Mazda CX-5 (2012 - 2017) 2.2d (175bhp) Sport Nav AWD 5d Owner Review

Beware! While the car was a fantastic drive and seemingly faultless when first bought; things soon took a major turn for the worst.

Car had been regularly serviced by Mazda and RAC approved garages(using original Mazda parts) but one day threw the MIL (Check engine light) up, further driving then threw a DPF warning light up, attempted to remedy the situation by following the interactions within the owners manual but to no avail.

Car broke down and completely refused to start after attempting to resolve the DPF problem. Taken to a garage and was informed that the DPF had completely clogged with carbon, which luckily was able to be deep cleaned rather than needing replacing with new and the turbo (or Bi-turbo, as I later found out to my cost) had completely failed and filled with oil and carbon. Over £2000 in one breakdown, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Car was 'fixed' at the garage and proceeded to drive as it did originally before the issues arose, quick acceleration and surprisingly nippy for a larger car, however this was all for nought as within a matter of days the MIL sprung again. Taken back to the garage for inspection and repair where I was informed that a breather pipe has blocked up with carbon (I'm not sure myself why this wasn't checked when they removed and replaced the turbo, but that's another story) and the DPF pressure sensor(s) were giving incorrect readings. Car spent another week in the garage being corrected and taken on test drives until the garage told me they gave up; the car had defeated them as it was throwing seemingly random faults up for fun.

Then I contacted a Mazda specialist and a former Mazda mechanic to ask their opinion of what the root cause was and if it was a simple fix or not, turns out there's something very sinister within the 2.2D engine...

The injectors within the 2.2D are so poorly made that they cause the car to run too rich, from the day they're started, this then causes a continuous build up of coke within the engine; no amount of motorway miles (which when I had the car, I was probably 65/35 motorway to city traffic) would resolve it, the engine slowly cokes entirely and any bits that become dislodged travel until they hit something or somewhere and become an issue. The turbo, the DPF, these were hit last but we're the first to fail, the cost to try and remedy this issue? New modified injectors at £530 EACH, then a 'blast through' (I believe it's called) to clear the engine of all the coke, WHICH IS EVEN MORE THAN THE INJECTORS, as well as an ECU upgrade and replacement of any other pipes or sensors that may have become damaged through coke build up.

Regardless of the miles, beware the 2.2D, it is a fault that's widely known between Mazda specialists and Mazda mechanics and can happen at any point. The specialist informed me I was lucky, my car had managed over 100,000 miles before going; a CX-5 they had in before mine had only 32,000 before failing with the same thing. There is a fix, but it'll more likely become condemned by anyone but Mazda due to the sheer cost.

As much as I fell in love with the car when first purchased, I could never recommend one with the information I now have of them. I've always believed that Mazda's were seemingly a flagship for reliability but now I'm not so sure; how could something like this occur that people and garages are aware of not be recalled?