After changing the oil every 3,000-4,000 miles and driving the vehicle responsibly, we were rewarded with a blown engine after only 57,000 miles. One of the rod bearings failed, rendering the engine useless and in need of a complete replacement. Interestingly enough, a co-worker in a relatively small restaurant owns a 2009 Mazda 3 that experienced the same failure, only at 45,000 miles.

Small world? Coincidence? Maybe so. After doing a little searching, I found that Mazda 3 engines blowing out at under 60,000 miles is far from unheard of.

It's amazing to think that automobiles produced by an otherwise respectable automaker in the 21st Century will have engines only capable of 57,000 miles or less. We're not talking about a $2,999 Yugo here, either.

The kicker is that this is the third major repair this piece of crap Mazda has had to go through. I've posted the burned out clutch (45,000 miles) and blown air conditioner compressor (3 years, 1 month) separately.

Update from Apr 20, 2015: Actually I should be fair ... the heated seats still work. However, at this rate I'm expecting to soon be filing a complaint about them spontaneously igniting into a massive ass-frying fireball.