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Hi there,

I'm in the lookout for a 2004-2006 mazda axela (the JDM one).

Could you please inform me of the official estimate city/highway for both the 1.5 and 2.0 (the 2.0 will be the first gen MZR-engine so it won't have vvt)
Both automatic and around 80,000 km.

Any known issues reported in NZ? (I know in the US, lots have said the engine mount goes bad quickly) and is this car known to be a gas guzzler ?

Thanks in advance!

The official claimed consumption for the 1.5 and 2.0 litre Axela is 5.7l/100km and 7.2l/100km respectively. However, in real world conditions, you won't get this, so expect maybe 7l/100km and 8.2l/100km respectively (approximately).
They're about par for the course when compared against other cars in their class for fuel consumption, and while some Mazda product is known to be thirsty, the Alexa/Mazda3 is OK.
Generally speaking, they have a great reputation for reliability. I've heard it said (perhaps from similar sources that you have obtained your information?) that engine mounts are prone to failure, but I wouldn't let this put you off buying one.

Awesome.
I drive from west Auck to central city everyday for work, so that ugly traffic will probably bump it up to 9l/100km ..at times. I"ll see if the 1.5 have enough grunt first.

Yea, I have researched this car alot , mostly from mazda3forums.com and edmunds.com that because it's a fluid-mount ., ...but then again there are currently axela's sold on trademe with 150K -230K mileage with no mount issues.

Besides, if it does fail later , it shouldn't cost a fortune to fix right ?

Thanks Andrew, appreciate it. :)

Correct. All cars are made out of mechanical, moving parts, so inevitably something will fail on every car. I'd rather have to replace an engine mount than a CVT transmission. The Mazda Axela is a great driver's car too.