't representative of how prevalent an issue is, only that an issue does exist. As an example, on these forums I would estimate that maybe 25-35 users have reported a coolant leak on their 2.5T across Canada and US primarily. US CX-9 sales were lowest in their first year, at around 15k units. That's a pretty low failure rate. Of course, the actual number is probably higher because not all CX-9 owners use Mazda247, or social media in general. Some owners may not even know they have this issue.
If you're looking for an issue, you'll most likely find it on a forum like this, along with a lot of other people who have a similar issue. This makes the issue feel more commonplace than it actually is, but it also means that if/when a solution becomes available, this would be a good place to find it.
While minor issues arent an issue.
The major issues like cracked cylinder heads are of extreme importance. f.e. Ime, Ford engines are fairly reliable , last long time and even when vehicles old and that engine blows, you can go get a junker engine to keep running. In the rare instance Ford did have engine problems, they issued recalls.
Mazda on other hand, knows engines are defective and still won't recall...and make jump through hoops to get replaced under warranty(and only after you can prove problem exists).
While this is a small sampling, i think there are a lot of owners with engine problems who don't visit forums. This engine problem may be more widespread than it appears. Likewise, I think as these CX-5 gets older, more of these engines will show up defective, maybe after expired warranty.
While I have an extended warranty for another 3 years on my used 2018, I test the oil every oil change and am still uneasy at the prospect of the engine blowing up once it's 7 years old and out of warranty. With a Ford, you'd just go get a salvage engine. With the Mazda, there already very few production, so very few in junkyards. And even if could find one, who would want to get the salvage engine which may have the same problem???
While I love how the CX-5 drives and looks, if this engine blows before it's time, it may be last Mazda for me.
Even if the engine problem was fixed starting with the 2021 years and after, they should still fix these defects for those with older vehicles that had this defect.
It's understandable if a manufacturer doesn't want to replace an engine after warranty on an 8 year old vehicle that's been driven hard and has aged wear and tear. It's another to play the waiting game(and hope the warranty expires) with engines that were defective from the start.
I wish I had found this forum and learned of the defect before my purchase.
