Bought as a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle a week ago from a Mazda dealership. Supposedly this means the car has been subjected to a "150-point" certification check-up, where "everything" in the car is scrutinized.

So I was surprised, after driving the car for a week and bringing it back to the dealership today due to some disconcerting vibration and a "growling" sound when accelerating at low speeds (especially when the AT was going at around 1500)... to have the service department tell me the transmission mount was totally cracked and had to be replaced!

Apparently the "150 point" certification inspection did not include CHECKING THE TRANSMISSION.

The car is still under its base warranty so the repair was free and the mechanics were professional and pleasant. So Mazda gets thumbs up for its service and customer care... but not for its certification process. By the way -- same car also needs to have one of its power outlets replaced (it's not working at all), AND it turns out Mazda issued a "recall" for this year/model that required a computer update today. Again, apparently none of this was caught and rectified during the "150 point" inspection before they sold the thing to me just a few days ago.

huge clunk/noise when trying to pass @ highway speeds This is my wifes car so she almost never has it act up when she's driving because of what it takes to make it fail. First off, you must be driving it for almost an hour, like when going on vacation. Secondly, you must be driving at highway speeds over 55 to 60,MPH. Third, While driving, and if you need to pass another vehicle, and you are in drive, and if you floor the vehicle so it downshifts (automatic transmission) the transmission starts to downshift, but slams so hard, I thought I left the transaxle on the highway. I am not exaggerating this 1 bit. This vehicle clunked & shuddered so violently that I swear the wheels chirped at 65 mph. Hell, they might have even jumped off the ground for a second. It was that bad.

Of course the first thing I did when this happened is let off the gas, and this was dangerous because I just pulled out of line to pass another car, and here I was, stuck in the left lane, so I had to slam on the brakes and get back behind the vehicle I was just trying to pass. It would do this anytime I gave it enough gas to cause downshift at highway speeds & the car has been driving for an hour or about 50 miles.

So When I got home from trip. I brought it into dealer and told them to drive it, and have a tech drive it home, but to put miles on it and it will happen if he follows my instructions. Well, the next day they couldnt get it to happen, but they re flashed the computer and said they have had some complaints about this. Well, again, its my wifes car and after getting it back, she said it was working ok. So I believed her. But, the next trip we took to Kentucky (from Buffalo NY) half way there I needed to pass another car and sure enough, it did it again. Maybe not as violent but still nasty. But then another problem crept up. While stuck in a traffic jamb, moving slowly and stopping frequently, the transmission started slipping and chattering, just like a car with a standard transmission with a flywheel that needed to be resurfaced and a slipping clutch.. But it was slipping and chattering so badly that it wouldn't make it up a slight incline that we were on. I tried manually shifting it into 1st and 2nd but it didn't help. While stopped in the bumper to bumper traffic I shut it off and restarted it but that didn't help either. As my wife was on her phone ready to call AAA for a tow off the highway, traffic started moving slowly, so I feathered the gas and got it moving around 45 mph. Once the traffic jam cleared up, I sped up carefully to highway speed and it seemed ok, with maybe a slight vibration / shudder when going up slight inclines at 65 mph. We got to our destination but the nearest Mazda dealer was so far away so we decided to try driving it home and it worked ok, but I didn't ever accelerate hard enough to cause it to downshift. And we weren't stuck in any traffic jams driving home.

Well, I took it back to my dealer and after 2 days, they said they couldn't duplicate my complaint. Now the car has 5 months left of the 3 & 36 warranty and I don't trust this car anymore. Does anyone have any Ideas? Her last vehicle was a 2003 Mazda 6 Sport with the v6 and a standard and it was the best car we've ever owned. We kept it until buying the 2012 Mazda 3 and needless to say, have been terribly disappointed with this car. My wife works for the major newspaper here in Buffalo and is ready to take legal action but was hoping to avoid this. Thank You for any suggestions.