Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Mazda Mazda3

What it says about you

Opinion

You care how it drives and could not afford to care expensively, so you found the one car that lets you have both. You bring this up. Frequently. You are right.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

22 model years on record, 2,852 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2010 (melting), 2008 (valve stem). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • glare 2010, 2017 peak 32.4% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2026 nothing on record 2 complaints
  2. 2025 1 recall 14 complaints
  3. 2024 3 recalls 12 complaints
  4. 2023 0 recalls 12 complaints
  5. 2022 0 recalls 24 complaints
  6. 2021 1 recall 49 complaints
  7. 2020 2 recalls 32 complaints
  8. 2019 6 recalls 74 complaints
  9. 2018 4 recalls 107 complaints
  10. 2017 2 recalls 83 complaints
  11. 2016 6 recalls 102 complaints
  12. 2015 4 recalls 129 complaints
  13. 2014 4 recalls 138 complaints
  14. 2013 1 recall 117 complaints
  15. 2012 1 recall 226 complaints
  16. 2011 2 recalls 132 complaints
  17. 2010 melting 686 complaints
  18. 2009 4 recalls 119 complaints
  19. 2008 valve stem 303 complaints
  20. 2007 3 recalls 222 complaints
  21. 2006 2 recalls 166 complaints
  22. 2005 3 recalls 103 complaints

What does a Mazda Mazda3 say about you?

Loading comments…

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.