I've been driving manual cars for over a decade. Nothing fancy, just standard 5 speeds, but one would think experience would come with age and the common sense of buying ones first car. This was going to be my first venture on my own in the world of car loans with my name attached. The world of good credit and bad credit watches carefully my every move and I carefully baby and maintain the first true "my" car, though used when I purchased it with already roughly 25,000 leased miles on it in the very late Nov, very beginning Dec of 2012.

So maybe I was in denial of the early warning signs that came once around 32,000 miles and again at 36,000. That, it happened once when I shifted into 4th and the car acted like I had done nothing for excruciating long moments as I watched the rpms continue to go up before finally catching and then falling. I'd get an oil change, thinking it was "cranky", I'd even ask the dealership mechanic about it when I brought it in. They acted like everything should be fine after the oil change. That it was nothing to worry about.

Then the cold weather came this winter and things started to change. While not a ton of rpm difference there is this "cushion" that began to form around the 42,000 mile mark and exists now around every gear. Only about 300-500rpms, but enough to watch the needle rise and fall and is worsened when one decides they want to accelerate uphill or at any rate quicker than my Mother would. (Which is how I've been driving the car for the last 18,000-20,000 in an attempt to get the claimed mpg to almost no avail.)

So then...why when I could be more accused of dropping the clutch versus riding it does this appear to be the early warning signs of a slipping clutch?

And here's another conundrum for you.

When I was almost 18 (two and a half months from being 18) my parents purchased in 2004 a used 2003 Toyota matrix manual 5 speed, with 22,000-23,000 miles on it, which basically was to be my car. I was the sole driver with very rare exceptions right from the start and even more so as time passed. I drove that car hard. Quick to start, quick to stop. I loved that car. So why when I was so hard on that car did it's clutch last me (I'm pulling memories versus files right now, I could go find the file and update later) I want to say we replaced a part of the clutch, but not even all of it, around the 90,000-100,000 mile mark. (again 18 year old driving the car pretty darn hard and I was probably putting 250-350 miles a week on the car, 80% interstate/highway & 20% city)

So apart from pulling an average of always 350-370 miles a week, probably more like 75% interstate/highway & 25% city now, and the difference of the used vehicle having a 5 speed versus a 6 speed and 22,000-23,000 miles versus 25,000 miles on it when I took possession, and my age of being 18 and a hard/aggressive driver to a now babying my first car driver....why am I looking at replacing my clutch in the very near and dear future at probably before reaching 50,000 miles? It's got 47,200 as I write this right now and the problem is definitely worse in the cold than the warm. It's not awful, but to an experienced manual driver, it's not how it's supposed to be. It's "soft", and very tedious. Perhaps that's the best way to describe it as I begin to price shop for auto mechanics, parts and a new car. This is not where I wanted to be after owning if for only a year and three months. I got to be the driver of that wonderful Toyota matrix for nine and half years (I even taught 3-4 other people how to drive a stick shift in it, which is what killed the second clutch all the way, complete replacement had to occur that time).

Is there no such thing as quality any more?

New Clutch at 35,000 miles? REALLY? I still have the original Tires and Brakes. Clutch before Brakes? REALLY?

I've driven manual transmission cars for 30 years, two with over 100,000 miles, and I have NEVER had to replace a clutch. 2004 Mazda3, first model year, 100,000+ miles Original clutch. 3 year old 2010 Mazda3, 35000 miles New Clutch?

DEAR MAZDA - TIME FOR A RECALL!!! I want my $1000 back. I want you (MAZDA) to admit there is an issue.

I feel cheated by my loyalty to your brand. I had just seen the propaganda for the 2014 Mazda3, all the things I want are on that car. But if I have to spend $20,000 for a car, I don't want to worry about when This Clutch will FAIL.

I am so Disappointed!

Strong smell coming from engine area. Took the car to the dealer and said a new clutch pate was required. After on 32K miles, please you have to be kidding. This was a new car and is driven carefully by a family and does lots of highway miles. As per others on this forum, Mazda just gives a stock answer that it is a "wear and tear" item is just a poor response and they refuse to even look at the part I kept. This is one of those cases where I vote with my $$ and will not buy another Mazda again. Like others I have reported them to the NHTSA I consider this a dangerous problem. Here is the response from Mazda

"It was very disappointing to read of your concerns with the clutch in your 2010 Mazda3.

The clutch for the manual transmission in your 2010 Mazda3 is a wear item, such as the brake pads and rotors on your vehicle, and replacing the vehicle will be necessary as part of maintenance on the vehicle. As such, wear items are not covered the New Vehicle Limited Warranty for your vehicle, which his 3 years from the date the vehicle was first put into service or 36,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Mazda does not provide a life expectancy for each part, but as with any vehicle, a part can fail or wear to the point that it will need to be replaced at any time. In regards to wear items, it’s life would vary based on numerous factors including driving habits and environment.

I have documented your concern for our records. Should you have any additional questions or need further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me."

Well it was the day before Christmas Eve and I was headed to spend the holidays with my family in Charlotte NC. Driving on I-77 my clutch disc completely disintegrated, just outta the blue! I though the whole car was done... Well I called my insurance company for road side assistance. They picked me up and took me to the nearest Mazda dealership... The dealership is McDaniels Mazda Columbia Sc.

When they got the car they said they would have to run a diagnostic test to see what the problem was. So I had to leave the car with them. My father drove from Charlotte to pick me up and take me back to spend the holidays with my family. So on the day after Christmas I got a call from the dealership and they told me the clutch had to be replaced. Gave me a estimate on the repair and asked what I wanted to do. I said fix it, it was the holidays and this wasn't helping things out.

So after having my car for 9 days I found out the car was ready. Picked it up on that Saturday after New Years 2014. When I arrived at the dealership I was told that the man that was handling my situation no longer worked for them??? I asked them why this wasn't covered under the 60k/5y power-train warranty. The guys at the dealership that worked in the service dept. told me they agreed that it should be. Said it was obviously a defective part due to the way it completely disintegrated. Also sense I was under the 60k warranty. They were not able to help much as no one of management was available that day. So I paid and said I would be escalating this on the coming Monday.

I called Mazda Support and started a case with a man named Kevin at extension 1146. He told me he would look into the matter and get back to me.... I received a call today from him saying that the service manager Randy said the clutch failed due to wear and tear..... Seriously angry now, your service dept guys told me it was obviously a effective clutch disc. So now I got a man whom was fired whom started my repair. A service dept telling me it should be covered and a service Manager Randy telling me it shouldn't.

I've driven Manuel cars for 22 years and never have experienced something like this before in my life! I've never even had to replace a clutch! Then Randy ask me questions why I agreed to the repair..... This guy is a moron as what else can I do. I have to have my car, my holidays are ruined. Waiting to talk again to the Mazda rep Kevin. Looks like I'm gonna try and escalate this to the better business bureau.

Can't believe I could have several different conflicting stories, my initial repair guy Phil fired. And I'm out a lot of money. This is completely unacceptable. Very unhappy and angry Mazda 3 time owner. This is a item that needs to be recalled or a class action lawsuit should be held. If not, I'm contemplating, if nothing is resolved with the better business bureau, then I may bring a civil law suit against them. Very, very unhappy.

My son was driving from Indy to Savannah,GA on 9/16-college kid. Between Nashville and Chattanooga started having issues with rpms racing and erratic shifting. By the time he reached Dalton, GA - 11 pm- car had a complete clutch failure. Lucky he was killed on the interstate. Had to get a motel room, have a friend drive 1 1/2 hrs to pick him up on a Sunday, arrange for a 71 mile tow to the nearest Mazda dealer and be told on 9/17 that the clutch was " worn our". $ 1200. Bull! I have been a stick driver since 1971, mostly Nissans, and have NEVER replaced a clutch. I taught him to drive on a 2000 Altima and then 2007 Jetta. He had 5 yrs of manual shift driving before we leased this new Mazda 3 IN 2010. He now has a 300 mile trip to get the car and 300 miles back to school. NOT HAPPY! SIGN ME UP FOR A CLASS ACTION SUIT.

I purchased this so called pre-owned certified Mazda 3 hatchback for my son on march 9, 2012 and 45 days later on his way to the movies on the freeway the clutch gave out. I was quoted 1,300.00 dollars at the dealership and was told that the so called bumper to bumper warranty did not cover it due to wear and tear. I have owned many standard vehicles from Toyota, VW and even and older model Mazda and have never needed to replace a clutch even with over 100,000 miles on them. What was the point of the certified point check their service department preformed. I told the service Mgr. they must have very low standards when checking off their certification check off list or their mechanic really s**d!!! This problem needs to be taken care of soon..what's taking them so long to recall the clutch??? There is an electrical system recall on this model...log on to www.motortrend.com/cars/2010/mazda/mazda3/recalls/ The recall states...A clearance between the engine harness and the housing starter motor may be insufficient. Due to this, the covering of the harness may be damaged through vibration during operation possibly causing a short circuit between certain harness wires and the starter housing. A short circuit can result in engine control malfunction and/or poor shift quality. The main fuse may blow out causing the engine to stall and inability of restart, increasing the risk of a crash.

"Another one bites the dust" I work from the house, do mainly highway driving and put about 100 miles a week if that on the car right now. Was driving on highway and rpm started to rev up, couldn't switch gears and clutch gave out from underneath me. Luckily was able to roll off the highway when I noticed the problem. Of course one problem leads to another battery then died at the shop had to replace as well, this comes not even a month after the rotors for brakes hit the fan. This has got to be one of the most problematic cars I have seen. A clutch dying less then 3 years and worse part is my car was due off it's lease next month. I assume this to be a manufacture defect, and maybe one day they will admit to a faulty clutch, as suggested by how many complaints about this problem are here.

I've noticed a few people having the same problem as me, premature clutch failure on 2010 mazda 3 6 spd.

All was well until one day started up the car went to drive and just getting RPMs and no movement with clutch out and in gear.

sure enough bring it to the garage - clutch is worn out. Unbelievable, I've had many standard vehicles over the years and never once had a clutch go on a car, let alone a fairly new car with only 70K on it.

basic wear and tear not covered under any warranty - ridiculous, i could understand not being covered if it was 5+ years and over 200K or so.

disappointed in mazda

I was heading home for Easter to visit my family. (About 200 miles). About 20 miles into the drive, my engine began revving much higher than usual. About 2 miles later, my car was uncontrollably revving about 5,000 revs per minute and topping about at approximately 62mph. I decided to exit the interstate to the nearest gas station to check the engine. Before I even had the chance to get off at the nearest exit, my clutch completely gave out and I was unable to put in into any gear. All in all, my car gave me about 3 miles to notice a catastrophic clutch failure.

I used Mazda help assistance to tow it back home to a Mazda dealership. I was kind of mad at the time but I knew the car was still under warranty. The next morning, I received a phone call that it's a "wear" item and is NOT part of the warranty. Mazda then tried to charge me $1400 to get it fixed. Now I am absolutely furious! I bought this car new for the damn warranty, but when something goes wrong, it's not covered.

More to the story. They wanted to charge me $450 for the new clutch plus labor equaling $1400. I asked if they would put the exact same clutch in that just catastrophically failed. Why would I want to pay $450 for the exact part that just failed at 33,000 miles? Are they seriously that dumb?

I ended up ordering a higher grade clutch kit on Amazon for more that $150 cheaper than what Mazda was charging. I also towed my car elsewhere to save money on the labor. All in all, I saved about $400 by doing this. It took a little bit more time, but I saved in the end.

Thank you Mazda for making me dishing out $1000 of a premature clutch failure without a care in the world and also a big thanks for making me miss a nice Easter weekend with the family. In return, I will steer everyone I can away from your cars due to the lack of goodwill.

Mazda needs to fix this and apologize to everyone that this has happen to because my car the clutch started to not fully engage so I set an appointment and make it about 10 blocks before having to get it towed, got the call on what the issue seemed to be and had to get the clutch disassembled to know for sure and sure enough it was burnt out which at first I thought it was covered but in the end was not in the end I was with out a car for almost two weeks because this happened right at Christmas Holiday.

this seems to be a defect of some kind to have so many people with the same complaint and I have found more on other similar sites. The deal didn't say that it was an known issue but they were really nice about the whole thing and me not wanting to keep my car after, they gave me full value for it including the repair and the one guy I talked to said it is one of those things that is in possible to prove and they won't get paid from Mazda unless Mazda list it as a known issue. I just can't believe this I have had two other cars with more miles both had been used by multiple people some new to driving with a clutch and I didn't even have to get those clutches replaced.

in the end I told them I didn't want the car because I don't have to do this again in 25,000mile so got a different car altogether.

16K miles on a car I paid cash for new Sept 2009. Warranty expires this week. Out of nowhere, clutch does not engage! I refuse to pay $1100 for a replacement, when this is clearly a manufacturing defect. Looking online, this is the identical problem occurring with all 2010 Mazda3 vehicles, and I refuse to pay for this defect, as it is Mazda's fault and in no way my error. THERE ARE ONLY 16000 MILES ON THE CAR! I drove it to a local dealership on Saturday. They called Monday to say the technician could not even test drive the vehicle as the clutch will not engage at all. It worked when I delivered the vehicle on Saturday, so if the clutch can deteriorate while the car sits still in their lot, how can that have anything to do with my driving? This is in no way "normal wear and tear," and Mazda will be paying for this headache. I am appalled.

I bought a new Mazda 3 sedan in May 2010. I've had no problems with the car and just drove it 1500 miles to SC for vacation. However, late last week, just after crossing 38,000 miles, the clutch all of sudden began to slip resulting in the RPMs jumping up to 5k or 6k before the engine would engage and produce power. I wasn't sure if I should stop the car or drive it on home. I decided to drive it home and the clutch slippage quickly worsened. When I got home, the engine had a smell like worn brake pads. I called the dealer today about it to see if repairing the clutch would be covered under warranty. They stated it wasn't likely, but that they could disassemble it first, costing me about $600 just to take it out to diagnose it and that total repair would be about $1200.00. They would then have to take pictures and send to Corporate office to determine if it was normal wear or a manufacturer defect. I asked what they thought was likely from their experience and they said it would probably be considered normal wear and tear. I couldn't see taking it in and paying dealer prices just to tell me its not under warranty. After reading all of the other posts, this certainly is a pattern, not an isolated case of clutch abuse! I've never repaired a clutch this early on my three other mazdas. They all lasted beyond 100k miles before needing repair. I'm not sure what route to go as it seems that the efforts posted by others was extreme and didn't always result in a positive outcome. I only know for certain I will never buy another Mazda again!!