My wife and I were in the market for a vehicle the summer of 2011. We had a check from our institution in the back pocket so we went searching.

Our search starts with the Toyota Venza (new), and the Infinity Q35 (pre-owned) . We visited approximately 5 dealerships the weekend previous to July 4th, 2011 - a lot of test drives, a lot of negotiations which were close, but not as satisfactory.

After not moving the needle as much as we had desired, my wife has an idea to check out the dealership of Mazda in Huntington Beach. We look at the Cx7 & Cx9 (new) and after test driving a few, she decides to look into the Cx7 as she was previously unfamiliar with the vehicle.

After mulling options over (blank check was good for up to 40k in financing, 4.1 APR) she decides to purchase the Mazda (24,900). We select a model, which has 13 miles on it - and though others (Venza, Infinity) were her chief desire, she believes that the decision was a good, more economical one. We (she) purchases the vehicle July 4th, 2011.

One month in, the front driver tire blows out on the 55 freeway in Costa Mesa. The car is driven to the dealer the next day - to have a tire placed on. The price was surely "surprise surprise" - $250.00. We push to know why the tire was so expensive, it's because the size is new for this size vehicle and there's one maker of the tire. Bridgestone. We pay for it begrudgingly, and go about our way.

Fast forward to February 6th, 2015, a shade over 3 years, 6 months of owning the vehicle. The vehicle history is good, maintenance is excellent (my wife is a therapist for children with autism so that's why vehicle choice was extremely important - traveling client to client in administering therapy sessions) and without warning, she cannot reverse.

She can drive forward, yet is losing power when the automatic attempts to shift from 1st to 2nd gear, so it jumps from first to 3rd.

We take the vehicle to Browning Mazda in Cerritos and we are advised that the transmission needs to be replaced ($3,200.00). 3 years 6 months 64,262 miles, excellent maintenance history, & this vehicle needs a NEW transmission? This felt like a terrible joke. The power train warranty? 3y/60k. Expired just over 4,000 miles ago.

If there's an engine issue, we usually receive a warning (ie - check engine light flashes on when the oil hits around 3,500) - yet for a failed transmission the vehicle took a dump without warning.

We contact Mazda (corporate) & are advised later in the day that they would pay half of the ticketed amount. That's still egregious as there wouldn't be a vehicle sold if most buyers knew that at such ridiculously low mileage, the transmission would fail them.

We retrieve the vehicle and have it looked at for two more opinions and apparently there are no codes indicating the transmission is bad, yet it's obviously the transmission according to the mechanic as indicated simply by the test drive.

One transmission mechanic wanted to advise us that Mazda contains many Ford parts, including the transmission and the parts itself. He opens a book, shows a Ford Escape transmission cover (as an example to start) & shows the transmission cover for a Mazda Cx7.

The covers??? Same shape. Same size. Same diameter. The only difference was the material each was made out of. He also advised us that Ford held a controlling stake in Mazda for a very long time and that Mazda in engine make up is similar to many Ford vehicles.

I'm thankful for such insight as now, my wife, she's apparently back to square one now & cannot trust a Mazda vehicle. We will just take it on the chin, pay the dealer, trade it in and get into the vehicle she wanted to originally (Toyota Venza) as it has a powertrain of 7y/100k, and we have another blank check and a few we are willing to pay more of a premium for now as opposed to settling (which appears now, that we did).

My advice, if you could help it remain in a Toyota (I drive a Lexus and plan to remain with Toyota) or Honda (my wife bought a Civic new in 2001, drove it to 2011 without issue, netting 170k miles before selling to a UCI college student, then purchasing this Mazda vehicle).

If my story helps you even a little bit, I am definitely thankful. This experience feels completely underhanded and we feel hoodwinked.