Two years ago I was searching for a Subaru wrx STI, Mitsubishi Evo but I came across a nice looking Mazda speed 3. I got the vin# and it turns out that the car was in good shape. I bought the car in June of 2011. It was running good, change to synthetic oil, gave it premium gas all the time, until the last several months I got a sputtering sound that came and went two times until last week. I took the car in to get a tune up and an oil change. The sputtering came back and on the highway at about 65 mph the engine went. I heard a huge knocking sound. When I got it towed it seems that all the oil came out. I thought maybe my mechanic did something wrong but I believe he didnt. I've been researching this model and it turns out that this first generation car has had numerous problems with blown engines. Particularly with the oil pan, rods, and pistons. Mechanics have said that this could be caused by poor engine engineering. Possibly by poor pcv system and oil control. I feel that they are correct about this. This explains the oil pressure problem I've noticed by the sputtering sounds. I called the dealership about this but they aren't admitting anything. But I've researched more and seem to realize that the second generation mazdaspeed don't have blown engines. This is a disappointment for Mazda for not letting us know about it. I now have to cough out out another $6500 for an engine remanufacture. They lost my next mazdaspeed because I was willing to eventually buy another one.
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Two years ago I was searching for a Subaru wrx STI, Mitsubishi Evo but I came across a nice looking Mazda speed 3. I got the vin# and it turns out that the car was in good shape. I bought the car in June of 2011. It was running good, change to synthetic oil, gave it premium gas all the time, until the last several months I got a sputtering sound that came and went two times until last week. I took the car in to get a tune up and an oil change. The sputtering came back and on the highway at about 65 mph the engine went. I heard a huge knocking sound. When I got it towed it seems that all the oil came out. I thought maybe my mechanic did something wrong but I believe he didnt. I've been researching this model and it turns out that this first generation car has had numerous problems with blown engines. Particularly with the oil pan, rods, and pistons. Mechanics have said that this could be caused by poor engine engineering. Possibly by poor pcv system and oil control. I feel that they are correct about this. This explains the oil pressure problem I've noticed by the sputtering sounds. I called the dealership about this but they aren't admitting anything. But I've researched more and seem to realize that the second generation mazdaspeed don't have blown engines. This is a disappointment for Mazda for not letting us know about it. I now have to cough out out another $6500 for an engine remanufacture. They lost my next mazdaspeed because I was willing to eventually buy another one.
- molina1170, El Cajon, CA, US